"Rafa Benitez was very impressed by him. He told me that he regarded James' technique as better than Steven Gerrard's was at the same age. He made a major impression in a training game by unleashing a 25-yard rocket that flew past Jerzy Dudek. Wherever he goes, I can see James playing first team football very quickly."
http://www.unison.ie/sportsdesk/stor...=12&si=1760870
What a load of rubbish. Better technique than Gerrard at his age. Now correct me if im wrong, but Gerrard is around 25, i think the youngest he was when Benitez arrived at Liverpool was 22, a full 6 years older than McCarthy is now.Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia
Heres the article in full:
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Scots green with envy as McCarthy prepares to don Irish jersey
Tuesday January 23rd 2007
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JAMES McCARTHY, the hottest teenage talent in British football, will make his debut for Ireland tonight.
All eyes will be on the 16-year-old Hamilton Academical midfielder when he lines out against Italy in an U-17 international at Whitehall (kick-off 7.0). Glasgow-born McCarthy has already played seven times for the Accies first team and has been invited to Liverpool, Celtic and Reading on trial - Liverpool have already approached the Scottish Division One outfit with a €1,140,000 bid for the young gun.
Chelsea chief scout Frank Arnesen watched the teen sensation in action last Saturday and the Premiership champions are ready to match the offer from Anfield - as are Reading, while Sheffield United have also entered the chase.
McCarthy's advisor, George Gray, is determined to have the player's club future mapped out by the end of this week.
"We're expecting Chelsea to make a firm offer within 48 hours and Liverpool want something done by Wednesday so we've plenty to think about," said Gray. "It's hard to say which will be the right club for him. Hamilton obviously have their own opinion but James will ultimately decide what he wants to do.
"Rafa Benitez was very impressed by him. He told me that he regarded James' technique as better than Steven Gerrard's was at the same age. He made a major impression in a training game by unleashing a 25-yard rocket that flew past Jerzy Dudek. Wherever he goes, I can see James playing first team football very quickly."
Celtic, the club McCarthy supports, are clearly regretting letting him go two years ago after he had trained with them for several months, but Gordon Strachan hasn't given up hope of luring him back to Parkhead. When he returned to the Glasgow giants on trial last week, he was no longer mixing with fresh-faced teens but with Gordon Strachan's stars.
Dubliner Darren O'Dea and Aiden McGeady - another Glasgow native to declare for Ireland in recent years - made sure they had a word in McCarthy's ear.
McCarthy is eligible for Ireland through his Gweedore-born grandfather Paddy Coyle, who recently passed away.
"Grandad was a big influence on me when I was small and always said he wanted to see me play for Ireland so I was delighted to get the chance to do so," explained the teenager.
"It'll be a great moment for me to wear the Irish shirt for the first time. My parents are coming over and lots more of my relatives will be there as well."
McCarthy's decision to declare for Ireland caused consternation in his home country, although under FIFA rules he can do a U-turn until he his capped at U-21 level. Gray has no sympathy for the Scots, claiming: "I told them he was the best talent Scottish football has produced since Kenny Dalglish but they never showed any interest in him."
Irish youths team manager McCaffrey expects the Scots to fight tooth and nail to persuade the youngster to change his mind.
"If I was in their shoes, I'd be pestering him too so I can't believe they'll just let it go," said McCaffrey. "James has great potential. He just has fantastic ability. He could be a real player for us. He is strong and will get stronger. He's got pace and a great range of passes. He doesn't do tricks but he can really go from box to box.
"There is a lot of pressure on him now and he's had huge publicity because everybody wants to find out about him, but he is being well looked after and his parents are lovely people.
"I think he's well grounded. Darren O'Dea told me that, when he met him, the lad was talking away to him like he knew him all his life." Terry Dixon was the last youngster to declare for Ireland in similar circumstances - he is also eligible to play for England.
Within a year of making his U-16 debut he was drafted into Ireland's senior squad and, although an horrific knee injury has hampered Dixon's progress at Tottenham, McCaffrey is hopeful the London-born striker will return to action by the end of the season.
"The surgeons have wrapped the ligament around the knee and he is making good recovery but the whole episode shows how fragile football can be," added McCaffrey.
Stephen Finn
Yeah pure cr*p. He'll probably turn out to be overhyped sh*te. You can never have any clue at 16 how good a player is going to be. Even outstanding players at that age (eg Rooney) could easily have fallen by the wayside and Mc Carthy is no Rooney at present.
As I've said before he should stay at Hamilton where he's getting regular football because at Liverpool he won't get a sniff.
Last edited by youngirish; 23/01/2007 at 4:26 PM.
Well good so far but he is very young so who knows what could happen. Additionally, he could always switch back to Scotland so let's not get too carried away.
Shame about Dixon.
There is no such thing as a miracle cure, a free lunch or a humble opinion.
Well Benitez travelled around looking at set ups in all the top European clubs a few years ago so it is quite possible that he did see Gerrard at 16 or 17 playing for Liverpool youths or England possibly. He did not say it was when Benitez was at Liverpool
In Trap we trust
possibly, yet i still get the impression its an agent spurting sh*te about him to increase interest and his market value.
ALSO, may be unlikely but theres no internet stream for the game tonight is there?
The rain has started and there's no way I'm getting the bus and standing in whitehall on my own for 2 hours in this weather. My fingers are numb after a 15 minutes walk. He starts anyway.
Why I'm interested to see him is because he's not a McGeady who a 6 year old could see is talented. He's not setting the world alight in Scottish division 1 yet every team is interested in him. I just want to see what the fuss is about.He seems to be a bit like a Fabregas type player and even Barca couldn't see his talent.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 23/01/2007 at 5:10 PM.
He was playing for the 1st team at 15.
anyone go to the game?
a mate of fine wasn't too impressed, said he wasn't involved too much
This is why I really wanted to go to the match. He's not doing anything special at Hamilton either so I want to see what the fuss is about. Apparantly he played in a deap role last night which imo is the most important postion on the pitch so no suprise he played there given he's apparantly on a different wavelength to most players.
I'd say he's just an extremely intelligient player and you obviously can't coach that. Add in his fantastic technical ability and you can see why teams would be chasing him.
I haven't seen him either eirebhoy but I think the fact that he's got some nice touches and is a box to box player for Hamilton has got people thinking he's got similar attributes to one Roy Keane in his earlier days. He is not a player that beats 3 or 4 men.
It is obviously important not to get carried away but the reason clubs are clambering to sign him is because along with his ability, there are not many 15/16 year olds capable of being the main man for their team at that level.
As eirebhoy earlier pointed out, I think the scenario is similar to a lad doing the same thing for a mid table EL club. People would naturally be raving about the boy.
Top Breeders recommend drinkfeckarse....
Went to the game last night to check out McCArthy expecting to see something special but whatever it is he didn't show it on the night.
The players that stood out for me were Shane O'Connor his partner in Midfield and the striker in the first half Sean Scannell.
O'Connor played the deeper role and was on the ball quite a lot.
To be honest McCArthy didn't get involved too much, he certainly didn't seem to be too eager to get on the ball and lacked the enthusiasm of some of the others imho.
Maybe the fact that all this interest and speculation is going on effected his game.
There'll be snow on that one.
The man never said he was useless just gave his opinion on the performance last night.
he's the type of player ireland lack, someone to boss the midfield and take control of the game...
If you went to the match last night and didn't know anything about the lad and someone asked you to pick the player that was being tracked by Liverpool, Chelsea, Celtic, Barcelona and whoever else, you would not have picked the number 10.
There was alot of copy and plenty of hype and maybe that got to him. I also heard today that it was his debut with Ireland which also added pressure but he didn't impose himself at all to justify all that was being said and written. I'll probably head to Tolka tomorrow night so we'll see if he shows his true potential then.
My point is that a fella that has been able to hack it in 1st team football in Scotland, albeit first division, should have stood out over lads that are playing youth team football with their respective clubs.
There'll be snow on that one.
Apparently his club asked that he only play 1 game, so he won't be playing the Tolka game.
Words of wisdom here- he's just entered the Irish setup and there's no need for him to carry our team on his shoulders just yet.
Leave him to the coaches at his club wherever he goes to develop him, and give him time to grow up.
Looks like McCarthy might be going to Celtic. Or staying put. Or joining a monastery. Who knows at this point?
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