Onside Academy director Kuye: Iwumene will offer Southampton different | OneFootball

Onside Academy director Alexander Kuye is delighted seeing Alex Iwumene land a deal with Southampton.

Iwumene, formerly of Sutton United, was snapped up by Saints academy after he showcased his talent in an Onside Academy test game.

Kuye told the Daily Echo: "The expectation of a central midfielder is to be quite mobile, as soon as you get the ball you can move and change direction. But now that he's grown into his body he's more mobile than he was before. You can't get the ball off of him! For a tall guy, he's very very technically strong.

“A boy like Alex, he won't be part of that norm. He'll bring something very very different to the team. He's going to get the ball, drive forward, drive past players, little one-two, he wants the ball back. Take it on his left or right foot, bang.

"There's a very very big difference in what the expectation of him will be - he's going to have to play the Southampton way but it's something where he brings something different than someone who has been at the club since they were nine years old won't necessarily have.

“Players from inner-cities what we find is that they are technically very good but tactically quite poor. They've been brought up in a cage environment, playing on concrete, dribbling past three/four men and trying to score.

"However, a player who's been in an academy environment since they were nine years old, they're used to playing a certain type of way: receive the ball, pass, receive the ball, pass. Take the ball, half-turn, pass.

“There's only a handful of clubs, in my opinion, that invest in those types of players - we know you haven't been in an academy environment, we're going to develop you."