Cameron Thompson was voted Aesch International ‘Player of the Tournament’. Cameron signed Scholarship forms last summer, having made his debut for the U18s in season 2014/15 at the age of 14.
If you read the Club reports for the U18 friendly against Portsmouth at the weekend and last night's match against Chesham, you'll have noted that 'Trialist A' was pretty busy around the opposition goal. Especially it seems last night. The young man therefore deserves some recognition - he was Skender Loshi. The 18 year old centre forward was born in Albania but has Netherlands nationality and currently plays for NAC Breda U19s.
You wouldn't want to mess with Sonny Hilton. The young man is a black belt in Tae Kwon-Do. And an England Youth international as well! Sonny, a scouser, joined us from Tramere last year from under the nose of Spurs and Leicester. And just a week or so ago signed scholarship forms which will see him in our Academy through season 2018/19.. As an attacking midfielder the 16 year the lad gets among the goals; one yesterday in the 4-1 thumping of Arsenal and a hat trick in the U18s pre-season game against Pompey. The stats not to hand are his number of 'assists' but if you've been reading our Club reporter's accounts of matches recently, there are a fair few.
Sonny Hilton has been selected for the England U17 squad, as has Luca Ashby-Hammond. The lads will be up for three games; Turkey and Scotland at St Georges, Italy at Kidderminster.
Good news that Luca de la Torre has signed a 3 year contract extension. please log in to view this image The lad's got talent. Link to Club story: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/september/12/new-deal-for-de-la-torre
Great news that the Academy has retained it's Category 1 status. As the Club article (in the link below) says, the qualifying criteria recently changed and Mr Khan's money to develop Motspur Park went a long way to helping. What it doesn't mention though is the high investment in coaching staff necessary and their quality. Hats off to Huw Jennings and the man who has been singularly responsible for the development of many fine young players, Steve Wigley. please log in to view this image http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/september/13/category-one-status-retained
Stevie Humphrys is 20 today. So a few more numbers seems appropriate. The young man - * has been a prolific scorer at U16, U18, and now PL2 level since joining from Bury in 2013 and notched a total of 50 goals for the Club (at all levels). * last season scored 13 goals in 15 games * has a contract till 2020 (if the one year option is taken up). * stands at 6'1" in his stocking soles (well, nearly) * weighs in at 13st 7lbs. Stevie has come on in leaps and bounds since I first saw him as a raw inside forward in the U18s. Now he's the quintessential centre forward with great prospects.
Another mention for Cameron Thompson. As the teams went into the latest International break, our young goal machine heads up the list of PL U18 goal scorers. An added snippet to the one in the earlier post - Cameron joined the Club in 2011 from the prestigious Coombe School programme, as did the Sessegnon brothers and others.
Can't help but returning yet again to Cameron Thompson. He now has 11 goals in 8 games. Here's No. 10 against Spurs -
Despite his injury and recent operation, it looks our top goal scorer Cameron Thompson is about to sign professional forms. Which is terrific news.
With the U23 games this season completed for 2017, Elijah Adebayo tops the lot. 14: ADEBAYO (9 Goals, 5 Assists) 12: Nuttall (10 Goals, 2 Assists) 11: Miller (10 Goals, 1 Assist) 10: Barrett (8 Goals, 2Assists)
Great news to start the New Year - after missing all of the season so far because of injury, young full back Marlon Fossey is back in full training. please log in to view this image
More good news. Timmy Abraham who turned 17 on 28th December has signed his first professional contract with us. In signing the two year deal the youngster said, "I’ve settled in well. It’s a great family club with a good philosophy so hopefully I can keep going. I try to be the best I can in every game and I just want to focus on going forward. For everybody here it’s very encouraging to see others in the academy getting opportunities because you know there is a chance if you do well."
Our lads are over in Gottingen playing in the Sparkasse Cup for the 8th year running. They got off to a terrific start in the group stage beating JFV West Göttingen 5-0 and JFV Eichsfeld 5-1 yesterday evening. please log in to view this image This year we've sent a slightly more 'mature' but nonetheless young squad to this U19 tournament: L. Ashby-Hammond, J. Schwarzer, Spence, Felix, Hilton, Mundle-Smith, Garrido, Kelly, Francois, York, Harris, Santos-Clase, Martin and De Havilland. Basically it's 5-a-side indoor football but very tactical. Here's a link to our supremo Steve Wigley explaining how it works, including the use of 'rolling substitutes' - http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2018/january/04/wigley-sparkasse-cup-preview
Two more thumping wins for the youngsters. 6-0 v JSG Autal-Altes Amt and 6-1 v JSG Uslar/Solling. Absolutely brilliant the way the lads control these games - much harder to do than it looks on an area the size of a badminton court.
Better news over in Gottingen. The lads had a hard fought 2-1 win over Hertha Berlin and then defeated nearest rivals Eintracht Brunswick 4-1. That makes it 6 wins out of 6 and a fabulous goal difference of +24 to top the Group. On now to the 2nd round Group with games against FC Bruges and Hamburg tomorrow. Believe the matches are live on FulhamTV at 10:45 and 12 noon respectively.
The lad roll on with a 3-1 win over FC Bruges and beating Hamburg 5-2. That takes them into the quarter finals.
Having already beaten the in the early Group stage, the lads eased through 4-0 against the hosts JFV Gottingen. Next up the semi final against last year's winners ... Man Utd.