Dan Cook has been speaking on the HLTCO podcast about how well Victor Akinwale is performing for Crystal Palace’s U18s.
Palace have enjoyed some relative success when it comes to players graduating from their academy into the first team with the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Gareth Southgate, Victor Moses and Nathaniel Clyne all high profile players to have been produced by the Eagles.
Should Zaha leave Crystal Palace?
Yes!
No!
Looking at all those players, none of them are out and out strikers, and that is an area Cook believes that Palace could improve on with their last notable striker coming from the academy being Clinton Morrison who made his debut for the Eagles in 1998, but Akinwale, who is tearing it up for Palace’s youth sides, could be an answer to their calls when he gets a bit older.
Cook is very happy to see Akinwale producing the goods in front of goal for Palace’s under 18s.
“There was also a piece that I saw this morning profiling Victor Akinwale, the academy striker who has been making waves in the under 18s and the under 23s in the last 18 months or so.
“It’s good to see him spoken about I have to say, I believe he’s got six goals in six games for the under 23s this season, actually, it may not be the under 23s, it may be the under 18s, sorry about that, but either way, he is someone who’s raised eyebrows within the academy set up over the last year or so.
“It’s always good to see goal scorers coming through at academy level it’s not something we’ve had a great deal of over the years. Of course, Johnny Williams, Victor Moses Wilfried Zaha, Sean Scannell, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Tyrick Michel and the list goes on and on.
“But in terms of out and out goal scorers, in my mind at least, we haven’t had anyone to come through the academy since Clinton Morrison.”
TIF Thoughts on Palace’s academy…
Considering the size of Palace as a club in London compared to sides such as Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham, it’s quite a feat for them to attract such high-quality players, keep them in their academy and then offer them a clear route into the first team.
It’s quite clear over the last few years that there certainly is a pathway for youngsters into the first team with the likes of Wan-Bissaka making it into the set-up, and then leaving, while players like Tyrick Mitchell and most recently this season, 19-year old Jesurun Rak-Sakyi has been handed minutes under Patrick Vieira, therefore, it should motivate players such as Akinwale to fight for a spot in the team and not be looking for a move away.
In other news: ‘It sounds ridiculous’ – Dan Cook reacts as CPFC star is ‘in the news and the headlines’