WOLVES' £100m WONDERKID
Chelsea and City sights on schoolboy star Zele Ismail
HE is the 15 year-old son of immigrant asylum-seekers - and is being tipped to become football's first £100million player.
Zele Ismail, currently on the books of Championship leaders Wolves, has already attracted the attention of Chelsea and Manchester City,who are ready to pay a staggering £2.5m for the schoolboy.
Even that fee is unlikely to make a dent in Wolves' determination to keep a tight hold on the youngster who is rated the outstanding player of his age in the country.
The Midlands club have thrown a protective shield around Ismail since he joined them after arriving in England with his Serbian-born parents five years ago.
Gem
Even when he was 10, Wolves were certain they had uncovered a gem who would become a major star if he continued his progress.
But they were also aware he would become prey to the bigger clubs and top agents desperate to entice him away from Molineux.
Wolves went to extraordinary lengths to keep Ismail under wraps and succeeded until he emerged before a wider audience in the summer, winning the Player of the Tournament at the Milk Cup event - the same stage at which David Beckham and Joe Cole first came to prominence.
The remarkable emergence of Ismail was nurtured by Wolves former academy director Chris Evans, who in the past has discovered players such as Robbie Keane, Joleon Lescott, Lee Naylor and Wayne Hennessey.
Evans, now assistant manager at Bolton, said: "It was clear very early on that Zele was a special player with talent way beyond his years.
"We picked him up when he was playing for his school team and the Wolverhampton district side when he was 10. Straight away he was playing in age groups two years above his own.
Ability
"He was smaller than the rest but his technical ability and football brain helped him overcome any physical problems.
"We soon realised we needed to protect him because there are so many predators - recruitment officers from the big clubs and agents - in the game.
"It got to the stage where I had to ban agents and other clubs from the training ground.
"His ability made it impossible for him to be ignored. He could score four, five or six goals in a game so we tended to take him off so as not to draw too much attention to him.
"But the cat is out of the bag now. He was superb in the Milk Cup tournament and now he has made his debut for the England Under-16s."
Progress
Evans is convinced that Ismail will remain at Wolves and said: "The last thing Zele needs now is any upheaval in his life. He had enough trauma in his early years when he had to come to a new country and learn a new language and culture.
"There is no limit to what he can achieve. He is easily the best player in the country for his age.
"If he continues his progress up to the age of 21 he will become priceless. People are talking about there being a £100m player one day. That's understandable because the game is now in the hands, not just of millionaires, but billionaires.
"I wouldn't want to put any pressure on the lad, but in years to come I can see enormous money being spent on Zele."
Please note: All comments are moderated.
Tick this box to accept our
TERMS & CONDITIONS
This article has 49 comments
yo i know zeli like a brother he lives next door to me just keep on going and you will be like ronaldo........ali
By ali.. Posted December 1 2009 at 2:47 PM.
Not as good as Jack Wilshere.
By Clarkey.. Posted October 20 2009 at 6:48 PM.
your amazing and we all love you
By zelka ismail.. Posted October 2 2009 at 12:03 PM.
hey zeli your a fantastic player and i think you should play for chelsea and get all that money, yuo deserve it.
By carly.. Posted October 2 2009 at 12:00 PM.
how is possible that every good albanian player playes for a foreign nation. no one loves his country. anyway i wish zele a good career and i hope he will soon be the best player in the world. forca shqiperia.
By krist13.. Posted September 26 2009 at 4:31 PM.
i know zeli very well he used to play for me at npv rovers as his manager at the time i said he would go on too bigger and better things and he has i still see him about now keep it zeli
By wayne jones.. Posted August 31 2009 at 1:43 PM.
hi zele u deserve to be in a one of the top teams like man u or chelsea i hope u going get a position soon in one of those top team i wish u good luck .
By nabaz.. Posted May 10 2009 at 11:15 PM.
he is a good player i think he should play for man u
By v.ahmed.. Posted April 29 2009 at 11:54 AM.
Well Well
I heard all of you lot talking up and down about this young kid.As far as he is concerned he loves only to play football and for the time being he loves it at Wolves.He is going great guns at the moment and if he progresses in the same lines he will be a great player.Whatever the circumstances as an albanian born you will make us all proud whichever club or country should you be playing.
Good luck and keep it up
A.A
By Toni Montana.. Posted March 7 2009 at 10:20 AM.
wolves r the best! This proves that they find the best youth players whens the last time u saw chelsea or man u find a good youth player like ismail. were goin up!!!!
By scott m.. Posted January 31 2009 at 11:15 PM.
u moving gud m8
By twiin.. Posted January 26 2009 at 2:54 PM.
Ismail is just another example of the great work wolves acadamy does, I find dumb comments from jealous Baggies highly amusing particularly as it looks like we'll be swapping divisions next season.
By steppy.. Posted January 8 2009 at 7:25 PM.
He's fantastic. Another young footballing prodigy. Don't forget though, we've heard this all before. Freddy Adu was meant to be the greatest young player the planet has ever seen, now, he's gone pretty quiet. I think the best place for him would be Old Trafford. Fergie made Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, the Neville brothers, Butt, Keane, Rooney, Nani, Ronaldo, Anderson, Ferdinand. He changes players, in a good way.
By Calum.. Posted January 8 2009 at 6:08 AM.
ur gd
By macor.. Posted January 7 2009 at 10:09 AM.
Yes, this talentet guy is 100% Albanian. His parents are from Kosovo. I wish him luck!
By Chris.. Posted January 2 2009 at 1:28 AM.
Wolves will keep this lad.
Funny how people are getting jealous because we produce the best youth players.
We are going up!
By Wolfie.. Posted December 23 2008 at 6:43 PM.
Zele Ismail is an ethnic Kosovan Albanian who's parents escaped the war in kosova . His parents were fleeing to Macedonia as so many other Kosovans did and later on his parents decided to immigrate to England for a better life .
His parents are classed as being born in serbia because kosova was part of serbia at the time when his parents were born. His Albanian name is Zele Ismaili.
By marsel.. Posted December 21 2008 at 6:56 PM.
hey hi is from macedonia his parents go to england in time when was a war in macedonia 2001 i belive hi remember as and hi have a wish to play for as MACEDONIA
By AAAAAAAAAAA.. Posted December 21 2008 at 4:08 PM.
zele training hard and go to a big club where u can play .don't forget your country
By florian.. Posted December 10 2008 at 6:50 PM.
I have read some of the comments, i am just happy wolves have proven again they can bring quality from their youth acedemy. zele is a going to be better than everyone and i hope he wears the gold and black proudly just as lescott and keane and naylor and after being taken over i doubt he will leabe or either of our top players. i hope we keep up these performances and he can play for us some day in prem or even europe jus like pompey and wat hull wil do. n i hope the baggie scum get relegated
By Vijay Bagha.. Posted December 1 2008 at 12:11 AM.
i watched Zeli play last night against scotland, and he was amazingg !!! he's not also good at football hes GORGEOUSSS !! Iloveyouu Zelii xx
By Chelsea.. Posted November 29 2008 at 9:31 AM.
Im sorry guys but Zele Ismail will play for Albania .
By Zenca.. Posted November 27 2008 at 11:01 AM.
h i
zeli is the best players for his age and older in england
and i no zeli never gd i play will him football like every day and he is top class
keep it up zenaldo= zeli
By Artist b .. Posted November 25 2008 at 10:21 PM.
This lad has more than talent, i know him since he was 5, i played football with him lots of times and let me tell you that he can really play, for his age he is not only great but absulute brilliant, one day he will be the best ENGLISH international that has ever played for england. mark my words.
And yea dont forget this name ZELE ISMAIL.
Keep it up big man, and dont listen to idiots who dont know football.
By Dreniz.. Posted October 29 2008 at 10:32 PM.
O YES ZELE IS THE BEST COME ONE ZELE FORGET ABOUT C.RONALDO .KAKA YOU ARE THE BESTE MAN KEEP GOING AS YOU ARE O YEAH O YEAH O YEAH O YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
By dan.. Posted October 24 2008 at 12:07 PM.
ive played against him for coventry and he was amazing i couldnt get near him lol he will b class when he is older. and he was a year younger thn me
By will worthington.. Posted October 20 2008 at 2:35 PM.
i know zeli very well and i new him 4 a verry long time, he is a grate palyer and he has the ability to become the best player in the country. some peopel say that he is not gd as the comment from above but if they think they better than him then go on the pitch and face him, its easy to say his not gd but he is a grate player and he will do grate
By DS£.. Posted October 19 2008 at 2:56 PM.
u lot dow no zele as i du...
we use to play at the park n tht wid him
hes my boy from fire town...
By bill.. Posted October 15 2008 at 3:13 PM.
As a Arsenal fan i would love to see ZELE playing with ARSENAL shirt
I watched him playing for ENGLAND U16 and he was one of the best in the pitch,i also watched the goals that ZELI scored in the MILK CUP TOURNAMENT where he became the best player of the tournament...
By M.UKA.. Posted October 13 2008 at 7:18 PM.
i have seen him play and he is not as good as they say i was at wolves academy with him when he played everton and he did not shine in my eyes.
By dean.. Posted October 13 2008 at 11:41 AM.
I find it amazing Posh fans are coming on here and saying that Wolves tried to nick Aaron McLean. His 20 odd. Not a youth player. His had a professional contract and think he was worth a punt. We offered big bucks for him, not pittance. The simple fact is, do you think we did the right thing on refusing to pay £5m for a league 4 player? Yes ... we've scored 24 goals this season in 10 games. We have 4 international strikers on our books already. McClean would have been a buy for the future. Unfortunately Barry Fry was silly enough to refuse the offer which will probably see less interest in the player over the next coming years and if Posh fail to get promoted he will leave for a value less then Wolves offered.
On the Zele front. Who cares. His a Wolves player now, its indicated a pro-contract has all but been agreed. If he leaves. He leaves. Its modern football. If he had love for football, he would stay. And watching him with the other Wolves lads the only thing that would tear him away would be the threat of being taken back to Macedonia and we all know that will never happen. :)
By Bob.. Posted October 13 2008 at 8:54 AM.
I hope the fat cats leave Zele alone and let him develope with the wolves acadamy, i hope he realises his potential and achives it with wolves, they will know how to take care of him. if his progress continues i cant see why he wont make his debut for wolves in the premiership next season
By peter from aberystwyth.. Posted October 13 2008 at 2:20 AM.
I hope the fat cats leave Zele alone and let him develope with the wolves acadamy, i hope he realises his potential and achives it with wolves, they will know how to take care of him. if his progress continues i cant see why he wont make his debut for wolves in the premiership next season
By peter from aberystwyth.. Posted October 13 2008 at 2:08 AM.
Wow... if Arsene Wenger was looking towards the right, then maybe Arsenal could get a peice of the action. It would be nice to see a young player like him to be picked up and taken to high places. I havent seen him play but if he is portrayed to be this good. He must be a good catch.
By Vanessa.. Posted October 13 2008 at 12:04 AM.
Zeli is the best player you can ever get we are all proud of him.For those people that dont like him i think you need to change your mind becuase he is a talented lad.I think that in the future he will continue being the best player.
Keep it up.
By besnik.. Posted October 12 2008 at 11:14 PM.
I think the wolves shud sell him to albion and do every1 in the midlands a favour. Theyre doing well this season so would it not be a good shout to put him into the 1st team amongst quality players towards the end of the season? i hope the wolves go up along with the blues so that we can have 4 west midlands sides in the premierleague for the first time ever, which means more scraps!!!
On the other hand id like to add that west brom look as though theyre going to survive on current form, another easy 3 points coming up at man u next and then its happy days!
By paul from west bromwich.. Posted October 12 2008 at 8:53 PM.
Wolves couldn't sign our Aaron Mclean so how the hell do they think they will keep this lad? When a lower league club can out muscle them financially it doesn't hold much hope really lol.
By SteveCat.. Posted October 12 2008 at 8:53 PM.
this lad is the best player u can ever get i no him i play football with him and his just to good for us his worth 100 m wen his about 21 years old he with be the best player in the world forget ronaldo and kaka and all this players zeli is the one for the future
keep it up zeli
By muche.. Posted October 12 2008 at 8:41 PM.
I agree with david, what goes around comes around, Wolves do the same to the lower league clubs, its football, he'll move on if the money is right for both parties, if he is any good that is.
For what its worth I hope Wolves go up this year.
By BlondeOne.. Posted October 12 2008 at 7:20 PM.
'Wolves have found a good young kid with great potential, why do the big clubs have to steal everyones players, i think wolves deserve to keep him as they have been out and found the lad.'
Exactly the same sentiments as when they tried to get Aaron McClean from us (Posh) last summer. Different clubs, same scenario. We showed Wolves that we would NOT let Aaron go. Do the same with your kid Wolves - but don't moan about bigger clubs after your players, when you do the self same thing!!
By David John Allen.. Posted October 12 2008 at 6:02 PM.
hi very one. well zeli is my first cousin and i talk to him a lot. I must tell you all that zeli is one great boy who really does not let these things take over him. He continues to work had and absolutely loves playing for wolves. All of you that say wolves wont go up, well let me tell you that they are top of the table alongside birmingham. They have every chance of going up this year as they have a good bunch of their own players that came through the academy. By then hopefully zeli should also get a chance and then i am sure he will love it and so will wolves because wolves have the potential to do as well as portsmouth did and play in europe too. soo for now forget man u, chelsea or anyone else, zeli is focused 100% on wolves fc
By silver.. Posted October 12 2008 at 5:35 PM.
Wolves have found a good young kid with great potential, why do the big clubs have to steal everyones players, i think wolves deserve to keep him as they have been out and found the lad. if i was him i would stay at wolves and gain some first team experience instead of going to rot in the reserves of the big clubs.
By Mike from wolverhampton.. Posted October 12 2008 at 1:58 PM.
Man Utd should sign this lad. he amazing.
could play awesome with rooney and ronaldo.
By cam.. Posted October 12 2008 at 2:04 PM.
Wolves are one of the clubs that have always developed youth players. Billy Wright and Jimmy Mullen, were two before the last war and Peter Broadbent was another who joined Wolves when a teenager in the time of the legendary Stanley Cullis. If we come to our time I just mention Robbie Keane who everyone knows how much money has been paid for him when transferred from one club to another.
What I can`t understand is how the big clubs are not able to do the same apart from Man. U. who in the 50s had the famous Busby Babes and in Alex Ferguson`s time they unearthed the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs just to name a few.
I would be happy if Chelsea and Man. C. keep the £2.5m they want to pay, leave Zele Ismail alone and let him develop in the Wolves Academy and as a comment above says, Wolves should benefit from his talents at least for a season or two before he leaves Molineux - if actually he will want to.
By Alfred Camilleri.. Posted October 12 2008 at 2:26 PM.
he is a good player but if he realy wanted to sign for chelsea and man city wouldnt he have done so by now
come on wolves
By Aiden mohan.. Posted October 12 2008 at 12:13 PM.
Ha Ha Ha ... the dingles think they got a 100million player remind me how much did they get for robbie keane or jolean lescott ... pennys! He will leave when he bou 17 4 around 3million just like ramsey did from cardiff he is worth more than 5 mil but cuz he da av a propa contract e went for next to nothin ... dingles will lose hennesay, ebanks blake n kightly in da summer n have anuva lng season in the championship ... Boing Boing
By !Baggie Boy Craig.. Posted October 12 2008 at 12:11 PM.
Wolves won't be able to keep him. Talk is all about money. Real footballers would play for the minimum wage they love the game. Players like Joe Cole came through because they were playing for a club with a tradition of youth devolopment.
As a Chelsea fan I want us to get the best players but not through robbing clubs without our financial clout. We can offer him all sorts of things but Wolves found him so they should benefit from at least a year or two in return. Wolves probably need to get promotion to keep him. If he is fifteen then he can't have signed a pro contract yet so might get nicked.
By Bob.. Posted October 12 2008 at 9:56 AM.
oh dear oh dear wolves fans getting big headed again. he is not going to stay at an average championship side who dont go up + dont go down
By scott from wolverhampton.. Posted October 12 2008 at 9:21 AM.
he is the best player and we are proud of him
and I am very happy som one from my country to become a best football player
By mitch.. Posted October 12 2008 at 12:33 AM.