Feruz A Grand Old Team To Play For?

I am normally quite ambivalent when a player leaves Celtic.

I’m not one of those folk who wishes any player ill, nor am I the kind of person who keeps an eye out for a player once he departed.

When a footballer is no longer at Parkhead, I pretty much cease to care.

There are exceptions. One of those is Islam Feruz.

Everyone who knew Islam Feruz said he would never play for the Celtic first team. He was always going to have his head turned by a big move, they said.

He was too talented, too good to be playing in Scottish football.

He was never going to hang around once the English clubs came sniffing, and made him a good offer.

I’d been hearing about Islam Feruz for years, as many of us had, but I had a couple of personal connections.

A family friend and local councillor had gone to the bat for him in asylum interviews, assuring that he was able to stay in the UK to pursue a career in the game.

In addition, I worked alongside a guy called Maurice, who was coaching him in his spare time.

He said Feruz was the most talented footballer he had ever seen.

My mucker big Maurice was a Chelsea fan; when Feruz signed for them I sent him an email congratulating his club on stealing a fine talent, a talent he was very familiar with of course … but as an afterthought I speculated on whether or not they’d ever get to see him in their own first team.

The stories I’d been hearing about Feruz didn’t sound good at all.

I heard rumours of overwhelming arrogance, of a player who didn’t like discipline, who found training a chore, a player who would get mouthy with team-mates and wasn’t beyond slinging a bit of verbal in the direction of his coaches.

I’d also heard that Celtic were angry with his attitude, and his percieved lack of loyalty.

This was a kid we’d rescued. A kid we’d taken care of.

Celtic had invested not only time and money in this footballer’s talents … we’d looked after his family, we’d shown him the love.

In return, the club had expected that he might show some in return.

That the notion of doing so barely crossed his mind was a sign of what really motivated him.

Islam Feruz is obviously blessed with a phenomenal talent. Anyone who watched him knows this, and appreciates it.

But talent is not everything. The game is filled with stories about players who had all the ability in the world … but making it as a professional requires more than that. It requires dedication and hard work. It requires patience. It makes demands on not only your skill, but on your lifestyle and your attitude.

I always wondered, based on what I’d heard about him, if we’d ever see the best of him.

And because of that, I have kept an eye on this player’s career, such as it is.

Islam Feruz has been at Chelsea since 2011. In four years he has not made a single first team appearance in a professional game.

That, in itself, we can probably excuse him … Chelsea has a multi-million pound squad, and he would have to be super-special to get into it. Yet a kid called Nathan Ake, a 20 year old Chelsea Acadamy graduate, has played six times for the first team already … including in the Champions League.

Feruz has been on loan twice, at Crete and at Blackpool. He was at Crete for months, and made only one appearance. He made two at Blackpool.

Today, Blackpool sent him back to Chelsea, citing issues on and off the field.

One of them was certainly his public criticism of the club and its style of play.

You could have made the excuse that this is a kid who simply has to grow up, except he’s no longer a kid, but a young adult.

Islam Feruz is now 19, the age at which we should be starting to see him shine.

Players in the same age bracket (18-21) include Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj, Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse, Ross Barkley at Everton, Luke Shaw at Manchester United and Spurs sensation Harry Kane. Age is no barrier to playing in that league.

Let’s put it this way; West Brom’s Saido Berahino is 21. He’s already played over 60 games for that club and over 30 on loan at other teams.

He wants a move to a bigger club, as evidenced by the way contract talks have broken down there, but few would argue that he has earned it … he’s applied himself and is reaping the rewards.

As I said earlier, when Feruz left for Chelsea I wondered if he’d ever make a first team appearance for that club.

Now I wonder if he’ll make it at all. Oh yeah, he’ll certainly have a career in the game … he’s too good not to … but the longer he takes to grow up and get a grip the more I wonder if it’ll be the sort of career that talent deserves. In short, I suspect he’ll waste it.

He will only have himself to blame.