Islam Salieh Feruz was born on the 10th of September 1995 in Kismaayo, Somalia but the family initially moved to London when Feruz was aged five, before later re-locating to Glasgow. When he was aged 10 he was discovered by Celtic youth coach John Simpson while playing a kickabout at Castlemilk Sports Centre, joined Celtic's youth academy and was playing in Celtic's under-14 team at age 11. The team's manager John Sludden said that after only 20 minutes he could tell Feruz was a special player and compared his talent to that of Paul McStay, Charlie Nicholas and Aiden McGeady. Such was his reputation with the Hoops' academy side, that the Somalia-born striker was being called one of the most prodigious talents to emerge from Scottish football in years. At 14, he played for the Celtic first team in a 2009 memorial match for club legend Tommy Burns and made history when he became the youngest-ever player to be selected for the Scotland Under-21 side. When Feruz and his family were threatened with deportation back to Somalia in 2007, Burns' intervention was critical. He personally lobbied immigration officials on the family’s behalf, citing the contribution Feruz would make to Scottish sporting culture over the next few decades. The family were successful and became naturalized UK citizens. In the 2009 Under-16 Victory Shield match against Wales, 90 per cent of the half-time and full-time analysis on Sky Sports was devoted to Islam Feruz, who was the youngest player on the pitch and three years younger than many of his opponents. Despite his diminutive stature, he bulldozed his way around Ninian Park that evening, felling opponents like skittles and harassing players into mistakes. He displayed his full repertoire of skills and feints with craft, guile and precision, completing his performance with a sublime chip over the Welsh goalkeeper for the winning goal. It was a startling demonstration of his potential. Anyone watching on TV that night would have heard comparisons with Wayne Rooney being aired for the first time.
The former SFA performance director Mark Wotte compared him to Brazil legend Romario. Speaking in 2012, he said: "Islam reminds me of the young Romario coming from Brazil to PSV. He was so quick and explosive a lot of defenders couldn’t touch him. I don’t want to stamp him by saying he is the new Romario because he is only 17. Islam still has two or three years of development ahead." Speaking on the Open Goal podcast in 2018, Liverpool left back Andy Robertson summed up just how highly-rated Feruz was by those at Celtic, "He was the golden boy, obviously. Celtic did everything for him and rightly so. He won every game for us really, scoring hat-tricks all the time." Unfortunately for the Hoops, the youngster's prodigious talent had quickly caught the attention of other clubs and Chelsea swooped to sign the speedy attacker in September 2011. Feruz left for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side despite offers of professional contract from the Parkhead outfit, but because of 'a flaw in the legal system', Chelsea were able to sign him for only £300,000 compensation. Celtic manager Neil Lennon was bitterly frustrated by the loss of a potential star and said, "We have done everything we can to keep the player and done more than enough to make him feel at home here. He does have other people in the background who are advising him. My take on it is that they are advising him wrongly, but we seem to be powerless in that situation. He's only 15, so there are other people in the background who I'd rather point the finger at than the player himself." Lennon's stark warning would prove prophetic.
It looked like Feruz was going to have a bright future at Stamford Bridge. In 2012 his two goals for Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup final, where he played with vigour and skill throughout, further bolstered his reputation. Having already scored a blistering 25-yard goal at Old Trafford in the semi-final and twice against Nottingham Forest in the quarters, he was the star of the tournament, being yet to celebrate his 17th birthday in a competition full of 19-year-old players. Feruz got a taste of first-team football when he was brought on as a first-half substitute for Kevin De Bruyne of all people during Chelsea's pre-season tour in 2013 but soon after that things began to stagnate. He never did achieve his aim of playing a senior competitive game for the English giants and instead spent time on loan at other clubs. This included a spell in Greece with OFI Crete - where he played just one league match - and a one-month period at Blackpool in 2015 that ended in controversial circumstances, following a tweet critical of tactics he then claimed wasn't actually about them. He returned to Scotland at the start of the 2015/16 campaign to join Hibs on a season-long loan deal. He announced, "It's up to me to do well during my loan spell here and get back on that path. I've always believed in myself and my ability as footballer even during the past couple of years...It would be nice to be judged on what I do at Hibs and how I behave in Scotland. I've got wiser. I've made mistakes, got into trouble, but I’ve learned from them." A day later, he was stopped by police in Glasgow and charged with driving while banned, driving without insurance, and perverting the course of justice. So once again a loan move was brought to an early end, making just six substitute appearances in all competitions. The following campaign, the striker was heading back out on yet another loan - this time to Belgian outfit Mouscron. However, in what amounted to another disappointment for him, he returned to Chelsea five months later after making just seven league appearances. At the age of 22 he had developed a reputation as a problem player and, consequently, was very quickly running out of options. One final loan move was to materialise, this time to Swindon in the second half of the 2016/17 campaign, but it was to end just as dismally as the rest, with Feruz playing in just four games. Chelsea ultimately released Feruz at the age of 23 in March 2019 - four months before his contract was due to expire.
It was revealed in 2020, a year after his Chelsea release, that he was ditching the beautiful game to set up a clothing brand ‘Tajirii’ - selling signature caps. Feruz played up to his bad boy reputation by stitching “Controversial One” onto the back of them. A remarkable development for a player once so highly rated by the 'Special One'.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/07/footballs-nearly-men-jermain-pennant.html
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