Adam Campbell – Newcastle’s Next Gascoigne?

When a youngster takes big strides through the academy team, and then carries that into the reserve team, you just simply can't help but think that you have a future star on your hands.

Over the last year or so, there have been a number of players who have impressed in the Newcastle youth and reserve teams, and one of those has been attacker Adam Campbell.

While he is only 17 years old, he’s already earned a huge personal accolade by being named the Most Valuable Player at the Manchester United Premier Cup World Finals of 2010, a prestigious title previously held by players such as Carlos Tevez and Andres Iniesta (let’s hope he turns out to be as good as them!).

After making a big impression in the academy team, he has also played for the reserve side, and scored his first reserve team goal in February of 2011 against Bolton Wanderers when he finished a Stephen Folan cross. Not only has he been capped at England U-16 level, he also scored just four and a half minutes into his England U-17 debut against Portugal.

With his direct and pacy approach to everything on the pitch, people are comparing him to a certain Paul Gascoigne, and if Campbell can replicate the career of Gazza, it’s safe to say he will have an eventful journey.

While the fans love nothing more than a lad coming through the academy who could potentially burst onto the first team scene, we have to make sure we don’t get too ahead of ourselves.

Only recently, Newcastle fans were banking on a certain Nile Ranger to become the next Alan Shearer after winning the Wor Jackie award, and scoring an incredible amount of goals for the youth and reserves.

Despite his apparent phenomenal potential, when Ranger was thrust into the senior group, what followed was a string of disciplinary issues, and an entire season without scoring a goal. The North London yougster has almost fallen off the Newcastle radar after loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley.

Despite that being said, Campbell does possess genuine quality, and if he keeps his head down and focused, there’s no reason at all why he can’t become a star for Newcastle United.

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