Outstanding schoolboy footballer Dujuan ‘Whisper’ Richards is confident he already has the tools needed to contribute meaningfully to the Jamaican national senior team.
In recent weeks, a dominant season in the country’s high school level program has seen the player score 29 goals and contribute 19 assists to Kingston College.
An impressive haul by any standard, but more so it is the quality in some of his finishing that has sparked calls for the player to be given an opportunity with Jamaica’s senior squad.
Not everyone agrees with that particular assessment, however, as some believe the step-up in opponent quality might be a gap too far to bridge at this stage of the player’s young career and might even do more harm than good.
High school players being given an opportunity to feature for the country’s national team is rare but not unprecedented. In years gone by Kevin ‘Pele’ Wilson another schoolboy football standout, who represented Charlie Smith, was called into the national squad as a 17-year-old, and made his debut against Norway in 1995.
Another player, Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner, who represented Wolmer’s in the Manning Cup, went on to be arguably the country’s most successful player after being handed his debut as a teenager in 1997, ahead of the country’s historic qualification for the 1998 World Cup. Based on his tremendous displays many believe Richards deserves similar consideration. He agrees.
“Yes, for sure, right now,” Richards told SportsMax.Tv’s InCaseYouMissedIt, when quizzed about his state of readiness in regard to representing the national team.
“Craig (Butler) has been saying this for like two years, three years now,” he added.
The often controversial Craig Butler is the agent and adoptive father to Aston Villa star Leon Bailey and has had Richards as part of his Phoenix Academy club for the past several years.
"That’s the reason I played Manning Cup to prove myself that nobody is lying, that Craig isn’t lying, my father isn’t lying. Nobody that has been saying I can play is lying,” he added.
Richards also revealed that the current season of the Manning Cup was his first and will also be his last as the player is expected to explore offers from around Europe.