Cohen Bramall is a movie in the making as Arsenal pluck 20-year-old full back from non league obscurity
- Cohen Bramall will go from non-league to Premier League by signing for Arsenal
- The 20-year-old left back will join the Gunners in a deal worth £80,000
- The defender was playing in the eighth tier of English football just last year
When Cohen Bramall made the call to his Hednesford manager, Paul Casey, after his trial match for Sheffield Wednesday Under 23s last month, there was still a sense of shock in his voice.
‘I don’t know how to tell you this…’ said the former factory worker at Bentley Motors in Crewe.
But Casey had guessed what might be coming. The 20-year-old they had taken only last summer from the eighth tier of English football to play for Hednesford Town in the seventh tier, the Evo-Stick League Premier Division, might be getting a dream move to the Championship.
Cohen Bramall pictured during an interview with Sky Sports on Friday
The 20-year-old has signed a contract with Arsenal after impressing during a trial
That, in itself, would have been a quite extraordinary transformation for a player with no formal training at any professional club and who had struggled to get games at non-League clubs such as Leek Town, Nantwich and Market Drayton.
‘Are you getting a move to Sheffield Wednesday?’ asked Casey, delighted that his player would have such a chance.
‘No,’ said Bramall, falteringly. ‘I’m going to Arsenal to train tomorrow.’
Casey initially thought he was the victim of a hoax. But the next day Bramall, who had been earning about £400 a week on the factory floor and whose only previous experience with the professional game was an unsuccessful trial with Crewe at the age of 16, was training with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez.
And the timing could scarcely have been better: the day before he had been made redundant from Bentley. ‘I didn’t know what I was going to do,’ Bramall told the BBC. ‘I needed a full-time wage coming in, not a part-time wage from Hednesford so I started thinking of a new job.’
Get a new job he did, on about £5,000 a week. Danny Welbeck, a fellow northerner, is said to have taken Bramall under his wing during his trial at Arsenal but in some respects there was no need.
Hednesford manager Paul Casey believes Bramall's story has the makings of a movie
Arsene Wenger is said to have been stunned by the speed of Bramall
According to those who saw him train, he adapted immediately, not looking out of place. Manager Arsene Wenger is said to have been stunned by his speed, which was comparable to Hector Bellerin, and his ability to hold his own with his first-team stars. Last week, Arsenal signed him for about £80,000. ‘It’s got the makings of a movie,’ said Casey.
Ross Thorpe, a friend both of Casey’s and Hednesford’s previous manager, Liam McDonald, saw Bramall play at Newcastle Town in the Evo-Stik League First Division South last season and recommended him.
By comparison, the rise of Jamie Vardy, already considered Hollywood movie potential, looks tame. Vardy was a £1million signing from Fleetwood Town, then in the fifth tier, to Leicester, then in the Championship, in 2012.
Charlie Austin started even lower in the Wessex League, the ninth tier of football, at Poole Town but worked his way through the ranks at Swindon in League One, Burnley and QPR in the Championship, where he eventually reached the Premier League and then was called up to the England squad, before joining Southampton.
There is a trend of stars being plucked from non-league such as Leicester forward Jamie Vardy
Bramall, who once sprinted for Crewe and Nantwich athletics club, is making the leap from the Evo-Stick League to Champions League.
Sheffield Wednesday, who had the chance to sign him but asked for one more match to make up their minds, and Crystal Palace, who also had him on loan earlier this season, must be kicking themselves.
Bramall played that final trial game for Wednesday Under-23s at Birmingham City’s training ground, Wast Hills, and happened to catch the eye of Arsenal scout Brian McDermott. ‘He doesn’t normally come down to those sort of games,’ said Bramall. ‘He’s always abroad and looking at the next star.’
McDermott got on to Arsenal to ensure the club contacted him before he signed a deal with Wednesday. A couple of calls located the player’s agent and an astonishing life change was set in motion.
There is a growing trend of players being plucked from non-League football. Stars missed by professional academies include Chris Smalling (Maidstone), Michail Antonio (Tooting), Yannick Bolasie (Hillingdon) and Ashley Williams (Hednesford Town), as well as Vardy and Austin.
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