Portsmouth forced to wait to unleash latest promising recruit after eye-catching Northern Ireland transfer
The 16-year-old has joined Pompey for an undisclosed fee from the NIFL Premiership
Pompey are awaiting permission to unleash their latest promising recruit.
And under-18s boss Sam Hudson is convinced ‘technical winger’ Brandon Downey possesses an exciting future.
The Northern Ireland under-17 international was snapped up from Crusaders last week for an undisclosed fee, yet is presently waiting on international clearance.
The 16-year-old featured 10 times in the NIFL Premiership last season, consisting of a start against Glenavon and nine outings from the bench.
Successful two-week Portsmouth trial
That eye-catching progress alerted the Blues, who invited Downey for a two-week trial last month, a stay which also consisted of an outing in a behind-closed-doors fixture.
The attacker joins as a first-year scholar, although he didn’t feature in Tuesday night’s Hampshire Senior Cup defeat at Romsey as he waits to receive international clearance.
Academy lead professional development phase coach Hudson told The News: ‘We are waiting for international clearance. Although Brandon has been training with us every day, he’s not yet fully cleared to play in competitions.
‘Hopefully it won’t be too long, within the next week or so. He can play in friendlies, he played in a behind-closed-doors match a few weeks ago, but, in terms of competitive games, you need to be cleared to play.
‘A dribbly winger who can play off both sides’
‘Brandon’s a dribbly winger who can play off both sides and more of a choppy and stop-start type of player. He’s probably not one to knock and run and explode really quickly, like Nathaniel (Chioma) and Jermaine (Osifo), who are really quick over 30 yards.
‘He’s not as quick in terms of his movement, but is probably tighter, more agile and more nimble. He has that shift and pass, shift and cross or shift and shoot, and can go both ways off both feet.
‘Brandon’s ball striking is definitely his stand-out trait, he has a really clean kicking action, so, when he strikes a ball, it really flies.
‘He’s more of a technical winger than a penetrative type winger and quite tall as well for his age as a first-year (scholar), so we’ll be looking to make him a real box threat.
‘The lad came on trial and impressed, he’s now the 18th player in our squad and we’re looking forward to seeing how he develops in the next couple of years.’
Downey last season made his Crusaders first-team debut at the age of 15 and went on to feature 13 times for them.
‘He has been playing in men’s competition already’
Recognising his talent, the Belfast-based club secured their prized asset to a three-year professional contract last month, only to then be sold to Pompey just two weeks later.
Hudson added: ‘Brandon was spotted playing Northern Ireland’s top division as a 16-year-old, so he’s been playing in men's competition already.
‘We want players that can compete against men early because - after the under-18s - the next step in our club is the first-team.
‘So one of the measures we have is how well they can compete against men and older players. The earlier the better, then, in theory, that allows them to settle into first-team training with our first-team better.’