Ex-Crystal Palace Youngster Egbo: I Was One Of The First To Reject Pro Deal

Former Crystal Palace youngster Mandela Egbo has revealed that he was one of the first Academy players in England to turn down a professional contract with a Premier League club in order to move abroad in 2015.

Now with German Bundesliga outfit, Borussia Monchengladbach, the highly-rated defender made his senior debut for The Borussians in their 1-0 win over Hannover 96 in February 2018, coming on as an 80th-minute substitute for Denis Zakaria.

Aged 20, Egbo was included in Borussia Monchengladbach's first team squad for Bundesliga games eight times over the course of the 2017-2018 campaign, a sign that he is making good progress.

''In turns of turning down a professional contract I was one of the first and now a few others have done it as well. It’s not bad or good, it’s just a different experience. Whether you get 100 games in the Premier League or 100 games in the Bundesliga it’s just a different experience,'' Egbo said to londonnewsonline.co.uk.

“From an early age the club will be able to tell if you may have the talent to progress through. Play well and train well in the 18s and 23s, but a player might still make a mistake and the opposition may score. That doesn’t mean a player isn’t ready. The same thing happens to senior pros, they make mistakes every day. You’ve got to be ready when the chance comes. A lot of the time you have to wait for an injury.

“I had the utmost confidence in my ability. But being realistic it wasn’t necessarily the culture at Palace [to bring young players through].You can’t blame anyone – that’s just the culture of the Premier League.

''Managers need to have more trust in young players.''

Egbo - a right-back by trade - was part of the England U17 squad, along with Dominic Solanke and Josh Onomah, that won the 2014 European U17 Championship in Malta.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : twitter.com/mandela_e