...he simply needs to leapfrog players to get game time time and he has the advantage of athleticism over some of them. The big challenge for him is taking care of the football but he will learn lots about keeping possession training with the first team.
I watched him in the "mini derby" last week and I did point him out, albeit a little critically.
He is unusually big for someone of his age and has yet to "grow into" his body at all. I saw him next to Clarkson for Liverpool and he looked about a foot taller than him. He was beginning to carry the ball well in that game, but needs to do a lot more of it. The current trend is for midfield players who can "break the lines" with the ball and he has it in his game.
To me, and it's a short cameo- he did better than Small yesterday. I thought his position play was really good without the ball and he snapped into a couple of tackles. For all the criticism he gets, Unsworth deserves credit for that, he looked poitionally disciplined without the ball.
There was bit of the John Stones with him, who was also really wiry when he first emerged. Onyango may be a bit bigger than Stones was, and you can see he probably has a fair bit of growing to do. You can't get away from his size really. People don't like it much, but to mkake it at the top top teams, unless you are an unreal talent, size becomes really important.
I go back to that Clarkson at Liverpool, who looked a very tidy footballer and probably a bit better technically, but at 5 ft 7 when he's 20 he's not going to make the grade, certainly not for a period yet.
The academy has had a fair bit of criticism, but to bring 2 more lads on, with us from 8 & 11 respectively is a big plus. They need to keep working hard, but both look to have the physique to cope with mens football.
