International football, at the best of times, is a waste of my time. Friendly matches, especially like the one tonight, should be scrapped from the football calendar. Fortunately, this match isn't getting in the way of proper football, which is some consolation.
And it's Sweden and the wife is Swedish, so there is a slim chance that it might be on TV. Talking about Swedes, did you hear the news that we signed 16 year old Khalid Abdo from Larje-Angered IF?
You did, good. Did you also hear what he had to say about signing for Aston Villa?
I will play with the U18 team but hope to move up to the reserves as soon as possible. I feel I can handle the pace here so I want to take the step from U18 to reserves within a year.
Aston Villa graduate often players for the first team. Their academy is the best of those I was with. I feel that I can best develop here.
The goal is to step up to the first team and then maybe move on to a bigger club.
Swedish football
Did that last bit annoy you? It did me, but I can't blame him for saying it. The confidence is nice and the hope is, that by the time he's old enough so he doesn't need his mother tucking him in at night, we'll be a roaring success and he'll want to stay and if we're not and he is half as good as he thinks he is, we'll make a tidy profit.
But, let me tell you about where he came from. His team, Larje-Angered IF, 'just' got promoted to Division Two in Sweden, which is the equivalent of League Two in England in so much that there are three divisions higher, but about the same standard of football as you'll find in the Northern or Southern Premier at a push.
Add to that, there are 'six' of those second divisions in Sweden, I think you will get an idea of where he is coming from. To top that off he, as far as I can tell as there isn't much about him on any of the Swedish football sites, he didn't even play for the first team this season and scored only twice for the U17's.
I'm sorry and I'm not knocking him, it just got me annoyed, even though I understand what he's saying and even though I quite like his confidence. The thing is, he should just be happy that he is joining one of the largest and most prestigious clubs in world football, especially considering where he is coming from.
My real point; we've have signed a lot of youngsters over the years that have come to nothing so don't count any chickens. But another glimmer of hope and with the youth and reserve players these days getting a lot more exposure than they used to, there is every chance we'll find out sooner rather than later if he has what it takes.
Any other news?
There isn't much at the moment. A big match at the weekend against Manchester City, but more on that on Friday. If I've missed something worthy of a mention, please post it below. And talking of posting below; there will be a few very minor changes to the commenting below very soon, even though most will probably not notice them, some have been asked for.
Video of the day
Seeing as this turned into a Swedish post; the video of the day is from Big Steve. He moved to northern Sweden last year and puts out a YouTube video every week. This one is a day in Sweden.
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