Joe05 Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 taken from the etims rumour mill: "One player we definitely have signed is Canadian teenage sensation, Jacob Lensky. Lensky has verbally agreed to a three-year contract with Celtic under-17 team. Remember where you where when you first heard his name." http://www.etims.net Okay has anyone heard of this guy or is he just a figment of someone's imagination? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Lensky Glasgow-bound Fifteen-year-old Vancouver College student signs with Celtic U-17 team http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/sports/story.html?id=6cee468b-0f43-4764-a25a-e9402d44aee1 Widely sought Vancouver midfielder Jacob Lensky has verbally agreed to a three-year contract with Scotland's Glasgow Celtic under-17 team after he was courted in recent months by England's Manchester United, the most famous soccer club in the world. Lensky, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student at Vancouver College, reached a pre-contract agreement with Celtic on May 20 following a trial with the under-17 side and will return to Glasgow July 8 for pre-season training. "I can't be officially signed to a contract until I turn 16, which is on Dec. 16," says Lensky, who recently wrote his year-end exams at Vancouver College. "Although I've had opportunities to play for other teams, including Manchester United, Celtic emerged as my clear first choice. I loved my trial with Celtic and everything else about the club." Lensky was scheduled to join Manchester United's under-17 team for a trial in July following his time with Celtic. But he suffered a pulled hamstring while playing for Celtic and the injury forced him to postpone his plans to travel to Manchester. Lensky spent 11 days in Glasgow in early May, playing in four league games and scoring two goals against Dunfermline and Hibernian. He father, Boris Lensky, also travelled to Glasgow and sat in on negotiations for the pre-contract agreement with Tommy Burns, head coach of the Glasgow Celtic Soccer Academy, and assistant coach John Stevenson. "The original purpose of the trip was to go to Glasgow Celtic first and then to Manchester United," Boris Lensky says. "We thought when we left Vancouver that Manchester United would be the more important part of trip. Jacob was approached first by Manchester United, but then he picked up his hamstring injury and couldn't go to Manchester. "We had a meeting with Tommy Burns and he was very impressed with Jacob. We spent three hours discussing a contract and finally reached an agreement." Burns and Stevenson are travelling outside of Scotland until July 2 and could not be reached for comment. But John Cushley, the head of Celtic's youth academy education and welfare office, confirms that Lensky has reached a pre-contract agreement with the club. "Jacob will be joining a highly successful youth program here," Cushley, a former Celtic player, says from Glasgow. "Our under-17 team was unbeaten against Scottish League opponents in 24 league games this season and won the championship. In fact, the team lost only one game the entire year -- 1-0 to Manchester United's under-17 side in an exhibition game at the end of our season. "Our under-17 team has been so dominant in Scotland the last two or three years that we've arranged to play exhibition games against English League youth teams like Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle." Cushley says Lensky will become a paid player by Celtic on Jan. 1, 2005. "He will be a fully professional player on that date. He'll also continue his high school studies here and I will oversee his education." Glasgow Celtic's senior team won both the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Cup championships this past season. That's due in large measure to the exceptionally strong youth programs that are in place here," Cushley says. "Our under-19 and under-21 teams also won Scottish League championships this year. There's no doubt that Jacob will be joining a very high standard and keenly competitive youth program at Celtic." The Scottish under-17 league season starts in mid-August, breaks for the Christmas and New Year holidays, resumes in mid-February and concludes in May. Lensky says he has also had trial runs with English League clubs Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United. "My longest spell was at Blackburn, where I played for four years between ages eight and 11," he says. "Blackburn wanted to sign me, but it was very stale there and I wasn't making any progress as a player. That's why I really like Celtic. I learned a lot of things and made progress in only four games there. Celtic has a great youth development program and equally great coaches." Lensky has played Vancouver Metro League soccer with Surrey United and an ICSF (Italian Canadian Soccer Federation) side. But his most influential years in the game were with the Boris Lensky-coached Guildford under-15 Gold team in Surrey. "I learned the game of soccer from my dad," he says. "He taught me all of the basic skills. The Guildford team that my dad coached is the the best team I've ever played on. We didn't lose a game in three seasons." Ironically, the slim 5-foot-10, 150-pound Lensky has never played for a B.C. or Canadian youth team. "I wasn't around here much for a chance to play with those teams," he said with a chuckle. "I was always somewhere in Europe trying out with club sides." B.C.'s and Canada's loss is Glasgow Celtic's gain. © The Vancouver Sun 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayWay Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 quote:Ironically, the slim 5-foot-10, 150-pound Lensky has never played for a B.C. or Canadian youth team. Uh oh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris healy Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Jacob Lensky was a child phenom, at 8 years old he was far past any kid in BC up to the age of 12. His father pushed him extremely hard, creating his own leagues and teams to surround his child with players who could play with him. Jacob was always a great kid, im happy to see he is getting some attention, as he is the MOST individually gifted player i have ever seen in BC, surpassing Gordon Chin and Terry Dunfield as youngsters. He unfortunately got a bad rep as his dad was very aggresive, but Boris was definetly a great technical coach. Good Luck Jacob, and congratulations to both Jacob and Boris, well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarrek Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 quote:B.C.'s and Canada's loss is Glasgow Celtic's gain.Let's just hope that this isn't another Hargreaves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 wow, us canadians really are pessimists, eh! this could be on our substitutes bench with john de guzman for germany 2006 and all you can think about is if they'll choose another country. ps-i've played against gordon chin, he wasn't that dominant. a kid i played with and against for 6 years named jason rackstraw was hands down the most talented player i've ever seen. he did things players like michael owen can only dream of. too bad a poor family surrounding, and small stature held him back. grimsby said he was too small to play striker. he easily scored 60-80 goals a year until about the age of 16 when his team finally moved up to metro where he still scored a goal a game. in the california cup which featured chivas he scored 10 goals in 5 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bc_soccer_fan Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 I made a thread a couple of months ago about this kid going on trial with Celtic and ManU. Congrats to him and hopefully we see him in a Canadian uniform soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarrek Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 bettermirror, So what happened to this kid? And where is Gordon Chin ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris healy Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 the problem out in maple ridge area is that the alouette metro club has been quite weak durin the 90`s with the exception of the russell huggon, emilio bottligeri team , making it not as fun for some of the better players, and unless u want to drive an extra 5 hours a week to play for metro ford ur most likely going to be on a losing team with players not quite ur calibre. When i was coaching alouette metro i had a player glen schikerowski another amazing talent , ronaldo like power, n pace maple ridge seems to have players of this calibre at younger ages , unfortunately most of them fizzle out at like 15 or 16. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Observer Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Great news. Lets hope we get to see Lemsky (Celtic), De Guzman (Feyenoord), Peters (Kaiserslautern), Lombardo (Atlanta), Uccello (AC Milan), Gomez (River Plate), Edgar (Newcastle), and Begovic (Portsmouth) in what would be a cracking U-20 side for the Youth World Cup in CANADA in 2007. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desigol Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Hail Hail! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gian-Luca Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Are we sure Lombardo is with Atalanta? I must have missed that news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Uccello and Begovic will be too old in 2007 I believe, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Observer Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Definitley not Begovic and I believe Uccello is the same age as Peters and Edgar so he should be available as well. Not sure about Lombardo but that was my recollection of something reported on this board. Could be wrong though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beaver Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 I thought Lombardo has been at Man U. Or did he move on? That sounds familiar, but I'm not sure. Did he go to Italy. Lombardo, if I've not said it before, is going to be a Vieri-like striker someday. Loads of pace and height and ferocity. Okay, perhaps Vieri-like is too grand, but we'll see... As for getting nervous about our best prospects opting to play for other countries, you are damned right we're anxious. One can be as optimistic as one can be, but that does not mean all anxiety will be quashed. I agree, we need to be as positive as possible, but the Hargreaves-decision stung most of us. It was a slap in the face...To use a rhetorical tactic much lauded in Republican USA (and dare I say, praised in the backwaters of Conservative Canada) "Either you are with Canadian soccer, or you are against it." Damn, why am I stil harping on this issue. I need therapy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alberto Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Originally posted by An Observer Definitley not Begovic and I believe Uccello is the same age as Peters and Edgar so he should be available as well. Not sure about Lombardo but that was my recollection of something reported on this board. Could be wrong though Begovic, Peters and Edgar with Lombardo are of 1987 group, Uccello 1986 will not qualify for the 2007 but could for netherlands 2005. If asked to try out. He missed the under 17 youth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Jarrek bettermirror, And where is Gordon Chin ? Gordon Chin was at the U20 WC for Canada last dec. and he captained the squad. We had a good team and superbely gifted players but in my honnest opinion, unlike the rest of those players on that squad, I did not see much in the way of technical abilities or a high level of skill from Chin. Maybe it was just one game and it might not be fair to pass judgement too quickly but I did not believe he was particular good at all. He is currently wihe is currently with the Aviators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celtic Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Hey chris is that your real name? and when did you see Jacob? does he know you well? just wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris healy Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 yes that is my complete real name, i saw jacob for about 3 years alot from when he was 8 till about 11 or 12, i coached a gold team that was 4 years older then him, but we played regularily against boris`s teams who were about 2 years younger then us, also i coached teams in the summer leagues that boris offered. Later he went onto a ICSF gold team where everyone was underage and they still did very well, but the team kinda disembarked mostly due to out of district issues, one thing his team did do was help iniate change in the out of district policies. There was a time though that noone was allowed to play boris`s teams , but me being the coach who liked playing against talented players still played him. Im pretty sure he would know me on sight, boris definetly will remember me from my days in Poco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kclee Posted June 25, 2004 Share Posted June 25, 2004 Yes, I recall that thread. It stated somewhere that his father wants him to play for his native (father's) Czech Republic. Oh well, under the new rules he can play for us in the U20 before making up his mind. quote:Originally posted by bc_soccer_fan I made a thread a couple of months ago about this kid going on trial with Celtic and ManU. Congrats to him and hopefully we see him in a Canadian uniform soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettermirror Posted June 26, 2004 Share Posted June 26, 2004 hey jarrek. after going to england jason came back and got fat. end of story. he had a very rough go of it at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnipeg Fury Posted June 26, 2004 Share Posted June 26, 2004 Anyone recall a kid named Phil Lensky from a few years back ? He was voted the best youth player at an Ajax camp, then we never heard about him again. Must be related. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris healy Posted June 26, 2004 Share Posted June 26, 2004 yeah he is his older brother, also very talented, had alot of trials in europe from the age of 13 and up, unfortunately he didnt hang on due to other circumstances other then his skill level, he was pushed maybe a lil too hard im thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Can. in UK Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 From SkySports... not much new in the article. Just love the words 'Canadian' and 'starlet' in the same sentence. CELTIC BEAT UNITED TO SIGN STARLET Tuesday 29th June 2004 Canadian starlet Jacob Lensky has snubbed Manchester United in order to join Martin O'Neill's Celtic. After losing Liam Miller to Old Trafford, the news will be welcomed at Parkhead as O'Neill looks to follow up a stunning season in Scotland with more success in the future. Lensky underwent a trial with Celtic but a hamstring injury prevented the midfielder from linking up with United on a similar basis. "Although I've had opportunities to play with other teams, including Manchester United, Celtic emerged as my clear first choice," the 15-year-old told The Vancouver Sun. "I loved my trial with Celtic and everything else about the club. "I can't officially be signed to a contract until I turn 16, which is on December 16." Celtic have confirmed that the player will officially become part of their squad at the turn of the year, but he is likely to form part of their youth team plans. "The original purpose of the trip was to go to Glasgow Celtic first and then to Manchester United," admitted his father, Boris Lensky. "We thought when we left Vancouver that Manchester United would be the more important part of the trip. "Jacob was approached first by Manchester United, but then he picked up his hamstring injury and couldn't go to Manchester." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kclee Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 I wonder if Frank has called him yet and asked 'Why not Canada?'. quote:Originally posted by Can. in UK From SkySports... not much new in the article. Just love the words 'Canadian' and 'starlet' in the same sentence. CELTIC BEAT UNITED TO SIGN STARLET Tuesday 29th June 2004 Canadian starlet Jacob Lensky has snubbed Manchester United in order to join Martin O'Neill's Celtic. After losing Liam Miller to Old Trafford, the news will be welcomed at Parkhead as O'Neill looks to follow up a stunning season in Scotland with more success in the future. Lensky underwent a trial with Celtic but a hamstring injury prevented the midfielder from linking up with United on a similar basis. "Although I've had opportunities to play with other teams, including Manchester United, Celtic emerged as my clear first choice," the 15-year-old told The Vancouver Sun. "I loved my trial with Celtic and everything else about the club. "I can't officially be signed to a contract until I turn 16, which is on December 16." Celtic have confirmed that the player will officially become part of their squad at the turn of the year, but he is likely to form part of their youth team plans. "The original purpose of the trip was to go to Glasgow Celtic first and then to Manchester United," admitted his father, Boris Lensky. "We thought when we left Vancouver that Manchester United would be the more important part of the trip. "Jacob was approached first by Manchester United, but then he picked up his hamstring injury and couldn't go to Manchester." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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