Have been impressed with Beni everytime i have seen him , seems to have the right skills to make a modern midfielder.
Have been impressed with Beni everytime i have seen him , seems to have the right skills to make a modern midfielder.
rochdaleblue
Player Valuation: £50m
What strikes me about the under 23s is that we seem to have good full backs, Pennington stand out centre half, quality right across the midfielder, DCL seems to have made a good impression and is around the first team fringes. Let's hope the likes of Kone, Lennon and Valencia are given less bench time ahead of some of these talented under 23s.
Regarding your concerns about some being on the slight side, I think this is less of an issue now than years ago. There is so much they do in terms of nutrition, gym work etc to make them literally physically bigger. You can't turn a Dowell or a Walsh into a Ross Barkley but they identify needs very early on whether it's lack of speed , weight , muscle etc and work on it. It can then depend on mentality not just physical build , if that makes sense e.g. Dowell has grown and put on weight but shows no real desire for the physical side, Joe Williams of a similar size will bite anything going and go back for more, just different styles with different mentality.
This time last year Morgan Feeney was starting to emerge and looked like Olive Oyl's wee brother, stick thin arms poking out of his sleeves. I looked at him at the end last night when they were all celebrating and height wise he looked fine, and his arms while not bulging are at least starting to fill his sleeves now. They've clearly worked on his physical side without overdoing it too much at such a young age, 17. He's for me the best home grown centre back prospect we've had for many years, and unlike every other defender at this level he's only played in one position, CB, which they are obviously concentrating on. It's a position that requires you to be physically up for it, I think they've got their plans in place to gradually build him up or they'd be playing him at full back or elsewhere. For some , like Henen, I don't think any amount of physical training will give him the mentality to play in a physical league like the PL .
Darth Toffeeman
Player Valuation: £40m
I have always tried to pay attention to the reserve/youth team games, attending the majority when we played at Widnes.
This current crop are by far the best I have seen as a team. Many of them should go on to make a living out of the game and that is testament to the great work that Unsworth and the coaches are doing. Regarding their progress, and indeed looking at how West Ham are raving about Holland, it shows how difficult it can be for a club to decide who fits. Look at Keane at Burnley. Manchester United let him leave for a nominal fee and he is now the most sort after English Centre Back for the coming Summer transfer window.
Having watched Rodwell and Barkley come through I would be amazed if Baningemi does not make the first team eventually.
He has everything in his locker and has impressed me every time I have seen him play. We are really well equipped in Centre Midfield.
Though I would not say no to Tielemans joining.
mightymoyes
Player Valuation: £70m
dowell actually looked a lot bulkier last night and he must be over 6ft now, it definitely wont be physicality that stops him being a first team player for us.
even from last summer playing for england feeney looks a hell of a lot bigger now and only turned 18 this month.
DerbyshireAndHarper
Player Valuation: £2.5m
Love your previews mate but couldn't disagree with this more.
Our Under 23 squad system is producing a ton of players who will wind up as at least Football League players. Will there be a few who won't make it as professionals? Possibly. But we are top of the league for a reason, because we have good players and we develop good players. Not all of them will make the first team but a lot of them will become League 1/2 players, or higher.
If we forget the fact that Tom Davies came through the ranks to become a first team player...
In addition to the current U23 team you saw play last night, we have Tyias Browning (Preston), Callum Connolly (Wigan), Conor McAleny (Oxford), Conor Grant (Doncaster) all currently out on loan.
Also in the last 3 years we've sold Ryan Ledson (Oxford), Chris Long (Burnley), Shane Duffy (Blackburn, now at Brighton), Hallam Hope (Bury), all to league teams. In addition, there's John Lundstram who became a free agent (Oxford captain at age 23).
These are just players who came through the ranks and we're bought in and developed by the club, like Holgate, DCL, Galloway, and also just in the last 3 years, so there's also Jack Rodwell Jose Baxter, and Dan Gosling in the recent past.
Verbal Kint
Player Valuation: £35m
Did Holland get released?? Was he deemed not good enough. Out of this group I can see us releasing lads and them turning into superstars.
Everton that
We released Baines didn't we
Everton that
We released Baines didn't we
DerbyshireAndHarper
Player Valuation: £2.5m
Bit of perspective needed regarding Nathan Holland and how much West Ham are talking him up.
Nathan Holland was released because he was deemed not good enough. He had made 1 solitary appearance for the U23s all season.
He's started well at West Ham U23s but they play in a division lower than Everton U23s, and are also only 5th in that division, 14 points behind the leaders, so won't be promoted this season and won't be playing EFC U23s next season either.
Holland has essentially dropped down a level in U23 football to get a game.
Good luck to the lad, he may come good in time. But Everton are very rarely wrong when it comes to judging who they think will make it or not. The odd one or two might prove them wrong, over the course of 5-10 years. But the vast majority won't.
Barnfred 55
Player Valuation: £80m
Think to some extent we've been a victim of our own success mate. We had 3 good/very good U18s back to back so there's now a bit of a bottleneck in the U23s. Holland is a casualty of this. Although he was an England youth international, I didn't even think he was the best player of his type at Finch Farm. I actually preferred Michael Donohue, but even he hasn't had a look in this season. Just shows the depth we have at that level. I'm not surprised Holland has made a good start at West Ham, albeit references to Ryan Giggs are probably not going to be beneficial to the lad in the long term. But like all players of his type, consistency is the biggest factor and we'll see how it plays out over the rest of the season. I wish him well though.
You're spot on re Keane. Made a post earlier about this in the January transfer window thread. He's always been highly thought of and was first choice for England U21s at the same time as Stones. Burnley made a very astute purchase and I'd be surprised if they haven't got some sort of sell on clause. It made me wonder about the likes of Galloway and Browning and I hope we don't make too hasty a decision in selling them on without giving them sufficient opportunity. Don't think we can afford to throw money down the drain like United can. But it shows just how hard these decisions are.
Tielemans looks a player doesn't he. Haven't seen enough of him tbh, just really the goals he scores which are exceptional. I'd need to see more of how he controls a game and what else he brings to the table. You also have to remember the standard he's currently playing in. I'm sure Tom Davies would be outstanding at that level, not to mention Ross, Schneids and Gana. Also, if you show some Anderlecht fans a youtube video of Kieran Dowell's goals for the U21s last season, they'll be equally as impressed.
mightymoyes
Player Valuation: £70m
he trained with us when he was 14 or so but switched clubs which happens all the time at that level
Barnfred 55
Player Valuation: £80m
We also have a lot of important decisions to make over the next couple of years too with this current crop. 5 years ago I would imagine as many as 9/10 of them would have gone on to play 1st team football for us, the group is that good. However, sods law would have it that, with the new investment, we are moving on as a club, and now only the absolute elite will be able to compete with the level of player we will be able to buy in.
Deciding which ones to keep and let go is going to be very difficult, and I just hope that Unsy/Walsh et al are up to it.
mightymoyes
Player Valuation: £70m
nah moyes wouldve just picked phil neville ahead of any of them!
important we qualify for europe next season so we have more games and will hopefully see more opportunities for those that deserve them
I'm not sure but if we do win it I hope so. Seven goals in seven games was a pretty good contribution , and whatever we may think of him in the context of being a £13 mill PL player there's no doubt he got his head down , worked hard for his young team mates and you could see in the goal celebrations that they appreciated it and celebrated with him.
Barnfred 55
Player Valuation: £80m
Yeah. guess I didn't express myself well enough there.
What I meant to say is, if we were I the same position as a club as we were 5 ears ago, i.e. skint and having to sell our best players to find new purchases, then what we would have given to have this current crop coming through the system. Manager notwithstanding, 5 or 6 would probably have been regulars by now.
Europe and cup runs are important as you say. will not only help development but also enable us to filter the ones who are able to step up. Without giving them first team exposure it's much harder to make that choice.
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