It looks like we have another gem on our hands and he's only 16.
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?article=221123They say it takes different strokes to rule the world. Anthony Stokes is certainly unique and without doubt has the class to one day be king of planet football.
The evidence is present for all to see. He came over from Dublin last year aged barely 15. Having excelled in the age group two years above, he did the same in the Under-19s and by the end of the season had become a reserve team regular. He is a complete striker in the mould Arsenal has not seen in recent years.
Whilst it is difficult to draw comparisons, the common consensus is that he is most like Alan Shearer but the youngster tends to run past defenders more often than the England legend. With such comparisons it may be understandable if the youngster would have already thought he had made it, but Anthony’s feet are firmly on the ground.
"I feel I have learnt so much since I came to Arsenal and I am so excited at the prospect of being able to continue my progress. Before I came to Arsenal the teams I played for tended to see me as a player that they gave the ball to run at goal and score. I still do that but I have learnt that a striker’s role has more to it.
"I have learnt to hold the ball up better to bring other players in and also, especially at Arsenal, defending is the responsibility of the whole team. I was previously never expected to defend and that is why at the beginning when I first joined I would sometimes switch off when we lost the ball in attack. Now I am very aware that I have to drop back to support the midfield and work for the team to get the ball back. That part of my game is something I am trying to improve."
It is a measure of the youngster’s attacking ability that it is in his defending that he is looking to raise the standards. Anthony is always working on fine tuning his shooting, heading, running on and off the ball and general passing game, but it is fine tuning. He has immense power, a supreme football brain showing maturity way beyond his years which must have been evident to Arsène Wenger when the youngster trained with the first team when he was just 14!
"I had a couple of sessions with the first team a couple of years ago and that was very good for me,” he explains. “I also trained with them when we came back after the summer break but I have to admit that I did not feel fit enough at that point to make the most of it. Being in the same set-up as some of the world’s best players is certainly one way of learning and that was one of the reasons I joined Arsenal."
It is common knowledge that many top Premiership clubs were trying to sign the youngster whilst he was with Shelbourne, the Irish team that held Deportivo at Lansdowne Road in the Champions League earlier this month, but the Gunners always seemed destined to get their man.
"I was first spotted by Liam Brady when I was about 11 or 12. Liam used to help out with the Dublin County team and saw me in training. He approached me afterwards and asked if I would be interested in a trial with Arsenal. Of course I said yes, came over and scored a hat-trick in my first trial game. I also went and had a look at other clubs but Arsenal were by far the best. The coaching was a cut above, but the whole set up and the fact that there were so many of the world’s top players at the Club made the option easy for me."
Whilst football and the choice to join Arsenal may have been easy, it hasn’t all been a breeze for the youngster.
"Even though my parents, John and Joan, have come over and I live with them in Southgate, I did feel a bit homesick and missed my friends from Dublin. I went to see Liam to ask him if I could go back to Ireland for the weekend. To my surprise and great appreciation, Liam said that because he had gone through the same experience as me when he was a youngster, he understood exactly what I was feeling so much so he said that I should take four or five days off. That helped me so much. Whilst I had no doubts, that gesture and show of understanding confirmed I was at the right club."
Now officially a first year scholar, the youngster is looking to make an impact on the new Under-18s league and beyond.
"I hope to do well in the Under-18s team but I am looking to progress to play regularly for the reserves and hopefully get a game for the first team in the Carling Cup. I’m very excited about the coming season," enthuses the youngster, who is seemingly oblivious to the excitement he is likely to generate in the coming few months. Watch this space.
By Lambros Lambrou
Also:
Wenger isn't renowned for bringing Irish players into the first team but hopefully this is one he can't resist. He should get a few Carling cup appearances this season.A natural finisher, Anthony excelled last year, making three reserve team appearances and scoring four times from eight Under-19 appearances - all as a 15 year-old.
He scored 12 goals from 17 Under-17 outings, and netted four from two FA Youth Cup games.
The young Irishman has trained with the first team on several occasions.
Sounds very promising, I hope he fullfills his potential, only time
will tell, you never know with how young players will progress but
he certaintly sounds 'the business'.
They have several other young players with Irish sounding names in the
youth set-up too, some are, not too sure about the others.
Personally I don't like players with names like Paddy Murphy or
Mick O'Reilly playing for England.
It just don't sound right!
he sounds brilliant. But he is only 16 and were looking another 4 or 5 years till we see him playing ireland if he does make it.
shouldnt he be invovled in the irish underage set up already?
Interesting article, thanks for posting.
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Coventry Reserves 3 - 2 Arsenal Reserves
Irish youth player Anthony Stokes was on target twice for the Arsenal reserves tonight after coming on a substitute in a game Vs Coventry. Former Arsenal Striker & Irish international Graham Barrett was also on target twice for the home side who edged out the gunners in a tight game.
Stokes is having a good run in the reserves at the moment and scoring goals. It can do him no harm playing alongside the likes of Aliadierre, Lupoli & Eboue who have all recently got run outs for the first time. Nice to see Barrett scoring too. A pity he never made it at Arsenal but was never going to edge out Henry, Bergkamp, Kanu and Wiltord during his time at the club.
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Stokes' 7th goal for the reserves this season. Pretty good considering he has only started 10 or 11 games and played in midfield in his last 5 or so matches.
edit - Stokes second sound something special. He ran with the ball from a kick off, beat two players and scored.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 08/03/2005 at 10:54 PM.
Has anyone had the pleasure of seeing him live ?
Barrett’s career seems to be going nowhere.
Saw Stokes recently for Ireland u-17. Have to say he seemed to be taking a lot out of he ball but he is a real talent.
Always look on the bright side of life
He had a row with his manager because he wants to play up front and ever since has been playing reserve football. We should regard him as a striker if he wants to be which means he's behind a few players now for a callup.Originally Posted by drummerboy
He actually didn't look too bad for us on the right but from what I've seen, he's nowhere near the mark required for a striker. So if he wants to be regarded as a striker and see his career nosedive, so be it.
Don't worry about Barrett, he will find some club to develop what he has and thats a lot of quality. He played started 3 times for arsenal in Premiership about 4 seasons ago, the same season he captained arsenal to the youth cup. He got glandular fever at the start of the following season, it wasn't diagnosed and his performances were crap, he lost a whole season, by the time he came back aliadiare had moved ahead of him. I believe he doesn't drink or smoke and he has a good attitude, he will come good.
And by the way, Aliadare, Lupoli are muck and will never make the grade so Wenger would want to open his eyes.
Lupoli? He has a goal a game for the acadamy this season.
That is my opinion, i saw enough of him in the carling cup games and fa cup last week. He does not contribute to the game at all and he will not get away with it in the first team. Aliadare is similar when play is being created he seem to be running away from it, when quincy came on against sheffield united last week he got on the ball more in 2 mins than lupoli did in the previous 45.
The thing is though, Quincy has no end product. He has 4 goals for the acadamy this season, Lupoli has 20. Stokes has 10.
Does anyone have any news on Cregg's injury btw? He has been out for some time now.
people said c.ronaldo had no end product..not doing too bad for himself
Saw him a few times playing for Shels u-14s and u-15s. Was very big and strong for his age. At the moment he is still eligible for u-16 football until May so its great he's playing reserve football already.
After Arsenals season I think we could see him in the first team next season.
cheers for that,lets hope your right,he was in Arsenal's 2nd Champions league squad,for what it is worth now.
Looks to be close to getting first team debut for the Gunners in the Carling Cup against Sunderland on Tuesday night. Hopefully he’ll get a run, there’s plenty of competition for a place though with Lupoli and Bendtner (big fella from Denmark who’s got 9 goals from 7 starts for Arsenal reserves, Stokes hasn’t scored for reserves yet). Don’t want to be building him up but its great to see him making it in the Arsenal academy and these are dark days for Irish football so its good to any young players making progress. Didn’t see any of the U19 games in Cork but he was supposed to have been very good.
"In life, it aint about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep on moving forward"
Rocky Balboa
they still playing Stokes on the wing?
No idea to be honest Jack, my limited knowledge of how he's getting on comes from the Arsenal website and various other sites, so details on formations and tactics are sketchy. Unless you're willing to pay for Arsenal.com premium services which I'm not its the best you'll get!
"In life, it aint about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep on moving forward"
Rocky Balboa
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