England talents Joe Gomez and Ezri Konsa posed for a shot together, Konsa with his arm draped around Gomez’s shoulder, the duo smiled for the camera dressed in training gear with the Three Lions emblem on their chests, filling their former Charlton Athletic coaches with pride.
The two Addicks Academy graduates got their tickets on the plane for this summer’s EURO 2024 in Germany, and they’ve both gone a long way in the last decade.
“I can just imagine pair of them and the sort of conversations they’re having – Ezri will still be joking and laughing around, and Joe will be calming him down!” Joe Francis, Charlton’s head of education, laughs.
“It won’t be a lot different to the way they behaved when they were in our Academy.”
Neither Gomez nor Konsa have forgotten their roots, and they recognize that without their football upbringing in South London, they would not be where they are today, which is why they invited the Club’s Academy Director, Steve Avory, to attend England’s game against Belgium at Wembley Stadium as their guest of honour.
Avory recalls: “I had that conversation with them about a month earlier, in March, when they played Brazil and Belgium. I was at the Belgium game and later met up with the two men and their families, so it was a really wonderful experience.
“When I was at Wembley, they both approached me as I sat there with my wife and family, and I believe my wife had no idea how much I had meant to them in terms of their journeys.
“I know they were probably a little nervous about this Euros selection, but they made it. It’s well-deserved, even if I’m biased, given their regular performances at Club level this season.”
Gomez originally joined Charlton’s Academy at the age of ten. However, Avory quickly saw that the Catford-born defender could play above his age level and challenged him to do so. In the end, the youngster bypassed the Under-21s and joined the first team.
at 17 years of age. His senior debut came in the League Cup against Colchester United, after signing his first professional contract in October 2014. Just a week later, Gomez, whose father continues to advocate the Club’s Academy, made his league debut at The Valley against Derby County.
“They had two different pathways really – if you were to look at them as individuals, there are lots of similarities but lots of differences, too,” Francis says. “I first met Joe when he was approximately twelve. I used to visit his school because he was a student at our Academy. He was in quite a talented bunch at school; he went to Forest Hill School
“He was always very unassuming, kind, and humble – he was such a down-to-earth child with a gentle way about him. Kasey Palmer and Regan Charles-Cook were also in his year. He was under a lot of strain since he was fast tracked, and he rapidly moved to the outskirts of the first team.
“I recall the day when it was confirmed that he was departing. I recall being in the parking lot when Joe came out and said, ‘I think this is it, Joe – I’m gone,’ and I hugged him.”
Almost unsurprisingly, his achievements piqued the interest of top-tier club Liverpool, and Gomez moved to Merseyside in 2015. At Anfield, he’s won almost everything.
silverware going—including the Premier League title, the Champions League, and the FA Cup. “We are doing a lot of things correctly. We’ve got a conveyor belt of talent, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.”
Joe Francis
Charlton Athletics’ Head of Education
“I always called him ‘Steady Joe’ – that’s what he was,” Avory continues. “He was really driven and competitive – he was hard on himself at times, and I had to deal with that because he hated it when he was not only beaten on the field, but also when he came off the field and realized he hadn’t done well. But that taught me a lot about his willingness to improve as a player.
Konsa’s journey differed from Gomez’s, but the current Aston Villa defender was frequently compared to the versatile Liverpool player, with both Addicks teenagers having tried their hand at playing anywhere across the backline and in midfield.
When Francis first joined at the Club in 2010, Charlton launched a unique relationship with a nearby school to coincide with the Elite Player Performance Plan, which only the Addicks, Manchester United, and Watford have tested.
As a result, school boys, including Konsa, were transferred to the adjacent Harris Academy Greenwich, which was close to the Club’s training complex and provided them with additional interaction time during the working week.
“Ezri was in the first inaugural cohort – it gave him exposure to more training and more development,” Francis recalls.
“He was completely different from Joe.” Ezri was a cheeky chappy with a terrific personality that occasionally pushed the envelope. He was a bit of a joker. Chris Tomlinson (Executive Principal) and I used to talk a lot about Ezri every day, just about managing his excitement and behavior and balancing them.”
The 26-year-old, who also made his League Cup debut in August 2016, has made over 80 appearances for the club, helping the Addicks reach the Play-Offs and just miss out on promotion from League One in 2017/18.
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