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In the Under-23s squad, Harry Charsley, Boris Mathis, Mateusz Hewelt, Shayne Lavery, Jack Kiersey, Danny Bramall, Joe Hilton and Chris Renshaw have all been released. Striker Bassala Sambou has been offered a new contract at Everton.
Joe Hilton the only real surprise there, reports on his loan were quite promising all be it at a low level, I expected him to be retained and loaned out to a higher placed club for next season.
I must admit I was surprised to see Hilton going, Hewelt and Renshaw were not a surprise but losing three GKs in one go is unusual. The club has said that Virginia is too good at this level so will either go out on loan or be with the first team, so if he does go on loan there aren’t many young GKs left. Nicholas Hansen was doing well at u18 but disappeared, presumably injured, leaving Tryer as the main u18 GK, both are comparatively inexperienced for U23s . Maybe they plan to train Virginia with the first team , play him at U23s , but I think I’d rather see him on loan at a Championship club / League 1 .There's no real need in multiple keepers at that level. Joao is 1st choice and even if we tried selling Hilton we'd get absolute buttons for him.
I must admit I was surprised to see Hilton going, Hewelt and Renshaw were not a surprise but losing three GKs in one go is unusual. The club has said that Virginia is too good at this level so will either go out on loan or be with the first team, so if he does go on loan there aren’t many young GKs left. Nicholas Hansen was doing well at u18 but disappeared, presumably injured, leaving Tryer as the main u18 GK, both are comparatively inexperienced for U23s . Maybe they plan to train Virginia with the first team , play him at U23s , but I think I’d rather see him on loan at a Championship club / League 1 .
I must admit I was surprised to see Hilton going, Hewelt and Renshaw were not a surprise but losing three GKs in one go is unusual. The club has said that Virginia is too good at this level so will either go out on loan or be with the first team, so if he does go on loan there aren’t many young GKs left. Nicholas Hansen was doing well at u18 but disappeared, presumably injured, leaving Tryer as the main u18 GK, both are comparatively inexperienced for U23s . Maybe they plan to train Virginia with the first team , play him at U23s , but I think I’d rather see him on loan at a Championship club / League 1 .
It’s one of those things I’m not even fussed if we have a bad keeper in nets for the U23 as it’s a position I don’t think the first team really need if that makes sense?
Sure we might lose games because of him but meh, who cares.
....I can’t think of a keeper who has come through the Academy and played 50 first team games. Answering my own question, perhaps Andy Rankin. It’s a strange position from that perspective.
It’s just a position you have to fill for a game. I’m not arsed if they put a training dummy in nets as long as the outfield players progress.
...yes, we need to fulfill fixtures but I was just pointing out how unusual it is for an Academy keeper to come through. I can remember Geoff Barnett, but he only played 10 games before moving to Arsenal. Jason Kearton, Drew Brand et al, but I can only recall Andy Rankin of any significance.