I'd be interested to find out more of up and coming future socceroos
who have great deal of potential in them

It would be helpful if we were given a bit of a description of the player and what kind type of player he is or will be.

Dean Bouzanis

'Bouzanis is on loan to Sydney FC for 12 months from none other than five-time European champion Liverpool. Bouzanis caught the attention of one of the world's most famous sides after playing in the New South Wales Premier League at the age of 14 and representing Australia's Joeys at 15. Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is on record as describing Bouzanis as the best goalkeeper of his age in the world right now.'

http://www.freewebs.com/socceroo_06/index.htm

This is a year or so out of date but

Rostyn Griffiths (Blackburn Rovers – 17):

The 17 year old midfielder, with Blackburn Rovers, is quick and reasonably tall, he has skill on the ball and lethal finishing. He is currently one of the best English youth league midfielders, and has been rewarded by being promoted to the Blackburn Rovers Reserve team, where he played 9 matches scoring 1 goal. His career has so far spanned 16 games for a return of 6 goals in two seasons at Blackburn, hindered by a broken leg. Wales are currently trying to “lure him over”, and at 16 years of age, there was reports of him being selected for their senior national side. A representative of Australian national youth sides he is definitely one of Australia’s young guns, and a star of the future.


James Wesolowski (Leicester City – 18):

Australians may argue that Kilkenny is Australia’s best current prospect, because of his experience in the top division. However critics both in England and Australia have earmarked this man as the “next big thing”. He only made 4 brief appearances in the English Championship this season, so unlucky, suffering two broken legs, one in the pre-season against Celtic, then after 4 games coming back from the first broken leg he broke his second against Brighton. However, in the brief time between the injuries Wesolowski made enough of an impression, to become the unconditional crowd favourite at Leicester, having 2 brilliant assists in the 4 games he played. A graduate of Westfields Sports High School, like so many Socceroos, his ex-coach’s have been quoted as saying that he is the best player ever to come out of the school, the same school Harry Kewell attended.


Quote:
“"Freak, the best kid we have ever seen here. I don't know if I could even compare Harry to him. Play him anywhere you like. He played Commonwealth Bank Cup at 13 in year 8, he's been playing 19's for Leicester City in England and he's only just turned 15. He's hardworking, mature and intelligent", says Morgan with sheer pride.
"if anybody was going to make it, you'd put your money on James. He is far superior to most players and exceptional in his dedication. You've got a kid in year 9 who's the best player in the senior team", says Barrett, who has seen many a player in his time.”

The answer of Wesolowski vs. Kilkenny may come quicker than some may have thought when the two young-guns match up for their respective sides next year in the Championship, due to Birmingham’s recent relegation.


Cameron Watson (FC Porto – 18):

Undoubtedly the hardest “young-gun” to recover information on, an AIS graduate, Cameron first showed his abilities, when he continued to score for the AIS on its tour of Argentina. Currently in the Australian U-20 side he was transferred to Portuguese giants FC Porto in July 2005. A quick attacking midfielder, with sublime finishing skills, as Cameron looks to apply his skills in Europe, the rest of Australia will be looking on in interest.

Kristian Sarkies (Melbourne Victory – 19):

Could potentially be one of Australia’s best players come 5 years time, he is oozing raw talent, and is one of Australia’s most technically gifted players. Lethal dead ball finisher, and with a pinpoint cross and creative passing, he has all the makings of an Australian David Beckham. At home most as an attacking central midfielder, Guus Hiddink saw enough in the teenager to be placed as a standby for the World Cup squad. Kristian has now seemed to have adapted to the right side of midfield, under the mentoring of Hiddink, with a solid first season in the A-League, the boy from Dingly, whom represented South Melbourne at the age of 16 in the old NSL, he could well be the A-League’s first real prodigy, after his debut cap against Liechtenstein in June of 2006

Kaz Patafta (Benfica – 17):

One of Australia’s most publicised young talents. But undoubtedly one of Australia’s top young talents, Patafta originally from Canberra, the Joeys U-17 Captain is a star in the making. A string of clubs were chasing Patafta, including Guus Hiddink, after he saw the player’s skill when he trained with the Socceroos prior to their matches against Uruguay. Originally overlooked by A-League clubs, Portuguese giants Benfica won his signature in November of 2005. Described as a cross between Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill, he is intelligent and hard working. The ultimate warhorse for the future Australian midfield, Patafta, who trained with the Socceroos prior to the World Cup, may well see action sooner than he thinks, with the Asia Cup qualifiers looming large on the horizon, many will not be surprised if Kaz Patafta is a sneak selection.

Neil Kilkenny (Birmingham City – 19):

Unbeknown to Neil, when he pledged his allegiance to Australia, and tied himself by debuting against Liechtenstein, he took on the hopes of a future nation. Supremely talented, the England U-19’s player made 25 appearances in England’s top flight in 05/06, and duly won the Birmingham young player of the year award. With a great passing game, and decision making beyond his years, it was no wonder Australian full-back Stan Lazaridis, jumped out of his seat when he heard he had grown up in Australia. Expected to form the nucleus of the team for the next decade, Kilkenny will look to stamp his mark as more than a “potential” star when he will attempt to help his side Birmingham City reach promotion in the English Championship next season.


David Williams (Brondby FC – 18)

Would be possibly the quickest player in Australian football, from aboriginal decent this player has just recently been transferred from Queensland Roar, to Brondby FC in the Danish top tier. A very respectable club Brondby boasts one of the best lists in Scandinavia, where David will hopefully be able to hone his skill better. As with Sarkies, possess the raw talent to be something truly special, Williams is in the same mould of Samuel Eto’o, as he is an out and out striker, who breaks the lines and punishes defences with what can only be described as breath taking and obliterating play. An unknown to a lot of the Australian public, David Williams will sure become a household name in Australia in the next 5 years.

James Troisi (Newcastle United – 17):

The Striker/Winger is very much in the mould of Harry Kewell, loves to dribble, with blistering pace. Near unstoppable at youth level where Troisi is averaging a goal a game. He was promoted to the reserve side, where he continued to net goals, even though he was being played further up the field. Described as a “spark”, Troisi can bring life to any attack, and torments defences with extremely intelligent runs, but due to his blistering pace, and knack in front of goal, he is seldom caught. An Australian U-17 representative, Troisi’s star is expected to rise, especially if he is given the chance on the world stage, like the upcoming Olympics in Beijing.

Scott Jamieson (Bolton Wanderers – 17):

Scott could be described as the quiet achiever of the Australian “wonderkids” group. With neither the hype of Kilkenny, Patafta or Sarkies, the versatile midfielder/full back’s achievements are just as impressive. An Australian U-17 representative and another

graduate of Westfields Sports High School, he has made the startling achievement of braking into the Wanderers senior side at the age of 17. All be it a friendly, his impressive performances in a wing-back role in the reserves put his name in selection criteria more the once during the season. The rare ability for a fullback to deliver good crosses from deep positions, Scott also has the uncanny ability to run forward and find himself on the end of a cross from his team mates at the far post. A versatile option once the likes of Emerton retire, Scott will be staking his claim even harder in the 06/07 season.

Adam Hardy (Olympic Marseilles – 17):

Described by Kewell as Australia’s best ever youth prospect. Left for France at the tender age of 13 to take up an amateur contract at Olympic Marseilles (He can sign as a professional as soon as he turns 18). Currently in their esteemed youth program, of which there are only limited places. He is Australia’s potential dynamo on the wing. Kewell is quoted as saying “the kid is a wing wizard”. Has the ability to play either wing, Adam hasn’t appeared in any Australian youth teams, more by choice rather than talent. Extremely quick, and has the ability to dribble and trick any defender, he is Australia’s own future Christiano Ronaldo. With very few Australian players going through the French youth academy’s, of which is regarded as one of the elite in the world, Australia may find itself a new breed of Footballer. Extremely quick, skillful and very cheeky is his style. Thus is the French way, Australia will sure welcome this future star in the coming years.

Dez Giraldi (Empoli/Adelaide Utd – 20):

Dez is the classical breed of Italian forward. Moderately tall, technically, and physically strong he is contracted with the Italian Serie A club Empoli. He and Empoli have agreed for Dez to go out on loan to Adelaide Utd for a season in the A-League, where in front of the gaze of the Australian public, he might express his great talents. At only a tender age of 20, whilst Dez currently hasn’t fullfilled his potential, he is worth remembering, in the coming years as Australia’s “old firm” retires.

Nathan Coe (PSV Eindhoven – 22):

If Australian’s were afraid of who’s to come after Schwarzer and Kalac retires, look no further. In terms of Goalkeepers careers, Coe’s is just in its infant stages. However, he possesses all the talents to play in top flight Europe at this current time. Contracted to Guus Hiddink’s PSV Eindhoven, Coe continues to be the benefit of ongoing public praise from the Socceroo’s coach, whom believes he is almost ready to take over the reins at PSV. Originally signed by Inter Milan from the Brisbane Strikers, he is one year the junior of his countryman Brad Jones from Middlesborough, whom made his debut this year. It looks as though one battle, Kalac vs. Schwarzer is about to end, and another begin Coe vs. Jones. But this being a good thing to Australia, their goalkeeping duties look to be in safehands, for at least another decade.

Paul Giannou (Victorian Institute of Sport – 16):

Paul is one of Australia’s home-grown super talents. Don’t let the Victorian institute of Sport flag misguide you, Paul is currently one of the best Australian based talents, and at such a young age, he looks certain to be a star. Paul represented the U-17 Australian team as a 15 year old, not only appearing was impressive, but he was the best player. Scoring against Indonesia, also scoring a rocket from 30 yards against Laos, but the goal was disallowed, from a dubious offside decision. Paul is an attacking midfielder who whilst representing Vic Metro in the Sydney National Competition finished top goal scorer, recently subbed on for the recently signed Brazillian Fred of the Melbourne Victory in a trial game for the A-league club. He looks certain to secure a professional contract in the near future for the Victory, who will be extremely lucky to then hold both signatures of two of Australia’s finest home based talents. Until this time, Paul can only keep impressing those closest to him, until he shows the Australian public what “Apo” is all about.

this is such a good post 10 years on.

Predictions ended up being a wee bit off the mark.

[quote=Maverick]This is a year or so out of date but[unquote=Maverick]...

out of date or not, I am impressed... where did you find the info?

=p~ =d> =p~ =d> =p~ =d> =p~ =d> =p~ =d> =p~ =d> =p~ =d> =p~ =d> =p~

yeh thats is quite out of date...adam hardy the kid at marseille or however you say it...apparently he quit soccer..two bad injuries and missing home so he gave the game away...sad if its true...also rosytn griffiths?unsure whether he is welsh or aussie..dont no if he has yet pleged his allegiance to either...but yes our future is looking ever so bright

Watch out for Oliver Bozanic. He signed for Reading in january and he is a great talent. He trained with the mariners for the past 2 seasons and played in the Pre Season Cup for them last year and done a real good job. Lawrie wanted to sign him for last season but he didnt want to sign so he could make the move over to Reading as soon as he turned 18 as he had that lined up for a while as far as i know.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366461

I don't know that I'd call Sarkies a 'wonderkid'. He's constantly failing to live up to his potential.

Good to see Patafta and Williams in the list though. Hoping to see Bouzanis get a little game time for Sydney FC this year too.

he hasn't ecaxtly been given all the match time in the world though has he?

Well there were better players infront of him at Melbourne. He should get a run at Adelaide though..

So because he can't force his way into the Melbourne Victory lineup, we're supposed to accept that he's an immense talent who could make it on the world stage? I know Melbourne were in sublime form last season and had good players all over the park - but surely if he'd been good enough, he'd have been given more game time.

I'll see how he goes at Adelaide, but he's fast approaching the time when his potential won't count for anything anymore and it'll be down to his on field performances.

he was competing with Fred, Muscat and Brebner last season. he lacks the "brazilian" style of Fred, the experience of Muscat and is more attacking than Brebner and one attacking midfielder in Fred is enough. he was just a wee bit unlucky i think.

Hey,

Sarkies is a good kid, he just needs more game time.

Julia.

mark bridge :-({|=

](*,)

I was referring to the post that said he hasn't been given the game time to show what he can do.

Which is why I said "He should get more game time at Adelaide."

Ok?

you skippy poof

LOL! =d>


I'll get you for that you Dutch bastard.

PS. Mods, don't throw the book at Raffa, he's a mate just jokin' around. And i'm not even skippy :P Just wanted to mention it incase you want to ban him lol

Despite the fact that you are mates, doesnt mean you can start using racist insults on the board. If you want to have a joke around, then use MSN or real life for it. Luckily for him I didnt read his comment before you posted a reply batigol.

Im not exactly sure you could call this kid a wonderkid (he's only 8 years old) but he certainly has potential.

Socceroo star of the future?

COULD this young goalscoring whiz be the next Tim Cahill or Harry Kewell? English club Bolton Wanderers certainly thinks eight-year-old James Psarros from Sans Souci has the credentials to become a Socceroo and/or star of the English Premier League.
After seeing video footage of the speedy youngster in action, they've invited James to England to attend their youth academy, with the view to signing him up in the future.

Bolton has more than 250 reasons to do so. That's how many goals James has scored in just three seasons.

His latest effort came last weekend when he went up an age group (Sans Souci under 9s) and promptly scored four goals against Lugarno and backed up with six goals against Carss Park in the U8s, to make it 38 goals in just seven games this season.

''Even opposition coaches and parents congratulate him after games and our club president gets emails from opposition parents,'' proud father John said.

James, also an age champion in athletics, was first spotted two years ago by ex-Socceroo Jim Patikas, who has been training James once a week since, much to James's joy.

''I love scoring goals and I'd love to become another Tim Cahill, my favourite player,'' said James, who last week appeared on the series, Football Stars of Tomorrow (Fox Sports), which has also looked at fellow local and new Liverpool signing Dean Bouzanis.

Patikas said that while James is still young, he is a ''standout'' for his age. ''He has outstanding speed; he has a quality that is natural. You can't coach that.''

http://www.theleader.com.au/2007/05/72_socceroo_star_of_the_future.php

Hey,

Even if that list is outdated, it still shows that Australia has a lack of promising defenders. Everyone wants to be in the action and score goals.

Julia.

Matthew Spiranovic is an 18yo defender and is well ahead of any of those mentioned above.

Well, that's one defender...but teams usually like to play with three or four rather than one.
We could always reinvent the old football with one defender and 10 forwards and an all in brawl...

Most of that looks very optomistic, if half of it comes true I'll be a very happy Aussie.

Hey,

Exactly, we need more defenders. Pronto.

Julia.

But the kids want to be in on the glory, there aren't enough tough-nut-defender type kids coming up. Unfortunately, there's not alot you can do about it appart from teach the kids to be able to play everywhere rather than to specialise in a certain position.

We are in good hands with defense, better than it was looking 2 years ago anyway.

We got some gun defenders coming through the A-League and also guys like Spiranovic and Aaron Downes playing overseas.

That doesn't mean that it's that good still... guys liek spiranovic and Downes are a start, but look at other countries like england and who they have coming up.

Fossie wouldn't appreciate you looking at England [-x

But seriously, we can't be comparing ourselves to England yet, I think this next generation has quite a few youngsters who are hyped up but haven't really shown anything. I'm just going to wait until they've all signed for Spurs before I judge.

I really couldn't give a fuck what Fossie "appreciates"...if he doesn't watch the EPL then he has no right to comment.
Our youngsters are below the standard of many other countries taht we aspire to beat.

Touche. And there was a slight hint of sarcasm in the Fozzie thing.

I detected the sarcasm, i just felt like having a bit of a rant.

Fair enough

i think we have good quality defence coming through. maybe not quite in the same mould as the attack but its there. tell me if wrong but when kewell was being talked about as a youngster, was neill talked about as much? no, i believe theyre the same age so i think the quality is there we just have to wait for it. im impressed with nikolai topor stanely at the moment, though he has some maturing to do before hes any talk of a future socceroo spot. this may be the case with alot of young defenders...

Kewell wasn't talked about as a youngster because he was already over in europe playing in an academy before he was the same age as the kids being talked about at the moment.

well are we talking about patafta and kilkenny? guess where they are? dont attack every tiny point you can find if you disagree, make something of it. im just trying to point out they dont always come through in the news like that, we dont always know about them. i really believe we will get good defenders, maybe im wrong, i guess well find out in 3-4 years and longer...

nico - I agree with that, my pporly made point was that Kewell went more or less under the radar for a few years.

We would have good defenders out there but people like to talk about attackers not defenders.

o ok right nah i probably should have figured that out, my fault.

No one was talking about Neill because he wasn't really at the leel of Kewell etc. at that age. He has been a late bloomer, and though he was capped at 18 he was never really in line for a Socceroos spot until 4-5 years ago.

Even then, Neill has only really recently cemented his spot. And you're right about his "late-bloomingness" but there are a lot of other nations there that we aspire to beat that have up and coming defenders that are being talked about, but we don't.

I don't think Spiranovich was mentioned, he's a defender, anyone playing top flight European football at 18 has a pretty good future.

i know of a few upcoming defenders pushing to try and take there careers to that more level.

Theres a few at the A.I.S That have potential.

10 years later, this thread is either pretty depressing or pretty amusing.

10/10 bump

This

Adam Hardy - who was he? And where is he? 

EDIT: Career ended by injury not long after this. Horrible. 

I remember hearing his name. He was said to be a potential superstar, spent a fair bit of time in the French youth system til he got injured bad at 17 or younger. I think he was a pretty smart kid though and well off (was supposed to have studied Medicine after coming back).

Kewell also said he was the most talented Australian youngster he's seen.

Not a bad strike rate at all TBH, more than half of these players have had decent careers, and one scored the winning goal for the Socceroo's first major trophy.

OMG the original Wonderkids thread from Bigsoccer ! I remember this one. Looking back, it actually did better than I recalled, with Jamieson, Troisi, Giannou. Wesolowski is still one of our biggest ever injury losses.

Yeh some of these players have forged decent careers.  Some of them i haven't even heard of :D:D:D

Fantastic bump.  Puts some persepective on some of the calls being made about players these days.  Patafta though, had so much potential the lazy fuck :crying::crying::crying::crying:

I am actually very impressed with how accurate these predictions are.

Considering how wrong most of us are over the course of 2-3 years, these are predictions from 10 years ago and are pretty damn close.

Unfortunately whilst at Marseille, Adam suffered a serious ankle injury... went back to Australia to recover, when recovered started playing u18's for Blacktown City at the age of 13, unfortunately a player (i think from Sydney United)  viciously broke his leg... took him an entire season to recover, his first game back from the broken leg, was against the same team.. and the same player broke his leg again - that player got banned for life apparently.
And yeah after two broken legs, lost his appetite for the game... although he played for Macquarie University in the Australian University Games helping them win the title and got selected to play in all- Australian team.

Interesting side point - his brother James Hardy is a football agent and manages players including Bernie Ibini, Shane Smeltz, Ali Abbas, etc.

If thats true wow, that player took out breaking the poor lads legs twice must have a really bad cold heart to do that to another player if he meant it, i wonder what has happened to him after he got banned as you said? :angry: 
Injuries are part and parcel of football but if true to take out a player twice is more of assault than part of a sporting injury. 

Who knows what could have happen to Hardy, was touted for massive things as a young teen at Marseille. 

Reckon he could've been massive, especially when the bloke who coached Harry Kewell reckoned he was better at the same age (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/09/13/1031608326448.html ) and that he was training at the time with Samir Nasri and the Ayew Brothers

Dez Giraldi must be one of the biggest loses.  didnt he play a heap of games in serie a at 18/19?

.. i looked and it was 23 games.  can you imagine the fap fest if anyone did the same now?

Pity about his crippling anxiety and depression that made him quit, as well.

Quite a few sad stories in this list, sadly.

This is why we need a strong PFA with support from the FIFA.

Pretty sure if an Australian youngster played regularly in the Serie A there would have been a huge fap fest back then as well. Problem is I don't think he ever got any playing time for Empoli. The only source that says otherwise is Wikipedia. Every other player database I've looked says he's only ever gotten game time in the A-league. Foxsports also had a little segment of Australian players who have played in the Serie A after Sainsbury's transfer and Giraldi's name was not mentioned.

Ya, you might be right. The edit originally was made by an IP from Queensland in 2009. The IP changed it from 3 caps to 23 and that has remained for the last 7-8 years untouched. Not even sure if the 3 caps he had for Empoli are correct. Google search of his name between 2003 and 2005 bring up nothing as well.

Looks like someone has updated this wiki page now ... has him listed as going on loan and playing for those clubs, but not Empoli now...

I did that since there is no source which confirms how many caps or goals he has for Empoli. I am tempted to do the same for the loan clubs as well but too lazy right now.

So a decade on what names will make up the next batch of youngsters who will fade away into irrelevancy by the time 2027 rolls around?

haha mate at my age i don't even want to think about the next ten years

But Arzani looks a real goer and should get more time in the A-league imo

I still lol at that description of Sarkies - guy was made out to be the next Beckham, turned out to be a pretty ordinary player who nailed one free kick in his entire career and was thus labelled a 'free kick specialist' for the rest of his career.

Highlight of Sarkies career right there in that photo

who is the brunette girl in the background.

wow imagine if Hardy didn't have his injury issues.

Dez Geraldi definitely never made it onto a Serie A pitch. He may have played for Empoli's youth team though.

Serie A games at 19 - sounds like you're thinking of Johnny A.