St Patrick’s ‘would love’ to keep Mason Melia for another couple of seasons with Manchester United one of the Premier League giants keeping tabs on the wonderkid striker.
Evan Ferguson is not the only teenage Irishman with a bright future as a potentially elite-level number nine.
Mason Melia, like the Brighton star, is racking up an impressive tally of senior appearances while barely out of short trousers, averaging a goal or an assist every 59 minutes for St Patrick’s Athletic in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
Melia has already enjoyed trials at Chelsea and Man City – taking one of Erling Haaland’s number nine shirts with him back across the sea – but Manchester United still hope to emerge victorious in the battle to secure the 16-year-old’s signature (TEAMtalk).
Man United vs Man City in Mason Melia race
Any eventual decision, Saints boss Jon Daly explains, will be ‘down to Mason and his family’.
But should Melia opt to stick around and continue playing first-team football back home, well, no one is going to deny him that.
“We’re very open to keeping him,” Daly tells the Irish Examiner. “And we’d love him to do that, because he could be a big player for us over the next couple of years.”
Melia did not find the net in the 2-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers last time out but Daly was still impressed by the way a player who started the season as a 15-year-old hassled and competed with the reigning champions.
Ireland’s next Evan Ferguson?
“I thought he was excellent against Rovers on Friday,” Daly adds. “Up against the best defenders in the country and acquitting himself very well. We’ll try to keep him, and give him as many minutes on the pitch as possible.”
Melia, recently labelled an ‘exceptional’ talent by the St Patrick’s boss, has nine goals in 19 games for the Republic of Ireland at under 17 level, including a hat-trick against Armenia.
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