17 year-old Adam Campbell suffered a knee injury playing for in a practice match last month, and he wasn’t expected to return until some time in January, but the England U17 International was on the bench on Thursday night, and he could make the substitutes bench again on Monday night at Craven Cottage.
Adam Campbell – fit again and raring to go
The youngster is an outstanding talent at Newcastle, and the North Shields lad has both skill and pace, and looks to us like Micheal Owen played when he was about the same age as Adam – only this lad is much faster than Michael ever was.
The 17-year-old is the youngest player ever to represent Newcastle in Europe, when he made his debut against Atromitos in August, and Alan Pardew is delighted to have the young striker back:
“The medical team have done an absolutely brilliant job with Adam.” “He’s come back, and he looks absolutely fine. That’s a bit of a boost for everybody.” “His enthusiasm for the game will spread around the camp. It’s nice to have him in and around us again.”
And if Adam is as good as we think he is, we should see him making some sub appearances for Newcastle in the Premier League as the season progresses, as he gives the Newcastle manager a completely different option up front from Ba, Cisse and Shola Ameobi.
Somebody with pace and skill who can scare the living daylights out of defenders, as he proved when he came on late in the game at Cardiff City in pre-season, and this is what we said about Adam in our match report of the 4-1 defeat:
The big bright spot in the game was 17 year-old Adam Campbell, who came on after 84 minutes, and he played brilliantly and made two chances and almost scored two goals and should have had a penalty too.
Not bad for his first appearance for the Newcastle first team – and that was all in just over six minutes! Don’t be surprised if this lad is on the subs bench next Saturday for the Tottenham game, and brought on as an impact sub.
Think of what 17 year-old Michael Owen looked like at the beginning of the 1997-1998 season for Liverpool, and that’s what Adam looked like in his cameo appearance this afternoon for Newcastle.
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5 comments so far
Dimitri
Dec 8, 2012 at 10:52 AM
Comment #1Sitting in jail with Jail for Ashley is too good for Ashley.
Graeme
Dec 8, 2012 at 11:03 AM
Comment #2Great to see a young prospect coming through – Hopefully he will be looked after, brought through slowly, allowing him to grow into the game at a rate his body and ability can deal with.
Graeme
Dec 8, 2012 at 11:08 AM
Comment #3Ed, there is a good article out by the said Mr Owen today. In it he says the biggest problem with injuries in his years after Liverpool was the number of games he played when younger.
Great seasons with Liverpool, followed by tours with England, meant non-stop football from 19 – 24 which prevented/ hindered his proper physical development.
Would hate to see something like that happen to Campbell!!
Constanstine
Dec 8, 2012 at 7:56 PM
Comment #4In terms of ability, I don’t think England will have the type of striker like Owen again. He’s the type of player that only pops up every twenty, thirty years or so. To the very least, I just hope Campbell doesn’t play like Sturridge, Welback and Sterling.
obatoyou
Dec 8, 2012 at 10:50 PM
Comment #5Got to admit pardew’s slow Method of introducing can be frustrating, can hope we see Campbell for more than a few 5 minute cameo’s before the season is out, but wouldn’t be surprised..