By admin 
For Newcastle United supporters, this is an interesting and inspirational story about a player dubbed “the best young talent in the country,” Coran Madden.
Many young players have progressed through Cliftonville’s academy to play senior football in England.
Now, their Head of Youth has spoken about the club’s outstanding young prospect, who has also been dubbed a ‘Golden Child’ in Northern Ireland.
Coran Madden has opted to go on trial with Manchester United and Newcastle United, according to Cliftonville’s Head of Youth Marc Smyth. The 14-year-old rejected offers from Liverpool and Manchester City in favor of the two Uniteds.
The Head of Youth explains that new restrictions limit young players to visiting, training with, and trialing at only two teams per year.
Marc Smyth spoke to Belfast Live about Coran Madden and why Newcastle United and Manchester United were chosen over Liverpool and Manchester City:
“Those clubs, I believe, sold their vision to Coran and his family.” All we can do is advise them on what we believe is best for the boy and the family.
“Also, what would assist the child off the field.” His father is a Liverpool fan, therefore he had no allegiance to any club.
“Manchester United and Newcastle United are massive clubs that communicated well with the family and wanted to bring them over.”
“Clubs from all over the place were interested in Coran.” With the new rules you feel a bit ashamed saying, ‘sorry, we thank you for your interest but we can’t take you up on your offer’.
“However, he still has these fantastic opportunities.” Coran will visit each club to see whether he likes it, and then he will have a trial and things will move from there.
“He still has a long way to go, but it’s great for him to get this recognition.”
“Coran is only 14 years old, but he is an exceptional talent.” He can play 10, left wing, right wing, or anywhere on the front line.
“He is the country’s best young talent.” He recently won player of the tournament for County Antrim in this summer’s SuperCupNI.
“Coran has been with us since he was six years old and he is just a wonderful talent. And now there is a host of clubs after him.
“Every Premier League club has asked about him, but with the new rules a young player can only choose two clubs each year. So Coran has chosen Manchester United and Newcastle United.
“We also had interest from Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton and other clubs like Southampton and Leicester City. He is such a gifted player.
“He is also the most humble kid you’ll ever meet. He is nice, hard-working, all the attributes you want off the pitch.
“On the pitch he is very direct, can go both ways, two great feet, and the most important things is he is unbelievably intelligent.
“He reads the game so well, and he is reaping the rewards of being with our academy since a young age….we have this kid here (Coran Madden) who is the Golden Child in his age group in the country.
“When I took the job, we dropped to under 6. We established a skills school, and now we have the FonaCab League, which I established for teams under the age of six to play here.
“There are now 200 teams in that.” Coran was one of the first children to go through it.
“He went from being a six-year-old to being the country’s Golden Child.” Listen, he still has a long way to go, but he is such a gifted young man, and he should do well.”
This story isn’t proof of significant transformation at Newcastle United, but it is another indicator of the time and resources being invested into recruiting the greatest young players at all levels of the club, from the academy to the first team.