cracking goal tonight, two very promising cameos in the FA cup and all the ingredients to be a successful player for us.
Could this be the next Posh and Becks? Meet aspiring beauty queen and actress Amaani Noor and exciting Liverpool FC prospect Sheyi Ojo – a teenage dream team!
Sheyi, 17, who is on the brink of breaking into the Reds’ first team, and Amaani, 16, a Miss Teen Great Britain semi-finalist, have been going out for 18 months – and are obviously blissfully happy.
At a time when so many teenagers attract such a bad Press, this is a positive, good news story – and a love story.
Sitting in the neat, cosy and comfortable terraced home in Mossley Hill Amaani shares with her mum, Nürah, and 20-year-old brother, Nuh, the friendly and unassuming couple talked to the ECHO about their hopes and dreams for the future, while stressing they are keeping their feet firmly on the ground.
Sheyi, a pacy winger who has been hailed as the next Daniel Sturridge or Raheem Sterling, was born in Watford and lived in Hackney, London from the age of five. He joined Liverpool FC from MK Dons when he was 14. His family moved up with him, and he now lives with his parents, Natasha and Olu, and 10-year-old brother, Toby, in West Derby.
Amaani, a student at Liverpool Media Academy in Duke Street said: “We’ve known each other for about 18 months and met through Twitter.
“I followed him and he followed me back and I messaged him. Someone had retweeted something and his face had come up – it was all by chance, and I suppose it’s a modern way of starting a relationship! I was 15 at the time.
“I initially told Sheyi I was 16 because I think I sounded like such a baby when I told people I was 15! But I didn’t expect us to end up being as serious as we are.”
Sheyi currently has nearly 19,000 Twitter followers – it was about 10,000 when he met Amaani – and he recalls: “I don’t go through my followers and check them all, and was just looking randomly and saw Amaani was following me. I followed back and we started getting to know each other.”
And their first date? “It was to watch the film Insidious: Chapter 2 at Liverpool One. I had training the next morning and the film didn’t finish til 11pm – so I had to make a bit of a sacrifice, but luckily I wasn’t tired at training!”
His girlfriend added: “We’d already been talking for two months so when we met it was like we had known each other for ages. And it was refreshing for me because so many boys don’t want to take you out on dates, but Sheyi wanted to go on a proper date.”
With Sheyi being tipped to make it big with the Reds and Amaani’s hopes of making the final of Miss Teen Great Britain next year and her ambitions to become an actress, the couple will have to prepare themselves for more attention from the media and the public. Will they be ready?
Sheyi says: “I am starting to get recognised. Maybe last year if I was in town no-one would notice me. Now I get kids asking for photos and it can be quite overwhelming, but I suppose it’s something you’ve got to get used to.”
Amaani adds: “I think it’s dead nice. They don’t know him but want to support him. Whatever happens we are going to be supportive of each other – that’s the most important thing. As long as we are happy. But some people already post weird stuff on social media. Someone said ‘You are going to hell, you and Sheyi!’ You’ve got to laugh about it because I clicked onto the person’s profile and they only had three followers!”
As for his girlfriend’s success, Sheyi says: “I’m really happy for her and she deserves it. I hope she can go on to the final and win it.”
And ECHO readers can find out how they can vote her into the final by going onto her Twitter account, @amaani_noor.
Amaani said: “That would really mean a lot. I also entered the Miss Teen Great British Isles competition recently and got through to the finals, but I didn’t go. I regret that, but I’ve got more confidence now.”
Amaani is taking a one year course in performance at the Liverpool Media Academy and then hopes to take a two year musical theatre course.
She said: “I used to love singing, but acting is now my main passion. I’d love to work in the theatre and do pantos.”
Sheyi, meanwhile, uses the hashtag #Faith on his Twitter page, and has the word tattooed on his left arm. He explained: “It is important to me. It’s about the power of the word.”
A young man with the world at his feet
Sheyi Ojo has the prospect of a glittering career ahead of him – but he had the world at his feet when he was as young as 14.
Just three years ago, when he was with MK Dons, many top European clubs came calling.
The 17-year-old said: “I had quite a lot of choices. At home there was Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal – who have always been my team – Everton, Tottenham and Fulham. I wasn’t ready to go abroad but there was interest from Ajax, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Inter Milan.
“In an ideal world I would have wanted to go to Arsenal but the choice was more about my development. The most important thing is to be in the first team at a young age and had I gone to Arsenal or Chelsea it may have been harder. I joined Liverpool when Kenny Dalglish was manager and he was giving youth more of a chance. Brendan Rodgers is doing that, too, so it’s a good time to be younger.
“Already this season I’ve been in the first team squad five times – and one of the highlights was being close to getting on the bench for the home game against Basel in the Champions League.
“You can never really put a time on when you will break into the first team, but I think I’m definitely close.”
As for being compared to Messrs Sturridge and Sterling, Sheyi, whose favourite Reds player is Philippe Coutinho, says: “Obviously it’s a nice compliment but I’m not trying to get too ahead of myself. I just want to focus on performing well.”
Sheyi has played five times for England Under 18s, and says: “I always feel so proud to represent my country.”
He has come a long way in three years – “When I joined Liverpool my parents were organising their house move, so I spent two weeks in digs in Rainhill – probably the hardest two weeks of my life, because I was lonely.”
That soon changed, but one thing has remained the same – he had the world at his feet at 14, and he still has the world at his feet three years on.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/showbiz-news/exclusive---meet-teenage-dream-8314038#rlabs=1%20rt$category%20p$4
