A single word summed how Joel Ndala felt after England crashed out of the Under-17 World Cup to Uzbekistan on Tuesday. “Disappointed,” the Manchester City forward posted on Instagram with a picture of himself slumped on the turf in the wake of the 2-1 defeat in Jakarta.
Yet despite failing to follow in the footsteps of Phil Foden and company in 2017 and inspire England to World Cup glory, Ndala’s scintillating performances in Indonesia were the latest confirmation of his exciting talent. Having celebrated a brilliant improvised winning goal against Iran in their second group match with his arms outstretched Jude Bellingham-style, he followed that by scoring a penalty against Brazil before coming up with England’s equaliser in the last 16 against Uzbekistan when they were surprisingly eliminated.
“In terms of his development, it’s really important that he has a bump in the road and I’m sure that he will come back stronger,” says Callum Rollings, a coach at Port Vale’s academy, where Ndala began his career. “Joel was the one bright spark from England’s team at the World Cup who everyone wants to know about now. But I’m sure he will make an even bigger name for himself in the future.”
Born in Manchester, Ndala’s family has heritage from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and he grew up in France before returning to England to live in the Potteries at the age of seven. Rollings first met him a year later when he was recommended by a PE teacher from a local school, Saint Nathaniel’s in Stoke, and signed on the same day after Port Vale staff went to check out the tip.
“From the first moment you could tell he was something special,” says Rollings. “It doesn’t happen much – he was spotted playing in the playground and the teacher gave us a call. He just had this belief in his own ability, even though he was such a young lad. Joel’s the best I’ve ever seen at that age. It was always like he was still playing in the playground.”
Despite having to learn a new language, Ndala settled in immediately at Port Vale and started attracting the attention of scouts from across the country. He was pushed up a year at first and then another as his development accelerated rapidly. “I remember putting my arm around him and explaining things to make sure he was comfortable. The other boys in the group also looked after him and he integrated very quickly,” says Rollings.
“He was just unbelievable – in his own age group he stood out like a sore thumb. We did try to hide him a little bit but the main thing was that he wasn’t being tested and that’s why he went up two years. There was always a lot of interest around him.”
Aston Villa and Liverpool were also in the race to sign Ndala when he was 11 but it was City who won out in 2017 for what Port Vale described at the time as a “handsome fee”. That is understood to have been about £300,000, with Vale also believed to be in line for future payments if he makes first-team appearances and wins a senior England cap.
“It showed that we have a pathway and support them to move on to the next level,” Rollings says. “If they can thrive at Port Vale then there is always that next step. Ultimately we do it for the right reasons – we would have loved to have Joel until he was 18 and playing for the first team but what was right for him was to move on to the best club in the country to continue his development.”
Ndala is usually deployed on the left and helped City to win the Under-18 Premier League title for a fourth time in a row last season, scoring 16 goals. He is said to be rated as one of the club’s most exciting young players and expected to continue his progress with the under-21s this season. Judging by his displays for England, a first-team opportunity may not be too far away.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling and why you do the job,” says Rollings of watching his former player’s success on the world stage. “To see Joel’s progress from the little boy that I first met to now is amazing. And he’s still got the same smile on his face as he did when he was eight years old. At that age there was never any talk about becoming a professional footballer, he just wanted to play and have fun. He was born to be a dribbler and take players on. He’s a player who gets bums off seats and that’s why he was put on the planet.”
