Kokou Assigbe

⚽️Parents: soccer is a technical sport. Your child can play as many sports as they want, just remember, as the years pass, those technical skills become harder to learn.

⚽️Parents: before signing your child up for track please understand that track speed is not the same as soccer speed!

🗣️ Cole Palmer: “When I was like four or five and my dad used to take me over the road to the park opposite our house in Wythenshawe. I remember walking with him through the gates, past the cage and skate ramps to this little patch of grass. He would throw the ball up, and I would just control it, over and over again. Control it and then protect it. He used to say, “No point trying to shoot if you can’t keep hold of the ball in the first place.” We would do that every single day, whatever the weather, and my dad’s family is from St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean. He hates going out in the cold. But he’d do it for me anyway. That’s why I got the St Kitts flag on my boots, as a little tribute to him and his family. As I got older, I was always one of the smallest in my age group. I can show you photos where everyone else in the team looks giant, and I’m dead small. It always frustrated me. I was like, “I want to be big and strong,” but Dad was like, “Nah, you don’t. You need to be small to learn how to use your skill.” These days, whenever I’m dribbling and using my body to protect the ball, his advice pops into my head. He brought out that obsession in me when I was little, but it’s weird, I didn’t ever think, I want to be a footballer. I was just so focused on playing for fun, just being me.”