20-YEAR OLD Kaya Tshaka opens up about his journey through Saints academy to playing for Eastleigh.
At just seven years old Tshaka joined Weston Sports FC, despite the young age of the group it was a prime time for player scouting to occur.
With their goalkeeper getting scouted for Southampton FC throughout the season they had scouts at majority of games.
One year later interest was appearing from Reading, Portsmouth and Bournemouth for Tshaka.
Portsmouth was his final decision where he was planning on staying for the season until a turn of fate meant he signed for Saints Development Centre.
Despite signing for Saints academy as a left-winger, Tshaka was put as a right-back at the time causing struggles within the team.
At 16, he was made captain of the academy squad and ended up signing a scholarship with Saints – although this was a successful time for the youngster, covid affected the start of his footballing career.
“Being at school for most of my life and then suddenly playing football for the club everyday was a massive transition to adapt to, I went from seeing my friends at school every day to seeing them maybe once every two months.”
Kaya struggled with his first year after the team struggled to play together and new injuries were being picked up, second year was a much better time for the academy – with only a tight number of scholars coming through the system it meant the teams were able to gel.
The youngster led his team to the Under-18 Premier League South title campaign, taking a lead over Manchester City in the National final – the first time they had won this trophy in over 20 years.
In January 2020, his dreams were shattered after he wasn’t offered a professional contract with the club: “it was a hard pill to swallow, just two days before I was man of the match and was told by managers I was the best player on the pitch.”
After his heartbreak, Aldershot under 23’s came in for the left-winger who quickly snapped up their offer – just weeks later National League team Eastleigh FC came in to offer a contract to Kaya.
Giving Tshaka a ‘settling in’ period rather than making him play right away helped him ease into the club comfortably: “I went there and didn’t look back… I played straight away with the first team and on the second week I played just over an hour of the match – I fell back in love with football again.”
He was finally offered his well-earned professional contract at 19 with Eastleigh, sadly he pulled his hamstring in preseason game, so was out for a few weeks at the beginning of the new season.
After not getting enough game time for his liking he started looking at loan contracts, after some fell through an offer came in from Bashley (Southern League Division One South) and within 24 hours the offer was completed.
Since his time at Bashley he has earned two Man of the Match awards.
“I couldn’t ask for a better place to be at the minute, I’ve just extended my loan for another month and I’m growing into a player I never thought i would become… I’ve had lots of setbacks in my career but they’ve made me a stronger person and I can’t wait for what the future holds for me.”
