Nathan Delfouneso - TalkSoccer

**Sven** · 07-02-2007, 03:50 PM

How good is he?

Talking to a Villa fan, who said he's just like Gaby , fast and skillfull. he's 16?

Do you think he will make it Andy? (If you know anything about it)

**andy villa** · 08-02-2007, 10:24 AM

he is a fantastic prospect...

hes not as quick as gabby though.. then again, not many, if any, are...

but..

for a 15 year old, he is very strong, very athletic and is very pacy..

possibly better on the ball than gabby too...

got an eye for a poachers goal too....

if you want a comparison to a current player, think a 15 year old drogba...

**Sven** · 08-02-2007, 10:35 AM

Nice, so he's gonna be next big thing from the Villa youth system.

I've gained some interest about Villa youth acdemy and there's gonna be a few good players coming through.

Nathon to be compared to Drogba that is some compairsion. Is he the best player at your acdemy atm? or too hard to say.

**andy villa** · 08-02-2007, 10:41 AM

i would say so...

but he is still very young... and a lot of us thought that shane paul was going to make it huge from his early days and he didnt...

although he is a good few years away...

as for ones close to the first team now, herd, mcgurk, allbrighton, the bellon brothers, stieber, etc, might not be too far away from a first team chance... depending how they develop over the next year or two...

stieber is probably closest, but he is very lightweight... lovely left foot though and some silky skills...

but then again, stephen cooke had all that, and was named best player at a youth tournament a couple of years ago, that included barca and milan, that we won, but didnt make it due to his size..

so the jury is out on stieber...

**Sven** · 08-02-2007, 10:46 AM

oh thanks for that. I'm guessing Steiber must be from Bulgaria? or Hungary?

I thought you were gonna say Ridgewell then so I could catch you at, as he came from West ham youth, but to smart for me.

**andy villa** · 08-02-2007, 11:48 AM

stieber is hungarian..

and i didnt state ridge, mainly because he isnt ever going to be as good as the others mentioned...

and, he came from west hams youth...

although he was mainly developed by the villa, so he could be counted in a similar way that jlloyd and barry have been, who came from charlton and brighton respectively.....