Giles Phillips in England

It's certainly not every day that players sign out of D3 schools with teams at this level. It looks like he was a standout high school player but doesn't seem to have any past YNT experience -- his club appears to be a non-DA travel organization.

At the risk of too much guessing, "Giles" is a name one might associate with English heritage, which could have helped his signing and perhaps also his exposure.

 

...add to that list, Wilberforce.

 

A kingdom for a DOB!

 

Not a DOB, but his (mostly private) Facebook page lists his hometown as in the UK. A Redditor, who may or may not know what they're talking about, says he spent a lot of his childhood in the UK -- which may very well be true, though it does appear he was in the U.S. for high school at the least.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/6idzjv/qprfc_qpr_have_signed_american_youngster_giles/

 

Not too surprising to see unknown players turn up at QPR from america, ex QPR defender David Bardsley runs football camps in Florida and has unofficially been suggesting players for a while.

Hamalainen who has managed a couple of first team appearances now was a Bardsley suggestion for example.

 

Hamalainen was a Florida player, so the connection makes sense. Was Bardsley involved with Phillips in some way?

(Years back, I believe there was a thread here for Bardsley's son...)

 

QPR use to have an affiliated club near me in Central Florida. A couple players I knew received trials from there. They fell with the growth of Orlando City.

 

An astute correspondent has noticed that the QPR site's Phillips announcement is now a dead link, which could mean anything I suppose.

https://www.qpr.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/qpr-giles-phillips-qpr-under-23s-3731391.aspx

 

It apparently means nothing, since there's another link:

https://www.qpr.co.uk/news/under-23s-news/qpr-sign-youngster-giles-phillips/

This is the original, via Internet Archive -- doesn't seem to be much difference:

https://web.archive.org/web/2017062...qpr-giles-phillips-qpr-under-23s-3731391.aspx

 

Hello everyone, just to clear the mystery about Giles. He was born in UK to British parents but grew up in Chicago suburbs. He played for D3 school, and last year he attended showcase that my agency organized in Chicago suburbs. We bring European scouts to watch the showcase, and in November of 2016, Giles was scouted by QPR scout, and that is how he ended up there. The fact that he has UK passport helped, but was not crucial. He is an extraordinary player, he's doing amazing in pre-training games and I am pretty sure he will have an amazing career. We are having next showcase this Labor day weekend, and again many European scouts will attend, to give a chance to players like Giles who have the quality but just never got a chance to be seen.
Thanks.
www.europeanshowcase.us

 

Yes, my point is that it helped him to sign, but it did not help him with any exposure.

 

74' #QPR changes
➡️ @GilesPhillips22
➡️ @charlie97owens
⬅️ @Niko_Hamalainen
⬅️ Grant Hall
(2-1)

— QPR FC (@QPR) July 8, 2017

Giles Phillips played 15 minutes in a preseason friendly this morning.

 

Does he definitely have a U.S. passport? I assume so, and the club seems to think so, but since he was apparently born abroad to English parents, figured I would ask.

 

Yes, he does have a US passport.

 

Many thanks.

 

May have been mentioned already, but do you know his date of birth?

 

06/22/1997

 

Earning rave reviews from onlookers so far this pre-season.

Wouldn't be surprised if he made his way into a few early match squads.

Hamalainen unfortunately appears to be going the other way..