Lovely little story this
Three young boys are haring around a barbershop in Manchester's trendy Northern Quarter filled with zest and a constant buzz.
And so they should. Meet a third of Moston Tigers Under Eights, such an exceptional group that nine of the team's 10 members have been snapped up by professional academies for next season.
What happened to the 10th, the goalkeeper? Well, he is 'only' on trial — at Manchester United. This is clearly a special group of young players from the north of a city renowned for developing the stars of tomorrow.
Two — Amari Moses and Mekhi McLeod — are just back from Marseille, starring for Everton in a competition which pitted them against Barcelona and AC Milan. The other, Saul Griffiths, is at Accrington Stanley.
As for the rest, Stoke City signed one, Oldham another. Two more are with Everton. From September, Manchester City and Manchester United's Under Nine captains, Dante Headley and Jay McEvoy, will hail from this team — and they are not the first Tigers to make such astonishing progress.
Things started to become very real for Amari and his three team-mates at Everton very quickly, however.
'Basically, they trained with the first team in the morning and later went into Ronald Koeman's office and signed,' Moses smiles, just as his anecdote is briefly interrupted as Mekhi and Amari belt out an Everton terrace chant.
'The first team did their normal session and when they had done they came across to the boys and mingled with the different age groups.
'They did little games, had a little chat and a laugh. They're all talking about, "Oh, I was playing with Romelu Lukaku", or "I nutmegged Phil Jagielka!"
There is a bit more to the story about how they have played all the PL academies and beat Chelsea 15-5!! Also a little write up on our players
Alfie Healey - Pace to burn and classy left foot. Very early days but already ambitious comparisons to young Giggs.
Mekhi McLeod - Silky MF who glides through games and mixes up his range of passing.
Amari Moses - A scary faint and dazzles opponents who are confused by his tricks. Direct runner who heads straight for goal.
Malik Olayiwola - Striker who apparently shocked a crowd rece tly by scoring an overhead kick similar to Rooney against City