At 19 years of age, Sammy Ameobi is one Newcastle’s brightest young talents. Unsurprisingly, following his stunning goal against Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup, there have been calls for Sammy to be given more game time. Arguably he’d be more effective coming off the bench than his brother Shola, or Demba Ba if he isn’t in the starting eleven. There have definitely been calls from many Newcastle fans for him to maybe even start in the Premier League, but are we expecting too much too soon from Sammy Ameobi?
There is a tendency from football fans to love the exuberance of youth; it’s human nature. We also like to see home grown players do well, and Ameobi ticks both those boxes. There’s nothing like seeing an exciting young talent make a name for themselves, which Ameobi certainly did against Scunthorpe. However, Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is more than happy to keep using Sammy in his role as an impact sub.
Pardew told the Chronicle: “I’ve said to Sammy that at this stage of his career he’s going to be a cameo player for us. There are a lot of things about his game that mean we wouldn’t want to start him yet until he’s nailed them down.” That’s to be expected for a player of his age, but Pardew did also add fire to the flames, in terms of Sammy being a big player for Newcastle in the future. He continued: “I think there could be a big future for him here. We’ve just got to make sure we do it the right way.”
However much we’d like to see Sammy Ameobi in the black and white stripes more often, the right way for him to be brought through is gradually. Sammy himself seems really down to earth, as well. He said: “To be playing for Newcastle United – I can’t believe I’ve got this chance. But this is just the beginning, it’s really no more than that. I can’t believe it but I’m taking nothing for granted, I’ve got such a long way to go. It’s just a start.” Apart from the fact that he can’t believe it, Victor Meldrew take note, Ameobi isn’t getting ahead of himself, a refreshing change from the multitude of arrogant young footballers around at the moment.
Sammy Ameobi should be a big player for Newcastle in the future, not right now. We’ve all seen how young footballers can go from being good one minute to completely forgotten about the next, Nile Ranger is a great example of that, but Ranger and Sammy are seemingly like chalk and cheese. For now, Ameobi can make the most of his chances from the bench, most likely starting against Nottingham Forest in midweek. Let’s not put too much pressure on the young lad, though, and give him time to develop.
Written by Tom Jones for NothingButNewcastle.com.
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