Callum Marshall hopes to make it with West Ham and the Northern Ireland youngster remembers the tips David Healy gave him at Linfield
West Ham young gun Callum Marshall says he learnt from Northern Ireland’s record goalscorer David Healy.
Healy is Northern Ireland’s all-time leading marksman with 36 goals and Marshall says he picked up pointers from him when he played under him at Linfield in the second half of 2021. He joined West Ham’s academy in January 2022 and has scored his first two senior goals on loan at Huddersfield this season.
Marshall, 19, claims those few months working with Healy were priceless and he says age had not dulled his finishing instincts. “I didn’t have that long in the first team at Linfield,” he said. “I had a few months though and he was great with me. He would join in finishing drills and he still had it. His technique kicking the ball, you could tell he was a great finisher.
“There were days he would keep you behind after training and go through different movements like bouncing off defenders so it was good for me having him at that stage in my career.”
Marshall is too young to remember Healy in his pomp scoring a hat-trick against Spain in 2006 or his famous winner against England in 2005, but has seen all the footage of him.
“To be fair, I’ve seen clips of his goals against teams like Spain, but I was too young to have watched his games,” he said. “You obviously knew the name growing up. I’ve seen the way he played and he was class.”
Marshall was only 11 when Northern Ireland reached Euro 2016 and remembers being a ball boy at their last match at Windsor Park in May 2016, when they beat Belarus 3-0, before heading to France.
“I was ball boy in the last game at Windsor,” he said. “I remember Ollie Norwood gave me his boots after the game. Before the game the ball boys were told ‘under no circumstances are you to ask players for photographs or shirts’, but straight after the game all the ball boys ran into the middle of the pitch to try and get shirts and photos.”
Marshall sees his future at West Ham and he hopes to break into the first-team squad next season after excelling for their under-age sides. “They love me at West Ham,” he said. “I have really good relationships with all the staff around the Under-21s and get on well with Mark Noble.
“I have another three years on my contract so hopefully at the end of this season, I go back having had a lot more experience of league football and playing against men. Hopefully that will give me a good chance to push on with them.
“We had a great youth team, so they already know what I’m about with my finishing and my ability. As a youngster you need to play men’s football regularly and get used to that. That’s the plan.”
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read ourPrivacy Notice.
