Transfers and seeing the potential in players are two of Moyes' strongest attributes.
Of course the old argument 'you never know what would have happened if he hadnt released them' will probably pop up.
But by that logic a boss can never get rid of under performing staff on the odd chance they might one day come in and be ace.
For me, the whole "if they were any good they'd come back and prove Moyes wrong" argument doesn't work. For the simple reason that no young player is ever as good as they could be when they are young, they need to be developed from potential to finished item.
Lets take Leighton Baines as an example. Plays for Wigan, does well but is just considered a good left back nothing more.
Signs for Everton but struggles to play regularly (possibly because the staff believe he's too small or whatever it was) leading to talk he might be better off moving somewhere else.
But due to injuries he gets a run in the team making the position his own.
Gets better and better till he's widely regarded as one of the best ful backs in the world.
So he didn't just become world class overnight like young players don't become good enough for our first team squad overnight.
He waited, got his chance and
then went on to progress from a good Prem player to a world class player. Would he have done that on the bench? No. Would he have done that if he went to Sunderland? Maybe, but i'd say its more likely that he wouldn't have done.
Of course full credit to Moyes and the coaching staff for turning him into the player he is today. But how did he go from them having doubts about him and sitting on our bench to being world class?
From playing, from being given a chance.
And the same principles apply to young players. They can only come so far before you reach a cut off point (more often than not) where they either need to be helped onto the next level, or they get dropped down and face an uphill struggle to reach even near that level. A player playing at Everton in and around our first team will become a better play than doing the same at a League 1 side.
I bet that of all the players we'd let go who are now playing in the lower leagues, if they'd all been given a run of 6 games in the first team at one point or another that some of them would still be playing Premier League football now. That chance would have been crucial in developing them into good players just like Leighton Baines chance did for him.
That doesn't go for all of them of course, some really are total gash. But i'm just trying to explain why i think one of the most important aspects in turning promising young players at a Prem club into Prem players is by giving them a proper chance at playing them in the Prem, and that when they get let go without that chance it sets them back a long way when they're somewhere between your Rooneys and your complete gashness.