Zele Ismail

HE is the 15 year-old son of immigrant asylum-seekers — and is being tipped to become football’s first £100million player.
Zele Ismail, currently on the books of Championship leaders Wolves, has already attracted the attention of Chelsea and Manchester City,who are ready to pay a staggering £2.5m for the schoolboy.

Even that fee is unlikely to make a dent in Wolves’ determination to keep a tight hold on the youngster who is rated the outstanding player of his age in the country.

The Midlands club have thrown a protective shield around Ismail since he joined them after arriving in England with his Serbian-born parents five years ago.

Gem
Even when he was 10, Wolves were certain they had uncovered a gem who would become a major star if he continued his progress.

But they were also aware he would become prey to the bigger clubs and top agents desperate to entice him away from Molineux.

Wolves went to extraordinary lengths to keep Ismail under wraps and succeeded until he emerged before a wider audience in the summer, winning the Player of the Tournament at the Milk Cup event — the same stage at which David Beckham and Joe Cole first came to prominence.

The remarkable emergence of Ismail was nurtured by Wolves former academy director Chris Evans, who in the past has discovered players such as Robbie Keane, Joleon Lescott, Lee Naylor and Wayne Hennessey.

Evans, now assistant manager at Bolton, said: “It was clear very early on that Zele was a special player with talent way beyond his years.

“We picked him up when he was playing for his school team and the Wolverhampton district side when he was 10. Straight away he was playing in age groups two years above his own.

Ability
“He was smaller than the rest but his technical ability and football brain helped him overcome any physical problems.

“We soon realised we needed to protect him because there are so many predators — recruitment officers from the big clubs and agents — in the game.

“It got to the stage where I had to ban agents and other clubs from the training ground.

“His ability made it impossible for him to be ignored. He could score four, five or six goals in a game so we tended to take him off so as not to draw too much attention to him.

“But the cat is out of the bag now. He was superb in the Milk Cup tournament and now he has made his debut for the England Under-16s.”

Progress
Evans is convinced that Ismail will remain at Wolves and said: “The last thing Zele needs now is any upheaval in his life. He had enough trauma in his early years when he had to come to a new country and learn a new language and culture.

“There is no limit to what he can achieve. He is easily the best player in the country for his age.

“If he continues his progress up to the age of 21 he will become priceless. People are talking about there being a £100m player one day. That’s understandable because the game is now in the hands, not just of millionaires, but billionaires.

“I wouldn’t want to put any pressure on the lad, but in years to come I can see enormous money being spent on Zele.”