Amidst all the manager/DoF fun and games, apparently we have signed a youth forward from Coventry:
https://twitter.com/bsambou1
https://twitter.com/bsambou1
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Yeah this has been on the go for a few months , I'm sure something appeared in this thread. Seems he was refusing to sign a new deal with Coventry , Tony Mowbray was pissed about it but couldn't do anything. We'll have to pay compensation which is tiered to how many PL games he plays for us if I remember right. Good to know somebody is still doing the business of signing up promising youngsters in the off season.
Indeed I remember this popping up a while ago but thought it had died a death as the season was closing and Martinez had more pressing matters. Must have just been a compensation issue or the like. Straight into the U21's since he has some experience with Coventry U21's? I'm pleased we've gone for a striker though as it's an area of the academy I feel we're severely lacking in bar a couple.
mightymoyes
Player Valuation: £70m
i think our u21 strikers next season will be our strongest group in a while, brewster and broadhead moving up, this lad from coventry and lavery has also been given time for u21s already. plus we still have rodriguez, duffus, dyson and byrne (long term injured). those last 4 might be moved on soon, though i think unsworth is a big fan of duffus.
Yeh I was meaning 2015/16 U21 strike force was lacking as I feel none of them will make it (albeit not seen a lot of Byrne due to injury). Next season different prospect though.
Spot on . It's great to be excited about our young u21 attackers as opposed to our defenders and midfielders. I'd add Evans to the list to give Broadhead, Brewster, Evans, Lavery, Sambou. All 18 or 17 years old and they will put real pressure on the "older" players who we just may not have time to develop further and let go. I think we've only seem glimpses of the sheer pace Evans and Lavery have , Broadhead scored 17 goals last season, and it would be astonishing to think that given the form Brewster showed that he may be behind a few of them.
What would be really exciting is if we switched to 433 with 3 outright attackers running at defences backed up by our quality midfielders. Either way , I'm expecting more u21 goals next season.
The other aspect is to give credit to the Martinez, Kevin Reeves, Unsy, Sheedy link that was established . At youth level we've targeted specific positions where it was thought we were weak , for example , Holgate right sided central defence, Foulds left sided central defence. This transfer was set up by Kevin Reeves, and I suspect it was a mixture of targeting a quality player and identifying the need for another youth striker.
Nooooooooo!!!! Did he not read about Samson & his hair!
AaronTheBlue
Player Valuation: £60m
more than happy for unsworth to be the one scouting / signing players for the youth team for him to work with.
unsworth is a massive step up on stubbs, and is developing players at a brilliant rate and he gets what's needed and he will improve anyone he thinks he can bring in and work with. Expect Sambou to be of a similar mould.
unsworth is a massive step up on stubbs, and is developing players at a brilliant rate and he gets what's needed and he will improve anyone he thinks he can bring in and work with. Expect Sambou to be of a similar mould.
kithnou
Player Valuation: £70m
I was thinking of you yesterday, and how I thought you were a man in the beginning, and called one of your Lineker posts as being "on the gay side"
Yeah, was in the Gerard thread!I was thinking of you yesterday, and how I thought you were a man and called one of your Lineker posts as being "on the gay side"
Tbf you weren't alone in thinking I was male - had a few awkward PMs as the realisation dawned midway throough conversations lol
kithnou
Player Valuation: £70m
If it is any consolation, I would've...
Find some of the Saints fans comments on Koeman and his lack of interest in developing his academy players a touch concerning.
Some mention that this particular intake was when they were struggling financially so may not be of as high quality so hopefully that is the reason for their lack of use and our U21s/18s will impress him.
Some mention that this particular intake was when they were struggling financially so may not be of as high quality so hopefully that is the reason for their lack of use and our U21s/18s will impress him.
I tried to argue this point in some of the manager threads and got completely shot down because it apparently "isn't an issue" because we're buying the Diego Godin's of this world. I wouldn't even care if we shot up the league if the academy work got unraveled; it's the only thing that's kept me going the last few years.
Tbf not a lot of the managers we were linked with seemed to have a great record either. I can understand with the pressures of the job to succeed now otherwise face the sack that there are a lot of incentives to just buy a ready made player rather than invest the time and effort improving someone that only your successor might take advantage of.
But like you seeing academy lads develop is one of the things I really enjoy and also believe, especially with the homegrown rule/escalating prices/funding demands of new stadium, that it makes business sense for us as well.
Guess we just have to cross our fingers and hope that both Moshiri, our new DoF and Koeman see the value!
Yeh I mean really it's just a wait and see scenario but for all of Martinez's faults we hadn't seen such a well run academy until he arrived. Let's hope the new manager/DOF doesn't mess with the system and utilises the players in the first team when ready.