Ever heard of Danny Karbassiyoon?

No? Today I got my "Touchline Virginia Youth Soccer Association" winter edition. Its basically in the form of a newspaper and its all about youth soccer in Virginia.

Anyways, this guy Danny Karbassiyoon is going to sign with Arsenal this coming summer. He's an 18 year old senior in Roanoke, Virginia and the Arsenal scouts are very impressed with him. He came over for a two week trial in the summer and was offered a contract immediately afterwards.

Here are some quotes:

"He will almost certainly sign the contract, but wants to wait until finishing his final year of high school in May before moving to England." - The author of this article, Robert Ziegler.

"The staff here were impressed with his demeanor and general attitude. He's a very intelligent boy, and to bring him over straightaway might be detrimental to his schooling - so let's wait. It would be quite a bit of upheaval for him and he's quite a prospect, so we're willing to wait." - Arsenal scout, Steve Rowley.

"He caught my eye because of his technique, pace, and the fact this his stamina was superb. . . . I also noticed his enthusiasm and demeanor off the field. Just to see how he responded to others, being approachable, happy and smiling, stood out. To make the change from living in america to England, a player has to have good enough character to make that change, so those qualities he has are very, very relevant." - Steve Rowley

Ironically, he almost didn't make the ESP camp ( a well known camp for elite players in North Carolina) because of lack of Olympic Developmental experience, but with some people unable to make it, he was allowed in and ended up winning the golden boot for the camp's best attacker.

"When he went to train with the first team, to be honest, he didn't look out of place. He was being marked by Sol Campbell and it didn't worry him at all." - Steve Rowley speaking about the two days he spent training with the first team. The rest of the two weeks was spent with the reserves.


Thought I'd give you a heads up on this guy if you don't already know who he is. I found this article very interesting.

 

So what do you guys think of this kid? (its a bit ironic I call him a kid considering he's older than me.) Seriously though, I wonder how he compares on the field with the other players.