Segway wrote:Speaking of Thierry and learning to finish, the great man himself was a pretty shitty finisher at Akpom's age. Besides, you don't score as many goals at youth level as Akpom has if you can't finish. There's plenty to work on for him and Wenger but from what I have seen, he's got all the raw tools to become a quality striker.
On topic it is typically extremely difficult to predict who will become world class. Rooney, Aguero and Messi were always obviously going to turn out top class but what about guys like Drogba, Diego Costa or Luis Suarez? Some just have a development burst later than others.
Henry had that incredible zero back lift curler even as a kid at Monaco. Although, he had to learn to finish in all the different ways you have to in order to score a massive amount of goals every season. And it's more that which I'm talking about with Akpom. That 'Ian Wright' quality of being able to control the ball quickly and finish when it comes to you at different heights, different speeds and different angles. Akpom has a lot of improving to do; he misses 5 chances a game at reserve level currently; that's testament to his exceptional movement/timing in behind the defensive line and inside the box (poor standard excepted), but it does show up how technically weak his finishing game is.
