Unveiling The HIDDEN Gems – Exploring The Untapped Potential In Footballing
Players like Mason Terry, Amine Sassi, Cade Cowell, Da’vitan Kimbrough, Obed Vargas and the likes of Abdoullah Ba are all so heavily underlooked by major clubs! Do they deserve to be playing in the top flight of football or are they simply not good enough? Let’s have a look.
Mason Terry – Concord Rangers FC / West Ham United FC (Isthmian Premier League / Premier League 2)
Mason Terry is currently a loanee goalkeeper from Premier League club – West Ham United FC. Terry was born on the 20th of September 2004. This talented goalkeeper joined the West Ham United youth team just when he was 9 years of age, after being scouted playing for his Sunday league team Essex Allstars.
Mason Terry resides near Canvey which makes his loan stay at Concord Rangers FC extremely convenient, Terry had worked his ways up the different youth teams at West Ham United and stayed committed over the Lockdown Period – shortly after Terry was involved as a starter in all of the six youth FA cup matches – Terry only conceded six goals in the tournament and due to his dedication to his club and sport, helped claim the fourth Youth FA Cup in West Hams history. This ultimately helped Terry secure a professional contract at the start of the 2023/2024 season.
Terry was then shortly after loaned out to Isthmian Premier League side – Concord Rangers FC. This team currently finds themselves in a relegation battle due to a string of poor results and postponements although some would undisputedly state how Mason Terry helped contribute to a major shift in team morale and match results. Despite growing up as a Canvey Island FC fan (The rivals to Concord Rangers), Terry made sure to show full commitments to his side – even though Terry can go freely play in the Premier League 2 and train with the U21 squad whenever he’d like – Mason Terry practically seems at home at Concord Rangers FC and its hard to deny that Terry has an exciting future ahead of him.
Mason Terry’s loan to Concord Rangers is believed to end at the end of the 2023/2024 season – who knows what the future brings for one of the most talented keepers at West Ham United.
Terry has played 18 games in the Isthmian Premier League and has (as of writing) a combined total of 1,620 minutes played – with only 32 goals currently conceded. Terry has 1 Youth FA Cup trophy under his belt. He is certainly one for the future as he is still actively developing his skills.
Amine Sassi – Concord Rangers FC (Isthmian Premier League)
Not much is actually known by myself about Amine Sassi, this talented midfielder // striker has only just recently joined Concord Rangers FC (As late as of December 22 – 2023). Sassi is an extremely fast and agile player who wowed me away when I witnessed him playing for Concord Rangers FC – This player will undisputedly have a future in League One or the Championship if I had to make a prediction – Despite having a rocky introduction to Concord Rangers due to their league position and constantly shifting team sheet, Sassi has already made a fairly good dent on the team. Having an incredible amount of shots on target with 2 goals to his name and multiple near assist’s – Sassi is an incredibly dedicated team player. Whilst once again not much is known on Sassi, I hope one day to be able to write a full length article on the hidden talent behind this dark horse that nobody knows about.
Cade Cowell – Guadalajara (Liga MX)
Cade Cowell is an American winger currently playing in Liga MX for Guadalajara (a mouthful for certain), Cowell is 20 years old and currently prefers playing on the left side of the pitch.. not only that but Cowell is actually APART of the United State Of America National Team. Cowell earns 600,000$ per year whilst playing for Guadalajara and is the only American on the team.
Cade has had a somewhat rocky season like previous mention Sassi – with an average rating of 6.69 per match and an xG (Expected Goals) of 0.20 – Cade hasn’t settled in superbly well. Although if you look at Cade’s overall stats and previous seasons then you will come to learn that whilst playing in the MLS in 2023 – Cade had over 1,558 minutes played and scored 1 goal and 2 assist’s. The previous season before that saw Cade play 31 games – 1,548 minutes and have 3 goals and 3 assist’s.
Despite all this – I believe that Cade does have some serious potential – as shown when he was playing within the Major Soccer League in America. His time at Guadalajara has somewhat dampened his career and I believe he would be better of either getting a loan or a transfer out of the team for the sake of his position in the National squad and for the sake of his own personal footballing career, Cade is worth roughly 4,000,000$ (£3,170,000) and his value is only decreasing at the Mexican Liga. Cade may be one of the many players whose extreme talent will go unsung if things keep going this way for Cade Cowell.
Cade took part of the U20 World Cup (3 Goals and 1 Assist) and also took part of the CONCACAF Gold Cup (1 Goal and 1 Assist) – Cade also has an 100% completion record on penalties as of late.
Da’vian Kimbrough – Sacremento Republic FC (USL Championship)
Da’vian is the youngest ever professional player in the history of the United States after getting his first pro contract at just 13 years of age. Da’vian is currently 13 years old (born Feburary 18th 2010) and is apart of the Mexican U15 squad – even despite holding a Dual Citizenship and having the chance to play for the USA National youth. Despite having hardly ANY apperances to his name for Sacremento Republic FC – Da’vian is a player you certainly want to keep a watchful eye on after getting a professional contract at such a young age.
Da’vian prefers to play as a Centre Forward and has only had one singular appearance as of writing… with an incredible.. four minutes of total time played in this season. He has currently had more national appearances than club appearances – appearing for the Mexican U15’s 3 times – having 4 goals to his name too! Whilst it may of been too premature to of given Da’vian a pro contract, who knows what the future actually holds for one of the youngest players in America. Its an utter shock he hasn’t been picked up by a major league club’s youth academy yet but I believe its only a short amount of time until Da’vian is picked from Sacremento and taken to a new club – with his contract expiring on the 30th of November 2024. The future of footballing is certainly exciting with young ballers such as Da’Vian around.
Abdoullah Ba – Sunderland (Sky Bet Championship)
Abdoullah Ba is a pretty shocking story. Abdoullah is a 20 year old right midfielder from France, this young midfielder is so heavily out-shown by Jobe Bellingham despite his incredible talent! Abdoullah plays so immensely for Sunderland yet never seems to get the recognition he deserves. With 28 appearances this season for Sunderland – Abdoullah has managed to score 3 goals and help with 4 assists. He’s only been in Sunderland’s starting line up 52% of this season so far (compared to Jobe’s near enough 100% appearances in the starting lineup this season)
With so much potential and showing so much dedication to Sunderland (even setting himself a goal contribution amount) – its an incredibly sad story to see Abdoullah be shadowed by the likes of Jobe Bellingham just simply due to his relation to Jude Bellingham (The Real Madrid and English International). Hopefully another team will be able to pick Abdoullah up from Sunderland in the near future and give him the playing time he deserves – without being overshadowed by the likes of Jobe or any others on the squad whom may have high interest relations or connections that the club may pick over himself.
Honourable Mentions
Harrison Day – Concord Rangers FC (Isthmian Premier League
Harrison Day is an extremely talented forward who I believed deserved to be on this list of one of many talents who go unseen in the world of football. Harrison will put his blood, sweat and tears into playing for his fans, team and most importantly; the badge.
Harrison is currently leading Concord’s goalscorer short with a whopping 12 goals in this 23/24 season; just right above Ricky Modeste who has 3. He is also leading and tied with fellow team-mate Max Hudson for most appearances this season (24). Day is notorious for typically scoring double goals – if not – hat tricks quite frequently. He is certainly an incredibly talented striker // Centre Forward. I’m sure Harrison is incredibly thankful to Catholic United for his career and where it may lead him
Divin Mubama – West Ham United FC (Premier League // Premier League 2)
Divin Mubama is one of the most looked upon youth players to come from West Ham United’s academy. Alongside the likes of Freddie Potts and Mason Terry – Mubama is also a Youth FA Cup winner and a player who is just barely breaking through into the West Ham United senior squad. Divin has shown that he still has much to learn though – not performing that well in the Premier league nor the Premier League 2 and cup matches. Out of a combined 17 total games Mubama has played this season In Premier League and Premier League 2 / Europa League and Domestic cup matches (691 total minutes); Mubama has only scored two goals. Mubama has shown himself to be a key player at times (as shown by the Youth FA Cup victory over Arsenal) but still clearly needs time to develop his personality and traits as a footballer. Otherwise we may see West Ham eventually selling or releasing Mubama due to their ever so high standards.
These are only a SMALL handful of talent that goes un-noticed in the footballing world.. and these are the ones we get to see in the public eye – the ones who we have the privilege to even play for a club but there are still plenty more players in non league’s or just Sunday league’s that are so heavily overlooked on. Who Knows; the next Roy Keane or Thierry Henry could be out there?
