DanEFC92
Player Valuation: £90m
Nkounkou who never gets any game time either.
Do you reckon the pathway is acceptable?
No ones really come through since Davies.
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Nkounkou who never gets any game time either.
Do you reckon the pathway is acceptable?
No ones really come through since Davies.
DanEFC92
Player Valuation: £90m
And the last one would rather the bench be filled with goalies than any youth
If Southampton have 17 and 18 year old full backs then there is only one way they are going this season... down.
It's a two way thing though. Young players have to take their opportunities when they arise as well.
Gordon for instance is a really frustrating one for me. I think he has a ton of ability but he just lets the game pass him by when he gets a start. If he starts tonight then we need to see him perform, or he might not get another chance for a while. Play well, maybe get on the score sheet, and he's in the manager's thoughts.
DanEFC92
Player Valuation: £90m
What’s the solution though ?
We’re crap and Digne is one of our best players. If he’s fit he plays every game possible and so he should.
Can you imagine the if Small played in a League Cup game and we got knocked out ? The fume would be unreal.
catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
It seems very easy to lay the blame at a bogeyman (in this case Unsworth) but not sure the facts meet the reality. Unsworth played the kid from when he had just turned 16 and improved him to the point he got 1st team recognition. For whatever reason he has wanted to move elsewhere. Southampton seems a good fit and there is probably a better chance he gets to play, which makes sense for a player.
If we want to blame people, I'd say Brands and Ancelotti hold some more of the blame than Unsworth did. Reading between the lines, he wasn't involved with 1st team training that much, but lots of other players were of a similar age. Maybe the club didn't quite rate him as highly as he thought he should be?
DanEFC92
Player Valuation: £90m
Digne was missing for 8 games last season through injury and suspension. We played a centre back there.
Think the fans would buzz that we're finally giving youth a chance. As they buzzed when he made his debut.
Presumably because the manager and coaching staff didn’t think he was good enough ? Holgate has played fullback plenty of times and Godfrey was signed as a utility player.
You can count on one hand (if that) the number of promising youth players who we’ve let go that have gone on to be successful Premier League players. I’ll be shocked if we regret Small going five years from now.
EFC_FRANCIS
Player Valuation: £35m
Would say this works against a pathway than for it. What was the point in signing Nkounkou other than blocking a pathway for Small? It certainly wasn't a signing that provided genuine first team cover so unless the club are and were confident NN will have a better career and be a better full back than Small it was a signing that just further clogged up the system.
Barnfred 55
Player Valuation: £80m
Yeah, my view is good luck to the lad.
I don't agree with him not turning up for training, I think he's been poorly advised in that regard. I also don't like to lose promising young players, but in fairness I think that is our own fault because over the last few years we have become a club where there is not a clear pathway through to the first team for outstanding young players.
I'm not even sure it's about money. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we had offered a more lucrative contract than Southampton, and he could have gone to Arsenal or Manchester United who would likely have offered better terms. But he has chosen a club, and a manager for that matter, that have consistently shown that they are happy to trust young players if they are good enough. I think he's definitely chosen the right club to go to from a development aspect and would have questioned his motives had he gone to one of the big clubs.
Time will now tell if he's as good as he thinks he is. TBH I've not seen anything in his appearances for the U23s that make him standout in the way that Livramento did. But if he is an elite player, well he's now in the very best place (England wise) and I wish him all the best.
I never said it was but the LB pathway is non-existent anyway for Small due to Digne (really good) and Nkounkou (a better prospect at present than Small). Can't blame the club for that as it's us actually doing something right.
Think that's a pretty weird way to look at football.
DanEFC92
Player Valuation: £90m
Mentioned above but Digne was missing for 8 games last season but we elected to play a centre back there.
There's just no pathway.
Barnfred 55
Player Valuation: £80m
100% Dan. Not just for retaining our own best players but also for attracting the best young players from other clubs. Why do you think the likes of Sancho and Bellingham, and the Jesus lad from Real Madrid we were once linked with, all wanted to go to Dortmund.