Rising stars!
Reporter: MATTHEW CHAMBERS
Date published: 25 August 2011
Latics teens on right track
TWO of Athletic’s young guns have been earmarked as potential stars — by the man who knows them best.
While pleading patience over expectations for Carl Winchester and David Mellor, youth team boss Tony Philliskirk reckons the 18-year-old duo can only get better the more minutes they get under their belt in the first team.
Winchester has started three matches this season and Mellor one, as manager Paul Dickov shows again he isn’t afraid to give youth its chance.
Former Linfield prospect Winchester, who signed a two-year professional contract in the summer, has even been trusted with the responsibility of a central midfield role in the last two games against Scunthorpe and Rochdale.
And he has helped to guide the team to two successive and vital npower League One victories.
“It is where he is at his happiest and he is so comfortable receiving the ball in there,” said Philliskirk of Winchester's stationing in the middle of the park.
“I am sure the manager sees that. Physically, he has got a lot of development to do as he is slight of frame.
“But when Mick (Priest, centre of excellence manager) and I first saw him, he just looked like a footballer.
“He has a deceptive style, but covers the ground so well and I believe that the more he plays for the first team, the better he will become.”
A senior player for Linfield’s reserves at the tender age of 16, Winchester — now a full Northern Ireland international, having won his first cap against Wales in July — is likely to feature again on Saturday at Colchester, but will miss the following week’s home game against Huddersfield Town as a result of an under-21s call-up.
Mellor is another first-team talent in the making. The 18-year-old midfielder scored a terrific goal with his unfavoured right foot on his starting debut at Glanford Park last week.
He then missed the Rochdale derby due to illness, which has also prevented him from training in the early part of this week.
Bulkier of frame than counterpart Winchester, Philliskirk believes the second-year scholar also has plenty of potential.
“David is over six feet tall and has filled out well,” he added. “He is another player you have to be patient with.
“He is a good lad who works hard on his game and he has got a wand of a left foot."
Meanwhile, Huddersfield striker Robbie Simpson has again been linked with a loan switch to Athletic.
Dickov has been on the trail of the 26-year-old former Coventry forward, who can also operate on the wing, since before the start of the season.
And Simpson could now link up with his club-mate Nathan Clarke on loan at Boundary Park.
