There hasn't been too much talk about him, not the sort of hype that some players just always seem to have about them however he started with the 18s team as soon as he turned 16 and started with the 21s as soon as he turned 17. He's definitely being fast tracked so must be rated within the academy structure.
Not that I know of.
It’s a similar track to Isaac Price / Charlie Whitaker in their day , but as you say Armstrong was the standout in his year . It was his first year of full time training, that’s a big factor , sometimes they stall at the end of it , he seems to have thrived in pre season. It’s been rare in recent years for one of our youth products to get so many pre season minutes. Whatever our views were last season they’ve been eclipsed by his first team minutes, and everybody else has seen that and has a view on him now, so I think he’s flown the Academy nest. He needs a “ Handle me with Care” sign on his back and trust that we get it right .
I understand the logic of your post Eggs but just once in a while a really special talent emerges, I haven’t seen this lad so I can’t really comment but going by the time he is getting with the first team, even in friendly games, I am looking forward to seeing this kid, hopefully on Saturday v Roma, then a lot of us can form an opinion about him until then I/we can only wish him all the best for his future with us and at the same time don’t put any pressure on the lad!
Difficult to tell from tv, but he seems an “ appropriate “ size for his age , tall with maybe some filling out still to come. Not a Ross Barkley physique, more a smaller Onana at this stage , if those comparisons make sense . We know that physique is so important at PL level it baffles me a wee bit why it doesn’t seem to be addressed more by us eg Gordon was always talented but stick thin, he got his own personal trainer at one stage , strengthened his body without overdoing it and it helped him kick on .
I wouldn’t compare his situation to dobbin though he’d outgrown underage football and wasnt good enough to get into the first team regularly so he ended up making up the numbers because we had no money. He made us some money and I’m not sure he will ever be worth more than we got so it probably wasn’t a waste. It doesn’t have to be the 2 options you’ve mentioned he could play some underage football but also be involved with the first team the stupid thing to do would be to choose one of those paths and stick to it instead of being sensible and adapting to what suits him and the club better.Well he's barely played for the U21's, so not sure when "after a certain period of time" occured
He either plays U21's, or he sits on the first team bench doing nothing and wasting a whole year. Like others before him, even Dobbin last year, what a complete waste of development that was.
At that age, training with the first team is probably more beneficial than any actual first team minutes.
I think we will see tomorrow if he is in the managers plans for the season.