Just a couple of years ago James Holland was your typical Aussie teen. His life was all pimples, parties, getting paid out by his mates, pretty girls and PlayStations. Most importantly though, it didn’t feature a professional football contract.

Now, as one of our best young players, he has shunned the carefree lifestyle of his peers and is getting serious.

“As a 16-year-old I didn’t think as much about football, and as deeply about it,” Holland says. “I always wanted to work to play for Australia and do things along those lines, but I suppose I was more worried about what I was going to wear that night to the parties.

"These days I’ve got to be more focused. My dad’s reminded me that now I might be a public figure and I need to always do the right things, because you might be a role model to youngsters. You can’t make the silly mistakes that some footballers have. I try not to make silly decisions outside of football.”

Though just 19, Holland already has three full international caps for Australia and an A-League Championship medal. He’s hit the age and level where the dreaded E-word looms large over his career. Europe: when should he go? He’s already had plenty of advice – some of which the FFA will find difficult to hear.

“Vinny Grella gave me some advice about where I’m at,” Holland says. “I think Arnie [Graham Arnold] had a word to him because we play similar positions.

“He sort of said to me, try to have a good season in the A-League, but try and head overseas when you think you’re ready. If you’re ready within the next year, it’s probably a good time to go.”Given his eagerness to get to Europe, this season is critical for Holland. However, setting expectations like this can be dangerous, particularly for a young player without a full season on his CV.

Much attention has been given to the possibility of second-year syndrome setting in, for Holland and the A-League’s other young stars. After a muted start for James and his Newcastle side to the A-League season, he is conscious of the danger.

“I don’t want that [second-year syndrome] happening to me. I want to train harder, work harder. It’s easy for someone to burst onto the scene but it’s harder for them to stay there.

"It’s up to me to change my game for the better, and work on things that need to be worked on. Teams and players become aware of you, and you’ve got to be conscious of it yourself so you can become a better player.”

Holland is one of Australia’s best prospects. But a human reminder of how fickle football can be trains alongside Holland every week. Kaz Patafta, once Australia’s next big thing as a youth player at Benfica, now struggles to get past the similarly-aged Holland and Jin-Hyung Song in the Newcastle midfield.

“When Kaz was younger he had the spotlight put on him,” Holland explains. “I think it’s dangerous when you do that to youngsters, obviously because they’re still young and anything can happen. You don’t want to excel so young and then sort of be forgotten.”

Holland himself excelled young too, bursting onto the A-League scene with three goals in his first half-dozen matches. Since then, he has steadied into a versatile solider in Gary van Egmond’s highly fluid midfield set-up. To claim that Holland has yet to return to the highs of that early goalscoring form would not do him justice. His age is still greater than the number of games he’s played, while he was used mostly as a holding midfield in his junior career.

Yet doubts still emerge about his progress. Van Egmond has publicly stated that Holland takes too many touches of the ball at key times. The Jets’ form this season has also been below par: in their first four A-League matches the Jets were yet to win. Holland played all but 11 minutes of those matches.

But Holland believes he has faced adversity before and he is equipped to tackle any that exists in his future.

“I suppose everyone has those moments [of self-doubt], but I’ve never said to myself that I want to throw it away. You’ve just got to remind yourself of how much training you’ve done along the way, and tell yourself you are good enough. You go out there and prove it every weekend that you can match it with the best. You’ve just got to get rid of that doubt.”On paper, Holland has everything going for him. Under Gary van Egmond, he is currently benefiting from the tutelage of the A-League’s most progressive coach. He has also been one of the few teens to be given exposure to the full Socceroos side in recent years.

With the athleticism and technical ability to play in a variety of roles, Holland is the best placed of our younger generation to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Jason Culina and Luke Wilkshire – the midfield glue that sticks our national side together.

Holland recognises though, that while the fun and games of youth may be over, his story is only just beginning.

“At the moment football’s all I want. I want to saturate myself in football because I love it. I want to excel at it, I love being around it,” he beams.

“I saw an interview with [former rugby league player] Brad Fittler where he said when he was younger that’s all he wanted, he wanted to saturate himself in rugby league. But when he had his family it was a big change, and probably a better change for him.

"I thought about that, and I’m at that stage where I just can’t get enough of it and that’s all I want.”

We spoke to James to celebrate the launch of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009. The game is out now on all major gaming formats.

This feature originally appeared in the November issue of FourFourTwo Australia magazine. Subscribe today...