Young are at heart
NOMINATIONS for the Sportsbeat Young Player of the Year award must be 23 years old or under – and again there’s plenty of top candidates again this year to choose from.
Winning the Young Player NGA is a healthy platform for greater things and this year is no different with the hottest talents outside of the Football League making the scouts earn their corn.
Last year’s winner, Bromley’s Kellen Fisher, is living proof of that. Just days after picking up his award at the NGA ceremony, the 18-year-old fullback signed a long-term deal with Norwich City and has played a big part in the Canaries’ charge towards promotion in the Championship.
Indeed, already this season we’ve seen two teenage hotshots from the National League clinch high-profile moves in the January window.
Aldershot Town picked up you gun Josh Stokes from Step 4 side AFC Sudbury for a nominal £5,000 fee in the summer and turned him into a superstar. The 19-yearold playmaker went on to join Bristol City in a three-and-a-half year deal before being loaned back to the Shots for the rest of the season where he has helped lead Tommy Widdrington’s men’s playoff charge.
Similarly, Bromley homegrown product Ben Krauhaus has been catching the eye at Hayes Lane for some time and he was snapped up by Premier League Brentford in a three-and-a-half year deal.
There are many more top young guns in contention too, and, of course, those who may have under the radar. How about Chelmsford City’s Luke Jenkins, who won an England C call-up to face Cymru C last week.
Why not give your team’s young hotshot a shout-out and give them a well-deserved boost to their footballing CV.