"Youth of today"

jackj123

So, today marked yet another great day for the Charlton youth Academy, as young Callum Harriott was called up for the England under 19s squad for the upcoming European Qualifiers, a squad that can boast the likes of Raheem Sterling, Nathan Redmond and of course fellow Charlton starlet Jordan Cousins among their ranks! And it's a testament to both Harriott and the Youth set-up, Harriott who before the start of March this year had only made three first team appearances, all back in the days of League One. Ever since then Harriott has been without doubt the Addicks second half player of the year and certaintly has my young player of the season (for Charlton) vote, he has rejuvenated the side, bringing pace and skill to a side in desperate need of energy and all at the right time of the season, with goals against Huddersfield and Barnsley, both ending in victories for the Reds.

And so with the induction into the England squad for Harriott, which already includes the likes of said Jordan Cousins, Ade Azeez and Semi Ajayi, it shows that the great illustrious academy at SE7 is still bringing through that home-grown talent year in year out, especially as we Charlton fans all know that at times it may be the cheaper way of producing a squad and filling in those gaps in the first team but it's especially nice to see when we have a talent that's producing on the pitch to say " He started off at Charlton" as of so many players that have come and gone throught the Academy such as; Parker, Shelvey, Jenkinson and probarly soon to be off Chris Solly (Could it really be his last against Bristol City). So i like many look forward to the next Solly or Parker with hopes of big potential for current and future youngsters who will one day grace the Valley turf.

andynelson

With the under-18's and the under-21's both winning their leagues (and the under-13's I think) it's been a great season for the Academy. Now if we can find a way to stop the big clubs from luring our young players away before they're old enough to get a pro contract.......................

harveys_gardener

Good Amy McDonald track.

Exiled_Addick

It's great to have such talented youngsters in our youth setup, but the acid test for the Academy is going to be successfully turning them into top pros. We have done it in the past, but there also players like Stacey Long, Myles Weston, Osei Sankofa who were regulars in the England youth setups but didn't really make it in top level professional football (Weston has done the best out of those three but is still currently in League 1).

Hopefully we'll have a spine of homegrown players in a couple of seasons.

andynelson

We've always been a tad cautious about risking young players in the first team. That may change now with proper money being invested in the Academy.

ISawLeaburnScore

Callum Harriott was a very polite and humble fella last night, everyone was congratulating him on the call up and he was just beaming, didn't know where to look! We really seem to have a knack of bringing these good players with great attitudes through - well done to to everyone concerned.