Dundee want to keep the best young talent in their academy to boost the first-team picture.
However, the reality of modern football makes that difficult.
Especially when English Premier League clubs come calling.
Resisting what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is a difficult thing for a talented young footballer and his family.
And resisting the transfer fee can be just as tricky for a club like Dundee, too.
In the summer, 16-year-old Seb Lochhead was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a £300,000 starting off fee with add-ons to come.
Another young talent is also attracting Premier League interest.
Goalkeeper Ally Graham has just turned 16 and is part of the Dee U/18 and Scotland U/17 sides.
His performances in youth football have drawn interest from a number of big clubs.
Graham has been on trial at Newcastle, Southampton, Nottingham Forest and lately Arsenal, as reported by Courier Sport.
With the Gunners, the Dundee youngster trained with Arsenal legend David Seaman.
However, it is understood Nottingham Forest are keen to step up their chase of the talented young keeper.
That’s after a summer deal between the two clubs, that included Graham as part of a possible Aaron Donnelly move to Dens Park, fell through.
‘Shows good players at Dundee’
While Dundee’s academy chief Stephen Wright wants to keep the best young talent at the club, he does see a positive side in all this interest.
Big clubs are taking note of young Dundee players and that shows there is real talent to be found there.
“You obviously want players to stay and get into Dundee’s first team, but I suppose my job is to try and do what’s best for each young player and their family,” Wright told Courier Sport.
“That’s getting a career anywhere, really.
“If it’s going to be England before he’s even touched the first team, that’s a sign of the times.
“English clubs are coming younger and younger, looking at players in Scotland.
“What it does do is show there are good players in the Dundee academy.
“Money comes into it and the clubs decide, but for me and for our coaches, it’s great to see recognition for our young players.
“Obviously, Sebastian [Lochhead] went down to Wolverhampton as well, which is, again, brilliant for us.
“Our younger players in the academy, they see that.
“They see that there’s players in our academy higher up that are moving to English Premier League clubs.
“It’ll give them a little boost as well, and the families.
“We would love to see these players playing for Dundee’s first team, like Josh Mulligan, Lyall Cameron and Fin Robertson are doing now, but again, at the academy, we don’t really have much control over that.”
First team
What they do have control over is the here-and-now for young Graham.
That includes training sessions with first-team goalkeeping coach Alan Combe, at times alongside the first-team goalkeepers.
“He’s been training with Alan Combe once a week with the younger ones,” Wright added.
“He’s at St John’s but he comes in to train with the first-team goalies, Trevor Carson, Jon McCracken and Harry Sharp so he’s been involved with those guys.
“He does the drills and stuff so he’s certainly in amongst the first-team squad, and with him being a Dundee fan as well, it’s brilliant for him.”
Scotland and Arsenal
There’s also Scotland duty. After turning out in the Victory Shield for the U/16s, Graham recently made his competitive U/17 debut.
The Dundee youngster travelled to Northern Ireland for a three-game qualifying tournament but unfortunately the Scots failed to get through.
They beat Lithuania 2-1 but fell to defeats against Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
“Ally was away with Scotland again, it was Euro qualifiers for the U/17s which is obviously a big deal,” Wright, who won two full Scotland caps in his playing career, added.
“Sadly, they never qualified, but the good sign is that Alistair started the three games, which is brilliant.
“So, that just shows you what they think of him.
“The feedback was very positive.
“It’s really, really good for him.
“Ally is part of our U/18 squad now, albeit he’s a first-year U/18, so he’s got another year and a half U/18s.
“He’s doing well, and then, obviously, he’d been down at Arsenal for four days as well, so they’d shown an interest and they’d been watching him for a little while.
“Going down there, again, positive feedback.
“I don’t know what’s going to come of that.”
Youth Cup
In the meantime, Graham has been playing his part in a Scottish Youth Cup run with the U/18s.
They face Ayr United next Friday with a place in the last eight at stake after seeing off Penicuik and Fraserburgh in rounds two and three.
“The Fraserburgh game was a proper cup tie up there,” former Scotland international Wright added.
“A lot of the boys hadn’t experienced it before, fans shouting for their home team and a grass pitch under the floodlights.
“We did well to get through that. Who knows where it could take them this year, it’s nice to get a wee run in the cup.”
The development squad has also been glad to welcome back Ross Clark and David Cabrelli after long-term injuries.
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