THE FUTURE OF St Patrick’s Athletic wonderkid Mason Melia was up for debate on the latest episode of the Football Family, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.

“Will Mason Melia become the first €1m League of Ireland player?” The 42’s Gavin Cooney asked.

“Because I believe the contract situation is such that Pat’s have him tied to a pretty good deal which would allow them to demand a decent fee.

“Someone coming in and paying a million quid directly to Pat’s for him, it is possible,” Cooney said.

The Football Family host David Sneyd added: “I think it’s one of those that if he is to become a €1m player, he is going to have to increase his goal output to make clubs actually say ‘Ok, we need to take this fella’.

“Don’t get me wrong, if you look at how he plays, all the raw materials are there but in terms of catching the eye even as a young player, it’s about getting more goals.

“His goal [for Ireland U19s earlier this month] was brilliant, it was a really good goal.

“I know he was actually playing against kids, but that is exactly what it looked like, him playing against kids.” 

Former Cobh Ramblers boss Shane Keegan added: “It had a men against boys look about it alright. The touch is absolutely ridiculous and then don’t get me started about everything he does from there. 

“He’s a serious, serious prospect. But again, you really don’t want to build these boys up too much, too young. Because is he showing more at that age than Troy Parrott, Kevin Zefi, Aaron Connolly or Evan Ferguson were?

“But Mason has certainly got an awful lot of ability, he’s going to have a chance,” Keegan said.

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