Wanna Be a Magpie Ranger: How to Shape Nile Ranger into a World-Class Striker

With Andy Carroll having left taking most of Newcastle's season prospects with him, many fans have started looking to the future. For the most part, they're looking at young prodigy Nile Ranger, hoping that Alan Pardew will come to his senses and use this season as a chance to blood the youngster with plenty of game time.

And you can see why. When he came on against Arsenal at the Emirates he immediately injected a new level of pace up front and used it to get past Koscieleny, who subsequently received a red card for bringing him down.

This is the kind of thing he does. He's quick, has a decent touch, and his positioning has improved a lot this season. If Kevin Nolan were to place a through-ball for him, a goal-scoring opportunity wouldn't be out of the question.

But that's not so much why people are wanting to see him get plenty of game time. He's only 19, and while he's certainly not the finished product yet, with time he can grow into an excellent striker and a valuable asset for the Magpies.

And the way to cultivate a young player like him is to get him as much game time as possible, to let him make mistakes and to learn from them, to let him get used to the Premier League as soon as possible, and giving him the proper arena to hone his skills. Right?

I disagree. While it's easy to see the logic behind the idea, it can easily have the side effect of simply overwhelming him, making the development extremely counterproductive.

For the classic example, look at Joe Cole. At age 16 he was tipped as the next brand of English Hotsauce (by which I mean that he had great things predicted of him). By 17 he was getting starts for West Ham, which led to a captaincy by 21.

Ultimately, though, he was a disappointment. After 183 appearances for Chelsea, he landed just 28 goals and is now struggling for game time at Liverpool. While he was good, he never eventuated into the legend people had hoped for. He was simply given too much game time at the highest level when he wasn't quite ready for it. 

By contrast, look at Gareth Bale. After the beating he gave Maicon (once regarded as the best right back in the world), European papers were quick to tout him as one of the world's premier wingers, and rumors of major clubs after his signature were quick to arise, including from the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United.

The thing to remember is that even last year he was struggling to get starts, getting time only due to an injury to Benoit Assou-Ekkoto. It took him until he was 23 to generate the kind of hype that he has.

If you want other sporting examples, the NBA's Blake Griffin is almost a perfect one. Unfortunately for him, his rookie season was spent entirely on the bench after a serious injury. However, his time there let him have a full season of listening to the crowd and getting an idea of how the NBA is played.

How did that work out for him? He's tipped as a shoe-in for this year's Rookie of the Year award, which is almost unfair given that his competition for the award hasn't had the same exposure early on. Also, he's managed to propel the Los Angeles Clippers to the lofty heights of not being useless anymore—quite the feat.

For rugby, look at New Zealand's Cory Jane. It was over the last two years that he broke out as one of the best fullbacks in the world and candidate to replace veteran Mils Muliaina. How old was he? Twenty-six.

From my examples, the first thing worth noting is that they all took time to become world-class players. The other thing is that by easing them into their positions, they weren't being rushed into anything and had the time to grow on their own and get used to the level they were supposed to be playing at.

This is what Nile Ranger needs.

He needs to be working for his starts, just like everyone else. He needs to recognize the parts of his game that need working on, and work on them. He needs to get used to the pace and intensity of the Premier League, and the 60,000 screaming fans he can expect week in week out (except when he's playing at Stamford Bridge).

That said, this principle can be taken too far. There are plenty of cases where young footballers choose to head elsewhere, frustrated by the lack of pitch time they're receiving.

Alan Pardew needs to find the right balance for giving him exposure and experience, without neglecting his talents. And at the moment, I think he's doing a good job of that. By letting Ranger mature in his own time, Newcastle United could be rewarded with an excellent franchise striker in years to come.