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2020/21 Thierry Small

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catcherintherye said:
Yes fair points. And the 23's have got a lot younger recently. The reality is Chelsea spend massively more than Everton in youth development as you've said. There is very much an argument here that Everton should spend as much as say Chelsea/City or even Liverpool do, but it would tie up probably 50m a year more in wages and a significant amount in terms of fees and and sign on deals etc. There is an argument that would be a sensible allocation of funds, but there is also a case to say, exactly how much profit are sides like the above getting for this heavy investment they are making year in year out? The numbers above are also quite cautious.

For the talent they have, Chelsea are also starting to leak players, as are the likes of Spurs and you've seen City lose lads like Sancho. In honesty they don't really convert talent very well. Yes I appreciate people will talk about Mount and Reece James, but neither of them get a go if it wasn't for a transfer ban in my view. I said the other week, Chelsea probably have 10 lads who are good or better than Small in their 16's-23's and people were a bit taken aback, but they are awash with talent. If we are offering him say 5-10k p/w they will offer a player like that 25k and a 7 figure sign on fee. Their conversion rate to 1st team players is pretty poor.

I see more from how United do it that I would look at. They have less "raw materials" but bring more through.
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Where have you got "£50mil a year in wages" + sign on / transfer fees from -- to get up to City/Chelseas level?

What i would initially focus on would be speaking with agents who have youth players in the top clubs. Tell them that 'if' certain players were to join the club then they will be earning a higher salary and have a place in the first team squad.

There should be a budget for young players from the 1st team funds. Instead of spending £55mil net a season, we should be looking at a portion of this going towards 2 or 3 prospects -- like Brighton have done with Lamptey and possibly Livramento.

If we sold Iwobi for £15mil for example, would anyone be against us spending £3-5mil on fees for three 18 highly rated 18 year olds from Chelsea and/or another top club?

You just need one of them to come good (like Lamptey) and you come out ahead.
 
The young lad has realised he won't be as good as Digne (probably ever) and Niels Nkounkou for me has more promise and wants to work for it. Waves bye to some dopy kid that runs quick and that's about it!
 
Zatara said:
Where have you got "£50mil a year in wages" + sign on / transfer fees from -- to get up to City/Chelseas level?

What i would initially focus on would be speaking with agents who have youth players in the top clubs. Tell them that 'if' certain players were to join the club then they will be earning a higher salary and have a place in the first team squad.

There should be a budget for young players from the 1st team funds. Instead of spending £55mil net a season, we should be looking at a portion of this going towards 2 or 3 prospects -- like Brighton have done with Lamptey and possibly Livramento.

If we sold Iwobi for £15mil for example, would anyone be against us spending £3-5mil on fees for three 18 highly rated 18 year olds from Chelsea and/or another top club?

You just need one of them to come good (like Lamptey) and you come out ahead.
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We,ve tried all this before Zat - Bowler , Garbut , Gibson , Feeney there's a long list and my memory is failing but it didn't work for us.
 

jazzy said:
We,ve tried all this before Zat - Bowler , Garbut , Gibson , Feeney there's a long list and my memory is failing but it didn't work for us.
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If you check those players and others, they were all bought for under £1mil with the rest in add ons.

Im talking about increasing to £3-5mil down per player (or more) and aiming for higher calibre players -- if of course those fees are necessary.

City for example have just signed 2 highly rated young Brazilians. Im not saying we could compete with them but we could be offering players a path to the first team...which in theory may be faster than at City/Chelsea etc
 
…surprised this thread is still hovering around the top of the forum. I’m really not overly bothered what this youngster does, him and his representatives clearly have options and are doing what they think is best.

The vast majority of youngsters are rejected by clubs at a key point in their lives, not many will have a career in the game. It’s a cut throat time, they must go in the direction they want.
 
Zatara said:
Where have you got "£50mil a year in wages" + sign on / transfer fees from -- to get up to City/Chelseas level?

What i would initially focus on would be speaking with agents who have youth players in the top clubs. Tell them that 'if' certain players were to join the club then they will be earning a higher salary and have a place in the first team squad.

There should be a budget for young players from the 1st team funds. Instead of spending £55mil net a season, we should be looking at a portion of this going towards 2 or 3 prospects -- like Brighton have done with Lamptey and possibly Livramento.

If we sold Iwobi for £15mil for example, would anyone be against us spending £3-5mil on fees for three 18 highly rated 18 year olds from Chelsea and/or another top club?

You just need one of them to come good (like Lamptey) and you come out ahead.
Click to expand...

I agree with most of the above. I know we were linked with a few younger players recently but as yet none have materialised. If rather than marquee names, Benitez focuses on cheap "effective" players and allows us some scope to bring in younger players that is quite smart.

As for 50m a season, it's an estimate of what these teams spend in wages/fees/transfers/agents costs etc each year. I suspect a conservative one. It's not a zero sum game that's all.
 

Eggs said:
…surprised this thread is still hovering around the top of the forum. I’m really not overly bothered what this youngster does, him and his representatives clearly have options and are doing what they think is best.

The vast majority of youngsters are rejected by clubs at a key point in their lives, not many will have a career in the game. It’s a cut throat time, they must go in the direction they want.
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It's disappointing if he wants to leave, but this is not a Rooney we are losing. He may go onto have a very good career, he may not. We will receive a compensation package which will be enough to keep the entire academy going for a season in all likelihood, plus a hefty sell on. I hope he stays but to be honest he's not even the level Ross Barkley was at when I was him at 18. Or Jeffers, Or Rodwell, or Osman or Michael Ball etc. In the current age group, you could make a case of him being the most promising, but messers Welch, Price and Onyango were in the 1st team squad ahead of him last season. From the bit's I've seen Welch is ahead of him. Whittaker is with the 1st team squad currently, so maybe he is. Dobbin looks promising too. They won't all make it, indeed none of them may make it but I'm not convinced Small is miles ahead of any of the names on the list.

The frustration to me would be, he looked to be getting a chance in and around the 1st team here. It would seem an odd move to go somewhere where he may not be in and around the 1st team squad.
 
Zatara said:
Where have you got "£50mil a year in wages" + sign on / transfer fees from -- to get up to City/Chelseas level?

What i would initially focus on would be speaking with agents who have youth players in the top clubs. Tell them that 'if' certain players were to join the club then they will be earning a higher salary and have a place in the first team squad.

There should be a budget for young players from the 1st team funds. Instead of spending £55mil net a season, we should be looking at a portion of this going towards 2 or 3 prospects -- like Brighton have done with Lamptey and possibly Livramento.

If we sold Iwobi for £15mil for example, would anyone be against us spending £3-5mil on fees for three 18 highly rated 18 year olds from Chelsea and/or another top club?

You just need one of them to come good (like Lamptey) and you come out ahead.
Click to expand...

Has Lamptey really come good? I mean, he's definitely a talent that's shown promise but he's injured yet again for the beginning of the season.
 
BainesontoastNEW said:
Has Lamptey really come good? I mean, he's definitely a talent that's shown promise but he's injured yet again for the beginning of the season.
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I think its the same hamstring injury.

It could be career ending for all i know or seriously impact him but if we had signed him from Chelsea and two other similar profile players + keep doing that each summer we would only need one or two to work out to cover the cost.

It seems like a better idea to me than signing Iwobi's or Delphs...

Small is an odd one though, interesting to see where he ends up.
 

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