There was one player that gained interest from a dozen of clubs during the January transfer window, no it wasn’t the likes of Sergio Aguero or Charlie Adam. In fact, it was a player that has slipped under the radar all the way down in the Ryman League Division One. Paul McCallum, then of Dulwich Hamlet F.C. is a 17-year old striker who attracted the interest from the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham and Fulham to name a few. Which begs the question, how was this lad not spotted sooner?
All the hype came two weeks ago when McCallum started to attract more and more visiting scouts to his games as a Dulwich Hamlet player. He was able to notch 6 goals in 3 games around that time which did him no harm in getting a trial at Premier League club West Ham United.
Streatham born McCallum, only joined the Non-League side last year having previously played Sunday League football for fun. Now the teenage striker who impressed on his trial as the Hammers has now signed for the club on deadline day for £40,000. He’ll join the youth team set-up with top coach, Tony Carr – who will be looking to get the best out of the promising striker.
I believe this type of story is only good for football when you hear the likes of the top teams around the world signing players to their youth set-ups from as young as 11 years of age, only for them to never be heard of again when they’re older. A lot of players do not start to physically grow until their late teens and may be cast out from youth set-ups because they’re not able to compete with the 6ft teenagers around them.
In McCallum’s case who’s been dubbed a ‘late developer’ by his coach at Dulwich, shows that as a young footballer, you do not have to play for an academy at a very young age to make it in football. McCallum chose West Ham over the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea stating that the Hammers’ reputation for developing youth players persuaded his decision.
It will be exciting to see if McCallum can live up to his potential and break into the first team in the future, if he does then he’ll join a long list of strikers who had the same path into the Pro Game, most notably, Ian Wright and Les Ferdinand. Given West Ham’s talented youth set-up, it must show how much they rate McCallum for the future.
