Underage success with Greenwood and Barrs stood to Ethon Varian after Stoke swtich

Ethon Varian during a Republic of Ireland U21 training session at Colliers Park in Wrexham, Wales. Picture: David Rawcliffe/Sportsfile
Making the jump from schoolboys football to joining a top English professional team can be daunting for a player. Although Varian did need to adjust, he found that playing for Greenwood and St Finbarr’s helped the Corkman adapt to professional football much quicker.

“When I first came over, the club just let me settle in and try and push my way into the team, and that took a few games.

Welcome to Ireland U21 camp @VarianEthon 🇮🇪⚽️🔥
— Kenny's Kids (@KennysKids) March 22, 2021
18 years of age 💚
14 starts for Stoke U23s this season 👊
5 goals ⚽️
4 assists 🅰️
1 bright future 🌟#COYBIG pic.twitter.com/xLpmmejrlc
“I’ve worked with Jim before with the U18s home base team. I got to play under him with that. He’s a great manager and I learned a lot from him and I think that is one of the things that helped me when I joined Stoke because that was a couple of months before I came over to Stoke and I learned a lot playing with the Irish home base team.”
