Manchester United’s academy star Silva Mexes is set to feature at the upcoming AFC U17 Asian Cup for Thailand.
The 14-year-old has been in Thailand this week training with Jadet Meelarp’s U17 squad ahead of the tournament in April.
Despite being the son of Wales legend Robert Earnshaw, Silva is set to don the blue of Thailand, a country he is eligible to represent through his mother.
Thailand U17 manager Meelarp confirmed previously in a report by the Bangkok Post that they had been recruiting from England and got “two very talented players in the squad now — Silva Mexes from Manchester United and Kai Laws from Nottingham Forest.”
Born in England, Silva is possibly not even eligible to follow in his father’s footsteps for Wales due to the fact that Robert Earnshaw wasn’t born in Wales.
Silva’s ineligibility for Wales has also been backed up by his mother on social media with posts claiming that he is not Welsh, but rather just English and Thai.
Currently training with the young War Elephants, the final squad for the U17 Asian Cup has yet to be confirmed but Silva will be hoping to see his name on the list.
The tournament will provide a big opportunity for the young winger who will be playing several years above his age group.
At just 14, Silva regularly features for United’s U15s so the chance to test himself at U17s level will be a step up in terms of physicality but one the youngster will be confident of tackling with his track & field background.
The Thai set-up also seem quite happy with his involvement already, posting training cam footage focused on the United academy player on their Instagram.
Should Silva make the final tournament squad, Thailand will face hosts Saudi Arabia, China, and Uzbekistan in the group stage.
The tournament also acts as a qualifier to the U17 World Cup in November which Silva could feature in should Thailand make it out of the group stage to become one of eight qualifiers.
Thailand will take on Uzbekistan first on April 3, which could give fans an early glimpse of what is to come from Silva Mexes.
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Colm Murphy
A football obsessed Canadian who moved to England to enjoy the beautiful game. Colm has been keen follower of Manchester United’s famed academy since seeing a fresh faced Adnan Januzaj for the club’s u18s and has been writing about football with a focus on youth development for over 10 years.
