Reports signed by fulham. Would fit the new epl youth league?
James Musa (Indy Eleven | USA)
Hey James Musa
Ooh Aah
I wanna knooooooooow
Where's your gang patch gone?
I always thought he was unfairly maligned. I hope he gets picked up somewhere.
KICKING OFF: James Musa - off to London again, perhaps to sign with a British club.PHOTO/FILE
Wanganui footballer James Musa flew out of New Zealand overnight on what he hoped would be the trip of a lifetime.
Musa, on the back of a trial by an un-named British professional club straight after the Oly-Whites' Olympic campaign finished, is hoping to sign on the dotted line with the club by the finish of the British transfer window - tomorrow. He has to be there to sign in person, after a medical.
"I arrive about midday friday (UK time), and go straight to the club."
The Wanganui centre back is not allowed to divulge the identity of the club at this stage, but if the move is successfully completed, it will achieve one of the aims Musa wanted from his Olympic campaign - to get noticed and receive a chance in Europe.
"I'm hopefully signing with a club," a cautious Musa said before he left. "I've already tried out for them after the Olympics, went through some trials - so hopefully it's there to sign, if everything goes to plan."
Who with?
"I can't say. Once it's complete, there will be a release.
"Hopefully I fitted in well. The clubs in England look for potential - they're a business as well as a football club, so they try to make money off a lot of people."
The club, who are paying for Musa's trip, spoke about him to Oly-Whites coach Neil Emblen during the Olympics campaign.
"That was pretty pleasing from my perspective, considering that I didn't really play that much, just 35 minutes against Egypt when Ian Hogg was injured. I was pretty happy with that."
Musa says he was "a bit disappointed" not to get a run against Brazil in the final game. "I thought I played well in the Egypt game. It was one of the games I really wanted to play. But to be involved in that game and around the Games was unbelievable.
"There were really good people in my position, and in another four years or so, hopefully it will be me ..."
If all went well, Musa would be at the club for this season at least and probably play reserve grade initially.
The approach was one of two received by Musa during the Olympics.
I thin though ALKPhoenix that he's a couple of years behind where you'd expect a 20 year old to be. He still makes some pretty basic errors.
He loves a tackle though
Dom Post reporting he has signed with Fulham, through to Jan with an option for longer. Similar to Hogg's deal at Portland?
Hope it goes well for him!
Sigh.
Signing for the Phoenix and getting no game time vs playing nzfc.
No brainer.
this is a great move for the young guy. He struggled in the nix back four when he played - possibly too young and inexperienced at the time. Playing in the ASB regularly has seen him mature to the point that at the olympics he played well enough to get noticed. Had the nix had a proper youth team last year he'd still be here playing for us.
Interesting that the five month contract nearly came unstuck due to the $ fulham would have to pay his former nz clubs (including phoenix) if he signed an extension. An agreement was reached.
Playing next to Nelsen probably a bit different from playing next to Jade North. Would have been ok if he'd been playing next to Siggie or Dura in a centre back pairing. To be fair I think he did ok for the Nix. Don't remember too much about his trot out at left back- but it must have been better than Lia surely??
He looked at the Olympics that he had improved since his time at the Phoenix, looked to have some confidence and read the game quite well in defence.
Shouldn't this be in Kiwis overseas?
this is a great move for the young guy. He struggled in the nix back four when he played - possibly too young and inexperienced at the time. Playing in the ASB regularly has seen him mature to the point that at the olympics he played well enough to get noticed. Had the nix had a proper youth team last year he'd still be here playing for us.
He only played 35 minutes at the Olympics.
Hopefully this works out better for him than it did for Chris James.
Agree with the grap.
He did only get a short run at olys, but did pretty well. He did play quite a bit in the build up and did a solid job against some good sides. His distribution and composure on the ball looked better than it had, although that will still be the thing he needs to sort to really shake it up professionally.
The point is that he has trialled and they must have liked what they saw there. Good on him
Pleased that the Nix didnt stand in his way if they had to do an agreement. Just cause he didnt fit for Ricki here doesnt mean that he wasnt / isnt the goods for another team, that is what happens in sport the world over.
The 20-year-old has potential - he is quick and athletic - but is prone to being exposed and some do not warm to his attitude on and off the field. It was a principal reason he was released by the Phoenix 18 months ago.
Ooooh, anyone have any goss? Did he refuse to clean Manny's boots?
Such a shame that Zinidane quit the forum in a huff.
Otherwise he could be on here telling us how badly this reflects on the Phoenix, Ricki etc
Oh, and Bradford City. Like, wtf Bradford???
Anyway, good luck to the man. Hopefully Ryan can find time to take him under his wing while he's in London.
The 20-year-old has potential - he is quick and athletic - but is prone to being exposed and some do not warm to his attitude on and off the field. It was a principal reason he was released by the Phoenix 18 months ago.
Ooooh, anyone have any goss? Did he refuse to clean Manny's boots?
[/quote]
Yeah, I thought it was interesting that even Emblen was a bit iffy about him in the Stuff article...
[quote=Neil Emblen]James just really needs to have the desire now. Because when he's concentrating and into it, he's a really good player. I just think he has that tendency to sometimes drop into cruise control and, when he does, that's when he could get found out at that level. But maybe this is the challenge he needs"
Maybe that's where having "one of the best professionals I've ever worked with" (Mark Hughes on Ryan Nelsen) just down the road could make a big difference.
Sigh.
Signing for the Phoenix and getting no game time vs playing nzfc.
No brainer.
Rojas got game time. We also have a youth team now,and is sign Fenton and Rowe if they were to get game time. Not sure what you point is..? Musa would not have got game time (nor did he when he was signed with us remember),so it was better off having him play regularly in the nzfc.nice try attempting to put words in my mouth to make some sort of point (I'm still not sure what?) but it isn't going to work.
Really? Had he signed musa,you said yourself that he would have got no game time as we had few Injuries or suspensions,and he wasn't exactly going to push siggy or dura from the starting XI. instead,he played regularly in the nzfc,got chosen for the Olympics squad and ended up with a contract at fulham. Sounds like a great decision to me.
Again,you're putting words in my mouth.
Just to put a cat amongst the pigeons, if he turns out to be decent player for fulham how / why did the coaching staff in Wellington not put some more effort into him? Or did they really not rate him?
unfortunately robags, without a youth team where he could play regularly and show the nix coaching staff when he could do he basically had to rely on training. The couple of times he was thrown into the deep end he looked well out of his depth.
The media (possibly that Stuff article already referred to) called playing him out of position at the Nix "a hospital pass". Probably something to that.
And he wasn't exactly supported onfield by his team-mates - I remember Manny opting for a long cross-field pass (that went out of play) rather than send a short ball to the unmarked Musa. It was bizarre, but spoke volumes of the other players' confidence in him.
Anyway, I hope the kid goes ok at Fulham.
The one time Musa played in position he and Jade North put in probably the worst ever display by a Nix centre back pairing (and that's saying something when you think about some of the CBs we've had).
I don't remember anybody saying "that kids destined for the Premier League" then.
If he's improved since then and Fulham think they see something in him then great, I hope it works out. But he definitely never did enough here to justify keeping a full squad spot under the A-League's restrictions.
From what I saw of him, I thought there was a footballer in him and probably was worth another year. But the club must have thought otherwise.
I wish him the best of luck in the UK. But not being mean, he is more likely to be the next Jack Pelter than a Smith/Reid/Nelsen. I do hope he proves me wrong.
Am curious as to why the development cost might have scutled this when Fulham and others spend far more on speculative signings from league 1/2 and South American/African countries for their U18s/20s etc.
I'm probably going out on a limb here, but maybe it has something to do with the difference in budgets your average Premiership club and the Phoenix have?
And the fact they have no squad restrictions,salary caps, and also have academies,reserve and youth teams playing in competitive leagues.
But nah,sack ricki.
this is a great move for the young guy. He struggled in the nix back four when he played - possibly too young and inexperienced at the time. Playing in the ASB regularly has seen him mature to the point that at the olympics he played well enough to get noticed. Had the nix had a proper youth team last year he'd still be here playing for us.
He only played 35 minutes at the Olympics.
Hopefully this works out better for him than it did for Chris James.
Chris James was great at Fulham, he was genuinely rated by the coaches and people who watched him play for the reserves. His problem was refusing a contract extension that they offered him to look for first team football elsewhere
The one time Musa played in position he and Jade North put in probably the worst ever display by a Nix centre back pairing (and that's saying something when you think about some of the CBs we've had).
I don't remember anybody saying "that kids destined for the Premier League" then.
If he's improved since then and Fulham think they see something in him then great, I hope it works out. But he definitely never did enough here to justify keeping a full squad spot under the A-League's restrictions.
He didn't need a full spot, he could have been a youth player.
Worst ever performance by a CB pairing? Have you forgotten when we had Steven Old and Steven O'dor playing together in season 1!!!!!!!
We have a very poor record of developing young players so it's probably better for his career that it didn't work out. Youth spot at the Phoenix is a career graveyard
Marco, Kosta, Hearfield.
Careers dead as a Dodo those three.
Draper's career not exactly dead. How about the last academy programme? Tim Myers and Luke Adams are going okay.
Hearfield was signed as a starter - it just happened that he qualified as a youth player. The majority of our youth players have left without making an impact at the club and the two best talents ended up leaving before we ever saw the best of them. On Musa, I'd be really interested to know how Fulham supposedly scouted him when he only played such a short time at the tournament. I wonder whether they just saw big, strong fast guy, fairly young let's see if we can teach him to pass the ball!