Twelve-year-old Cypriot Spyrides signs for West Ham

By Andreas Vou

YOUNG Cypriot Odysseas Spyrides has signed a contract with Premier League outfit West Ham United. In doing so, the 12-year old striker becomes the youngest Cypriot to earn a deal with a foreign club and now permanently resides in London.

Spyrides was part of the island’s famed football camp ‘Cyprus Elite Players’ and was spotted by scouts of the London club last autumn, after Tottenham decided not to pursue his signature

Spyrides was one of three players who went to London in September for the final round of trials at Tottenham after three youngsters were chosen among thousands of kids from a process that started from the 2012 edition of the Ayia Napa youth tournament.

A contract was offered by Tottenham to 12-year old Charalambos Charalambous, but the family of the young striker preferred to remain in Cyprus for the time being. Charalambous will instead attend Pascal English School’s sports school in Larnaca and will continue to play at the Athletico football academy.

The third of the group, goalkeeper Christophoros Ioannou made a great impression in the final round of trials at Spurs and came extremely close to being the final pick for the London club. For now, the young keeper will continue to play for Omonia and attend the sports school of Pascal Greek School in Nicosia.

As a result of Cypriot clubs continuing to shun local players in favour of imports, parents of young Cypriots are increasingly warming to the idea of their children moving abroad to make a breakthrough in their careers. Combined with an increased level of scouting on the island from foreign clubs, we could see the next batch of top Cypriot talent be produced by clubs abroad.

There is already a healthy presence of young Cypriots in English football and Spyrides will aim to follow in their footsteps: Cyprus U19 international Alexandar Gogic signed for Swansea last summer while 17-year old Nicholas Ioannou is regarded as one of the brightest talents coming through the ranks at Manchester United.
Striker Harrison Panagiotou scored on the final day of last season for Leicester City while Nico Yennaris recently signed for Brentford following 13 years on Arsenal’s books.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.