Cruz Bajaj -14 year old - Success Story Update
Cruz’ History
11-year-old goalkeeper Cruz
Bajaj was offered the chance to trial with AFC Wimbledon after attending a
number of our events and catching the eye of some top clubs.
Cruz first started his football
at a club called Skillz age 5 where the coaches noticed him as a potential
goalkeeper at this early age. At the age of 7 Cruz went onto to join Volenti
Academy where he continued to be a talented goalkeeper and developed his
footwork more.
Cruz also joined a grassroots
team called Selsdon Tigers, in his first year Cruz was voted the best player of
the season also winning many tournaments. He then changed his grassroots team to join his brother Jay at
Chipstead F.C competing in the Surrey Youth League. Again, he was awarded in
his first year with the manager’s player of the year award and many man of the
match awards and then went on to have trials for Brighton & Hove Albion at
age 9 but this didn’t progress at the time however, he continued to work hard
and was given another opportunity after attending a UK Football Trials event.
Cruz was scouted by 9 clubs being Crystal Palace, Arsenal, AFC Wimbledon,
Colchester, Southend, Portsmouth, Charlton, Chelsea and Luton.
In April 2021 Cruz was offered a second chance at AFC Wimbledon having official trials and following this Cruz also earned himself official trials with Charlton Athletic in 2022.
Current Status
As a young talented player who
constantly strives to work hard and improve Cruz has kept working hard despite
the setbacks and has learnt from his experiences at various academy trials.
Following
another excellent trial at another one of our UK Football Trial events Crystal
Palace scouted Cruz and got in touch requesting Cruz to attend some showcase
fixtures and to be monitored. After a full year attending showcase fixtures
Cruz is now being monitored in his grassroots club to see how he improves and
progresses.
We
asked Cruz what he feels he has learnt from his trials at various club academies,
and he mentioned that….” He has had a great
experience and being a part of different levels at different academies has improved
his standards and took his game to the next level.”
It’s
clear to see that Cruz has something special and is just waiting on his chance
to make it big. When we asked Cruz why he returned to UK Football Trials he said
“there is nowhere else to showcase your talent in front of lots of scouts
in one place and I would definitely recommend UK Football Trials to anyone
looking for trials with pro clubs.”
Final comments and advice from Cruz is to “keep your head up at all times and opportunities
will come your way.”
UK Football Trials would like
to congratulate Cruz on his year long experience at Crystal Palace and we are
certain he will get his rewards if he continues to work as hard as he has been
showing a great attitude and not let setbacks stop him from playing but instead
has use them to his advantage. You can check his progress on Instagram by
searching @jaycruz.b
Cruz Bajaj – Aged 14 – Originally scouted by Wimbledon F.C and
went onto opportunities with Brighton & Hove Albion as well as Charlton Athletic and Crystal
Palace
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