penguin Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Starting tonight against Fulham. Never heard of him before myself but found a nice piece on him by the Birmingham Mail.http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-portugal-lowdown-18-year-old-9636558 Quote Niall Mason is no stranger to adventures. This summer alone he’s surfed in Sri Lanka, trekked in Thailand and hung out in Hong Kong. That’s just one short path of his incredible journey, though. The 18-year-old who joined Aston Villa from Southampton this summer has experienced an unusual route into the professional game. As an eight-year-old kid he rubbed shoulders with David Beckham after being handpicked to train with an elite set of youngsters at Real Madrid's Academy. He played for Al Sadd juniors when his parents moved over to Qatar and also honed his skills at the Doha-based Evolution Soccer Academy soon after. Southampton spotted his talent and signed him up but a move to Villa came about as he decided to leave St Mary’s. Given the history of producing players like Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers, leaving the south coast club was a brave move. It seems to paying dividends, though, as Mason is here in Portugal and looking to impress at the training camp. With Fabian Delph set to leave for Manchester City, a spot in the midfield is up for grabs. Of course the maestro is not yet ready for to replace the England man - he will need further development before he reaches that stage. Riccardo Calder and Niall Mason in action during Aston Villa's training camp in Faro, Portugal But the coaching staff at Villa have big hopes for him and will be monitoring his progress closely this term. Mason, who has an American father and Indian mother, can represent either nation but reckons his international future would lie with England should he ever get selected. Last term he turned out for the U21s on a number of occasions during a trial period which was highly successful. For Villa he adopted a more defensive midfield role but in the past he has played in advanced positions and is capable of scoring goals. Mason’s arrival this summer was rather low profile given his relatively short time in the game. He does, however, have the potential to make a real name for himself in the future at Villa. Find out more about Mason in next week’s Birmingham Mail when Gregg Evans meets the new recruit in the Algarve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggy_333 Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Thanks for that Penguin. Not gonna lie i've never heard of him. Good luck to the lad! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 When I saw that I this thread I thought we were being linked with the Mason at Tottenham (can't remember his first name). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I hadn't seen him mentioned before yesterday. Signed in May according to Transfermarkt - I'd assume he was known to Sherwood from the U21 circuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harris21 Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 18... let's see what he can do. As the old saying goes... If you're good enough you're old enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir_gary_cahill Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 When I saw that I this thread I thought we were being linked with the Mason at Tottenham (can't remember his first name). that's Ryan Mason 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaglint Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Didn't see the game how did he do? Where does he play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MessiWillSignForVilla Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 He did OK, was at CM in a 4-2-3-1, nothing special really, but the whole team was crap to be fair. Over hit a few passes and tended to telegraph them a bit I thought, really opening up his body in the direction he was passing, though he did have some nice touches and passes. Maybe with more confidence that sort of stuff will become a little more natural looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I wasn't very impressed ....but there again no one impressed me.....sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 that initial report makes him sound like the ultimate hipster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas_Mike Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 He did OK.. but so did Tonev. No one was great so it was hard to judge but for 18 years old I'd say a decent start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. B. Jefferies Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 We now know his celebration when he scores his first goal. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/94664/This-boy-is-so-un-Real.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 He might still have contacts at the Bernabeu maybe he will help complete that cheeky bid for Isco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir_gary_cahill Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 I was very impressed by this guy last night, he played cb, he was very dominant in the air and also read the game well, very good performance 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightoffyour Posted December 1, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted December 1, 2015 What was the match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir_gary_cahill Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 13 hours ago, fightoffyour said: What was the match? The u21s played against blackburn at villa park last night, it was a good spectacle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 1 hour ago, sir_gary_cahill said: The u21s played against blackburn at villa park last night, it was a good spectacle must be strange to see a good spectacle at Villa Park now 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodytom Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Can't have been that good, we let 2 goals in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan_007 Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 9 minutes ago, Woodytom said: Can't have been that good, we let 2 goals in. Yep because the team let 2 goals in. This lad must have been utter pants. There simply is no other reason for goals going in. The happy thoughts have gone, and business resumes as normal. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 26 minutes ago, Woodytom said: Can't have been that good, we let 2 goals in. Glad to see we are ensuring the same philosophy across all levels throughout the club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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