Chelsea bets long odds 12-year-old midfielder can make it

Sun newspaper dubs schoolboy the new Zinedine Zidane

Chelsea may find that for every John Terry, there are dozens like Luca Percassi or Cherno Samba.

The London soccer club's latest signing is 12-year-old French schoolboy Jeremy Boga. The chances of him making the first team at Chelsea, which has spent 355 million pounds ($630 million) on established players such as striker Didier Drogba between 2002 and 2007, are slim, scouts and coaches say.

Boga, who won't be able to drive for another five years, was signed Sept. 30 for an undisclosed fee. The Sun newspaper dubbed him the new Zinedine Zidane because, like the two-time World Player of the Year, he plays in midfield. Europe's top teams are trying to sign players earlier and control their development as a way to keep down expenses. Anthony Banfield, a European scout for Chelsea's rival Arsenal, said the cost of turning a 16-year-old into a first-team contender is about 500,000 pounds.

"Very few players go all the way," Banfield, 68, said. "Maybe one in 100 make it, or even one in a 1,000."

Boga will stay in his hometown Marseille, France, until he turns 16. The Daily Mail called Boga, who's been playing for ASPTT Marseille for six seasons, a "whiz-kid." Chelsea spokesman Gareth Mills said the club doesn't comment on academy recruits.

The move from a teenage wunderkind to a Premier League millionaire is a chancy one. Chelsea lined up for its last Premier League match with one youth-team product, captain Terry. Forward Scott Sinclair was an unused substitute.

Terry joined Chelsea at 14, graduated through the club's ranks and made his debut for the team in October 1998. By 2005 he was captain of the west London team, which won its first title in 50 years, and he was voted player of the year by the rest of the league.

Forward Samba was targeted by Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United as a 14-year-old in 2000. That led to headlines such as "Fergie in 2 Million Pound Chase for Ace Kid Samba, 14" in the London media. Today he is trying to salvage his career at FC Haka in Finland after failing with Millwall of England's third-tier and Cadiz in Spain.

Author Filippo Ricci conducted an analysis of Italian youth players who had moved to the U.K. between 1997 and 2007. He said only seven of the 40 teenagers played any first-team matches. None of them are in the Premier League and only four — AC Milan's Gennaro Gattuso, Villareal's Giuseppe Rossi, Sevilla's Enzo Maresca and Emmanuel Cascione of Reggina — play regularly.

Percassi was one who didn't make it. Speaking from his family's real estate business in Bergamo, Italy, the 28-year-old recalled playing alongside Terry in the Blues' youth team.

While Terry went on to win the Premier League title and captain his country, Percassi slipped away from London after two first-team matches. He quit soccer at 23 after several stints at clubs in Italy's second tier.

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