A very talented eight-year-old midfielder from Downend, Callum Macey, has decided to go the path of Wayne Bridge, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Theo Walcott by joining the Southampton FC Academy very early in his career.
It takes a long journey for about just any talented player to transition from playing in the park into becoming a professional footballer.
Macey is the only player his age that have been offered a contract by the club this year in Bristol. Other Premier League stars that followed also broke from through from the academy side to the Saints first team before big-money moves include Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale and England internationals Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Theo Walcott and Wayne Bridge. Callum Macey’s raw talent was first noticed by the academy over two years ago and he was invited to its development centre in Bath for further assessment.
He will now be given three years by the academy for closer watch before the club decides whether to invite him to join its main academy on the South Coast.
The youngster has visited the club’s Staplewood training ground where the academy players join the first team in training. Callum has even met forward Jay Rodriguez and manager Ronald Koeman. Callum is said to be very good with both feet and favours picking up the ball from the backline, taking on other players one-on-one, and is also good at reading the game. The very young talent would be required to join the pre-season training in July. He also looks up to Southampton is midfielder and Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis. When asked why he liked Steven Davis and his favourite position, he said:
“He’s good on the ball and he plays well when he’s attacking.
“I would love to play right midfield, or midfield somewhere.”