A little bit about Lascelles
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 9:56 PM | by Adam Gray 
Rumours were emerging this morning that Spurs have joined Arsenal in the race for the exotically named Nottingham Forest defender Jamaal Lascelles, who sounds rather like the Seychelles, but it’s probably cheaper to holiday there than buy this lad, after the Gunners had a £5 million bid knocked back for him last April.
He’s probably more obscure than the African Islands, so it’s probably best that we give a little bit of background on the 18 year-old centre-half that has the two North-London clubs willing to fight it out for his signature.
Well, Lascelles is another graduate from the Nottingham Forest youth system that has created Marvin Morgan and Lewis McGugan in recent years, as well as Patrick Bamford, the midfielder who was snapped up by Chelsea for £1.5 million on transfer deadline day. He also represents England at under-19 level and has seven caps after making his debut against the Netherlands last March, and has impressed as England won October’s Limoges tournament at under-19 level.
Lascelles has only just broken through into the Forest first team after the loss of Morgan and various injury problems gave Steve Cotterill no other option but to resort to asking his mother if he could stay out past his bed time so he could play in last Tuesday’s defeat to Burnley.
Okay, he’s not that young, but for Arsenal to be so desperate for his signature that they offered £2 million up-front, plus another £3 million in down-payments eleven months ago suggests he is rated highly enough to make the seemingly premature step-up into the Premier League.
It will be a huge leap for the defender who will be used to such jumps having been a former basket-ball player. However, now football is his code and it looks like the defender, who is 6ft 2 and over 13 stone, resembling a physically imposing centre-half, will have a bright future in it in such a short space of time.
The immediate looks very exciting for Lascelles, he’s being given a chance in the Forest first team and is in the forthcoming England under-19 squad to face the Czech Republic on the 28th February as he certifies his place in that squad. It may be a bit over-elaborated on the letter “L” but he’s one to keep an eye out for.
@AdamGray1250
