Keshi Anderson
This is a lad that has had to grind his way up the non-league pyramid to get to where he is now. At 19-years-old and playing in the Southern League Division One Central for Barton Rovers, I’m sure not many people would have said he had a chance of making the huge step-up, but Anderson has proved a lot of people wrong by gaining a dream £35k move to Crystal Palace by doing what he does, scoring goals, 19 to be exact in only half a season.
Since joining Palace, Anderson has been featuring regularly for the U21’s and has looked very comfortable among some of the more experienced youth players. He even managed to grab a debut goal against Millwall. Although Anderson isn’t the most imposing figure at 5’11”, he still poses a threat in the air and has been known to score in a variety of different situations.
Of course with the Eagles plucking arguably their best ever player from non-league in Ian Wright, only time will tell if Anderson can follow in a similar vein. What is for sure is that Palace have got another hungry young player on their books.
Sullay Kaikai
Being yet another bright and tricky winger on Palace’s books, KaiKai has shown all the attributes necessary to be a top class Premier League winger in years to come. He’s quick and strong very much like Palace’s current wingers, Yannick Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha.
Unlike some of the other youth players, KaiKai has managed to score a senior goal for the Eagles, an important one at that as at the time it took Palace to extra-time against Newcastle in the League Cup earlier this season, though it wasn’t enough for Palace to win in the end; but it showed that the London born lad has a mental toughness that not all players can boast. Since then KaiKai has been on a very successful loan spell at Cambridge United where he has managed to bag three goals in seventeen appearances.
All this game time will no doubt put the youngster in good stead when he comes back to South London at the end of the season and with arguably two of the best wingers in the Premier League to learn off he has a real platform to push into the first team. KaiKai is certainly another one of those little gems that I can see starting for Palace in a couple of seasons.
Will Hoare
Croydon born Will Hoare is currently playing for Palace’s u18s, but is surely very close to making the step-up onto the u21s. At the current age of 18, he has been with Palace for eight years and has even captained the Eagles youth teams at u15s and u16s level.
Hoare is a great passer of the ball and can dictate the game in the manner he wants. Another strong attribute of the 18-year-old is his tackling, something that is so important in the modern game; on Crystal Palace’s academy profile he is praised as being a “very intelligent footballer” something that no doubt comes across when you see this young lad play.
What is more impressive is that for Hoare’s age he shows great maturity in his holding midfield role and much like Mile Jedinak for Palace’s first team, Hoare is a great leader and can lift a team to victory. Whether the defensive midfielder can follow in the Australian’s footsteps is yet to be seen, but going on what has been said about this young man his future looks very bright.
