In the searing heat of Quinta do Lago, with the European Championship ongoing, there are a small collection of youngsters going the extra mile before seasons they hope will define them.
James McAtee, Liam Delap and Tyler Morton are among a cohort out at the Campus, an exclusive complex on Portugal’s southern coast, for a week-long trip. To blow away the summer cobwebs, to give them an edge when pre-season starts.
All 21, none of the trio know with absolute certainty where the transfer market will take them — only that this year is a big one. Heading off to the Algarve, somewhere Jack Grealish and countless other Premier League stars also go to train, offers a potential marginal gain over contemporaries. One session in the morning, one in the evening, although neither overly intensive.
The jaunt isn’t organised by their clubs but Dean Brathwaite, an individual coach who is having an impact on some of the North West’s brightest talents.
Fast forward and McAtee, Delap and Morton are in England’s Under 21s squad for Friday’s game with Ukraine.
A freelance coach has helped mould a number of young talents, including Liam Delap (pictured)
He also works with the likes of James McAtee, and speaks incredibly highly of the Man City star
Dean Brathwaite is an individual coach who is having an impact on some of the North West’s brightest talents
Individual private coaching has become more prevalent since Covid. Hundreds in the top flight use them and some clubs sceptically watch on, but Brathwaite — a City supporter — has the trust of his players. He’ll do the bulk of work with the top performers early in the summer. This year, the results of that tune-up pleased him. During City’s tour of the United States in July, Brathwaite was watching 3,300 miles away as two of his prodigies — Micah Hamilton and McAtee — combined to level for City in a friendly against AC Milan at Yankee Stadium, when the midfielder ghosted in at the back post to meet Hamilton’s cross.
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‘We’ve laughed about James’s heading for a long time,’ Brathwaite tells Mail Sport. ‘Seeing Micah drive down the line, cross for James to head in… I’ve seen him do that a million times. He’s a natural freak in those situations, his feet are ridiculous.’
Hamilton has gone on to play for Middlesbrough this season after completing a £3million switch from City. Delap secured a £10m move to Ipswich Town and has scored four in eight games including a brace against Aston Villa, while McAtee bagged his first City goal in the Champions League last week. Morton is still with Liverpool, too, after interest from Bayer Leverkusen.
‘That I can help people who are coached by the likes of Pep Guardiola is surreal,’ Brathwaite says. ‘I’m not silly enough to think other coaches haven’t coached them. Top coaches at top clubs. But there is stuff we’ve kept improving on.
‘Not many people will know this, but City’s Under 21s and 18s aren’t allowed to stay behind and get a bag of balls out. So with James McAtee, it’s always been finishing and repetition. There’s loads of position-specific stuff, whether he’s playing in the right or left pocket. We’ll work from different angles.
‘It’s just about constantly training his brain. A lot of times he gets into positions, doesn’t do what we’ve worked on and looks for the pass. It winds me up! Hopefully this extra work will see him start banging them in.’
Brathwaite knows that McAtee looks for the extra pass because that is how City teenagers are taught. But McAtee sees the benefit of individual focus on his own time. It is a different way of training — technique rather than tactical — and one the club is made aware of.
Brathwaite has seen evidence it enhances performances. When McAtee was with him regularly throughout an Under 23s season, he ended up top scorer with 18 goals in 23 appearances from midfield.
Brathwaite said that he has joked about McAtee’s heading for a long time after he netted against AC Milan in pre-season
He described coaching stars who work with Pep Guardiola as ‘surreal’ but understands his responsibility
City’s Under 21s and 18s aren’t allowed to stay behind after sessions and get a bag of balls out
‘Everybody has faults and I’ll pick on those straight away,’ Brathwaite adds. ‘And improve what they’re doing well. It’s ball striking, body shape. What part of the foot they’re striking with.
‘It’s surreal for me that Micah’s not at City. I’ve only ever known him there, since he was eight. We had a love-hate relationship when he was younger. I saw him not at it, switch off for a bit. I was on him. You know when a young lad’s swearing at you, the eyes.
‘But if he didn’t see the benefit of the sessions he wouldn’t come.’
Brathwaite is the owner of the renowned Bee-Inspired Academy. He fell into this, picking up the bug after coaching a Manchester United Under 8s kid — ‘he couldn’t really kick the ball off the floor’ — and has flown since.
Word of mouth has seen him this far, McAtee the one who opened doors to the likes of Delap, and it’s spiralled.
‘I developed arthritis at 21,’ Brathwaite explains. ‘I couldn’t kick a ball for five years, couldn’t walk properly. I had to stop everything. It changed my life. I didn’t know what it was and was getting palmed off by doctors until I got diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis at 24. Then it’s another two years before they find the right medication to help.’
He explained his relationship with Micah Hamilton and how it’s ‘surreal’ that he’s no longer with City
Brathwaite, a delivery driver at the time, experienced depression as a result. At 26, he began playing again, started coaching. Quit his job and never looked back.
‘I had to re-learn my own technique and coach myself,’ he says. ‘It shows that lads at 26 can still improve. It’s a myth that you can’t. In this field I’m competing against former pros who are in this one-to-one market.
‘The next step is to work with more senior pros during the off-season. I see them working with other people — people I can do a better job than in a technical sense.
‘This isn’t going to make me a millionaire. What I strive for more than anything else is the feedback. No money in the world can make you feel better than the ‘thank you’. You’re actually helping them live their dreams.’