FORMER Manchester United prodigy Daniel Nardiello has shared what life was like training with some of the best prospects in England.
In the 1990s, the then 15-year-old Nardiello was sent to Lilleshall in Shropshire, where many of the country’s best young footballers lived together and learned their trade.
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Nardiello was joined by people like Jermain Defoe and Neil Dance.
However, he thinks none of them came close to Leon Knight’s “untouchable” talent.
Speak on the Under the Cosh podcast, Nardiello said: I shared a room with Knighty for a year.
“I was a 15-year-old boy, just out of the house, sharing a room with Knighty. Oh my word, he’s crazy. No other words for it.
“He’s the nicest guy as long as you stay on the right side of him. Get on the wrong side of him and he’s absolutely ruthless.
“Great player, but angry man. Get on the wrong side of him and he’ll never forgive you.”
Knight was one Chelsea trainee at the time, and would make one appearance for the senior team in the UEFA Cup.
However, his career would eventually lie elsewhere and would go on to star at Brighton, Swansea and Huddersfield.
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The 5ft 5″ striker has scored over 100 goals throughout his career, including 80 in Englandthe football competition.
Of Knight, Nardiello added, “I wouldn’t want to fight him. He’s a tough kid.
“I remember we played together at Barnsley for a few months, he came on loan.
“But what he put the young boys through – initiations and stuff like that – he was relentless. A great kid, some good times with him.
“He was the best player there [at Lilleshall].
“There was Joe Cole who was above us the year, and obviously he was incredible, he was their main man – but we had Leon Knight.
“At that age there was no one who could touch him.
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“Jermain Defoe was there who obviously went on and had an incredible career, but Knighty was untouchable.
“You would think he would be an absolute world beater because he was so good at 15, 16.
“He had a good career, but at that age you couldn’t touch him. And of course he was small then.
“But he just ran around teams. We beat everyone every week anyway, as you would expect, but he scored five, six goals a game. He played in the age group above, he was that good.”
Knight, 40, retired in 2012.
Speak against WalesOnline in 2006 Tony Carroll, then chairman of Senrab, drew comparisons between Knight and ex-England and Tottenham ace Defoe – with those who worked at Senrab in their youth.
He said: “They were absolutely incredible as a partnership, like a couple or whippets, so very, very quickly.
If I had to say which one was better when they were 13 or 14 I’d say it was Leon.
“You could see he had that bit of class even at that age. Jermain was almost as good and they just split the goals between them.
“The team would win 6-0 and they would score three each. There was always a bit of friendly rivalry to see who could score the most.”