Fabio Jalo

He struggles to get on the bench for us currently.

 

He's 17 how many players score or even play regular at 17 in league one? I think he needs a loan to aid his development though.

 

Cheers. I did indeed miss it!

 

Hope Jalo isn't being judged on his lack of inches. G F Zola was one of the best forwards I've ever seen playing against big English defenders(a nice bloke too, I even met him once in a bike shop).
It certainly can be done. There are a few like that, Kante, Oscar, etc. We'd have to play to his strengths and not just lump it forward, which we are capable of (in the main) I think.

 

I don’t think Collins is shy about playing young lads. Brought Marsh in recently over senior strikers. Spoke highly of Chapman in his first team appearances and Shepherd was initially signed for the u21 squad.

I think if Jalo was ready for 1st team action, Collins would have no hesitation playing him

 

Nothing to do with his height. If he’s good enough he’s old enough. Again to play against experienced pros at 17 you have to be some player.

 

Aston Villa wanted him 2 years ago. They won’t have gone away.

We were apparently offered a swap deal xxxx amount of money and the guy who’s just signed for Sheffield United, but that was a season long loan, not a permanent.

not sure how true the second part is, but I know for sure Villa have always had an eye on him.

 

How do you know bud? Cameron Archer is a good player... shame it was only on loan they offered!

 

It’s a fine line. We apparently persuaded Jalo to sign his first pro contract with us rather than a ‘bigger club’ on the basis that there is a more likely pathway to first team football.

But right now I make him the 6th choice striker (maybe 5th if Collins has given up on Oli Shaw). With potentially one coming in too He’s only gonna play in the Pizza Cup for us this season realistically. How long will he stay patient?

I think we need to have him involved in the match day squad and give him some minutes. He’s way too good for kids football.

 

If he was good enough the head coach would.

 

AC Lutonio

 

I don't think staying at Oakwell would hinder his progress. Our academy is brilliant. Having said that, we'll probably only get about 500k for him

 

Is this like the McGeehan joke, just will never fade into obscurity?

 

Well when they prove me wrong and we sell him for £501k then I'll let it rest for good

 

Really close mate of mine was right in the thick of it at BFC, and he still speaks to a lot of the lads down there (or he did, we have lost contact a little since he took work down south). Had a big interest in the academy side as he started on that side of things. He’s at another league club now but he’s a big Barnsley fan. I’ve not seen at all for a couple of years though, hence why I never now hear a thing.

He’s busy enough at his other club now to give much insight. That and a lot of the staff have changed in the last 3 years.

Jalo has long being courted as one of the next big things in football so I think we’ll be extremely lucky to see him feature much for us. I think he will end up in Spain, we beat off some big clubs in Spain to get him in our academy to start with. The feeling was, even as a young lad that he wasn’t going to be the tallest nor the strongest. Hence why he was pushed to further his football education in England. From what I gather though it was never his or his families intention to stay as long as he has in the UK. I was extremely surprised when he signed his scholarship with us the other year, it was a massive coup that.

I think BFC was happy to be used as a stepping stone for him to bigger things in a bid to entice other Portuguese players to come here, but obviously things got tougher with the Brexit deal. So nothing much has come of it. I always thought (with what I was told) that he would be our record free received for a player. Which is impressive considering his lack of playing time. I’d be gobsmacked to see him leave for a 6 figure fee.

 

I forgot to mention, I think we owe him signing his Scholarship to Bruce Dyer. Apparently he’s been like a father to him since he arrived in England. I know him and Bruce’s lad are really close now too.

Not that I’d expect anything less from BD. He’s an incredible man who’s done so much for youngsters at BFC and youngsters in the local community. He deserves so much more recognition from Barnsley than he gets. He’s now had 13 lads from his academy alone join BFC academy at some stage.

 

Double post, apologies.

 

Nobody should be. It's not how big you are, but how much use you make of it that matters.

 

I completely agree with this bud. There was another thread a couple of days ago seriously slating Dyer though about how he tempts young lads to his Love Life thing but then leaves them be, hardly ever seeing them again. I found it hard to believe, but don't have any knowledge of it what so ever, and the lad who made the complain coaches young lads too.

Either way, its very exciting news about Jalo then - didn't know about beating clubs away, especially in spain! Imagine picking Barnsley instead of lovely sunny Spain!

 

Indeed, but it would be interesting to see how he fared if he were to be given a good number of minutes as a substitute initially.