Simon on a mission to discover £1m prodigy

Photo: Picture: ANTHONY MILLER

PLAYER info at his fingertips: Simon Cooper.

ATHLETIC are in prime position to grab the next Paul Scholes for themselves, says head of academy coaching Simon Cooper.

Simon sees future grass-roots stars developing in Boundary Park’s hothouse - rather than Old Trafford’s.

The upbeat message being beaten out of the small, packed and thoroughly-dedicated development office at Boundary Park might seem odd — particularly against a backdrop of North-West rivals Macclesfield and Stockport dropping their youth development programmes.

But with local giants City and United preferring to bring in young talent from around the world rather than focus on the likes of Scholes’s former club - Boundary Park Juniors - Cooper says Athletic’s

set-up is perfectly placed to capitalise.

“City, United and even Blackburn are buying young lads at 16 from abroad,” said the Oldham-based coach. “It gives us a bigger market to play with in Greater Manchester and Lancashire. It is brilliant for us. City and United have to produce world-class players. We have to produce League One and Championship players.

“People say it is getting harder, but I don’t believe it is. There is an awful lot of talent around and available to us. The next Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are out there. They just need to be given their opportunity.”

Statistics show Athletic - despite being dwarfed financially by many others — are in the nation’s top 10 clubs for the number of current professionals who have come up through the ranks over the last decade.

Athletic can point to one recent graduate who has flown the nest, Brentford’s James Tarkowski, as

evidence of the club’s good work.

Cooper hopes that at some stage, Athletic’s backing of youth will result in a player departing Boundary Park for a seven-figure sum: “My target, and some people think it is crazy, is to have sold a player who has come through the academy for £1m.”

One youngster who could hit that landmark is 16-year-old forward Jack Tuohy. The first-year scholar hit 104 goals in 80 games for Heyside Juniors as an eight year old and thrives on pressure.

“If we can get him on the pitch for the first team, the fans will absolutely adore him. He is one of the most technically-gifted players at the club. He is the sort of player we want to produce.”