The A-League National Youth League was announced on Wednesday and already the Melbourne Victory are making headlines with the news that they plan to have an 11-year old in their squad.
Trey O’Sullivan is the kid, and if he does indeed become a member of the Victory’s youth team, he will certainly be the youngest player in the league. The bulk of the players for each youth team are to be aged between 16 and 21, with four older players allowed. The seven Australian A-League clubs will participate.
Games for the Youth League may be played before or after A-League matches, or at separate locations. There are no plans to broadcast the matches.
For a deeper insight into the Youth League, check out The Football Tragic posts on the subject here and here.
ps. The Melbourne Victory website has a video of Trey, which you can download.
15 comments ↓
I didn’t think he was allowed… Just that he could was on the rader for when he was eligible.
checked out his video… gee he has some awesome ability
where can i check out his video? would love to see him in action, i help coach under 9’s and hes only a couple years older than them so would love to compare.
You can download the video directly from http://www.a-league.com.au/site/_content/video/00000587-broadbandsource.wmv.
Or go through this article on the Victory site: http://www.melbournevictory.com.au/default.aspx?s=mvfc_newsdisplay&id=21681.
Give him a run, he is about Kaz Patafta’s size. He looks talented, I’d like to see him in a game situation instead of party tricks. The club should watch out because big
European teams will come sniffing and sign him up, they have done it before with a 9 year old Brazilian.
Very nice.. :0
And yeah, he won’t actually be eligible to take part in the Youth League for another 5 years.
Though who knows.. maybe they can at some point make an exception for younger guest players – similar to the 4 older players that are allowed.
What the Victory needs to eventually develop though is a fully functioning youth academy that has possibilities for much younger kids as well.
aren’t they developing an academy? is that not what all the raffle ticket/scratchie things that people where selling on the way to the ‘dome’ where for?
He could get a job in a Circus but can he play the game ? Seems the FFV believe that being able to juggle a ball is some measure of your ability to read play, move into space, trap, pass, shoot and everything else that makes up a Footballer. Let’s see if he is still ahead of the pack when he is older…..doubt it !
that is stupid puttin that kid in the youth league. if anything it would ruin his career. players will target him heel get pushed off the ball and nailed in every tackle and heel get sick of it and quit
That is so stupid,is this a kindergarten or a soccer team.Let the kid grow up
and have a good future later on in soccer.
Let other older players have a chance, more boys fromVIS-because
they are excelent players-check out the midfield there-player called Kliment -very talented player.
Yeah, doesn’t look like he’ll be in the squad next year. All the players are between 16 and 19 years old.
I think there is a lot of lip-service paid to improving the technical ability of players in this country from people like Craig Foster and almost a ‘cultural cringe’ over the physicality of the game up to this point in time. Agree with what Gilby said above, I think there is an over-emphasis on being able to juggle a ball – it’s true, seals can do it too without proper legs – but it’s only one aspect of the game. For example, in the case of Cristiano Ronaldo and Joe Cole, I think their games improved when they dropped a few of the gratuitous step-overs and improved other areas of their game. I think it’s basically symptomatic of the game morphosing into more of an entertainment spectacle (commerce and globalism), than being sublimated war, where the main aim is to win the game, rather than dazzle with skills. Ideally a team will do both. I’ve asked a few gooners whether they’d like to see Arsenal continue to play pretty passing triangles or become more ruthless and dynamic and whilst one or two are happy with no silverware, the majority just want to be champions again.
so what, he can juggle a ball, i want to see his passing accuracy, dribbling, shooting and tackling. Just because he has his party tricks does not mean hes a good player.
hey, i know trey and he is a very tallented player. He used to play at my club and he has skill.
He doesn’t only know how to juggle a ball. He scored from like half way.
the kids a freak.
Hey the kids a legend what can i say. I know this kid trust me he is more talented then half the player currently playing professional. BTW @ MARK hes much better at passing accuracy, dribbling, shooting and tackling then he is at juggling and tricks.
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