Maybe the youth teams are not brimming with high quality players at the moment, but when are they ever? A generation passed between Stevie G and Alexander-Arnold breaking through.
However, the youth team are now producing players good enough to fill gaps in the squad that would once have been filled by purchases. Even if Neco Williams, Rhys Williams, Morton et al don’t become first team legends, they will make us a tidy profit. For this reason, I think the youth team is doing ok.
I think this is a really important point and one that is usually overlooked - if the academy is able to produce our backup players, not necessary ‘first name of the team sheet’ players, that’s absolutely fine. It allows the first team to spend their limited resources on improving the first team. Add to this the ability to make some sales and generate funds means that it’s a pretty successful model for an academy - with the kicker to top it off being getting a Trent / Curtis once every few years.
In terms of players - I think there are definitely players to get excited about.
- Really like Bajcetic- looks a rolls Royce player - but I would be very surprised if it’s not in the 6, rather than at CB.
- Balagizi has had awful luck, missed the pre-season because of an injury, and has been injured on and off all season, otherwise there’s a very good chance he would have a made a senior appearance by now
- Both fullbacks (Beck and Bradley) could end up saving us quite a bit of money in the long run
- Kaide Gordon has every chance of making it big - looks a superstar
- Freaundorf looks pretty damn useful - technical ability and tenacity - pretty massive ingredients for success here
- Musialowski - bags and bags of talent, but at the moment his decision making is pretty awful - those things can definitely click pretty quickly with players of that age, and given the elite level coaching they receive, he’ll be given every chance
I’m a massive fan of Clarkson, but wonder if his size ends up being his downfall - as he’s such a beautiful player to watch…
Bobby Clark looks a good technical footballer - may have to drop back one line or be groomed into the false 9 role as he doesn’t have the pace for the wide positions - but looks great given he’s only 16 and has never looked out of place every time he’s been on the pitch
I understand the shouts about not getting too excited, and I totally agree that not all or even most of them will make it- but I disagree that the academy has a dearth of talent - the age group we have little talent in is the 19-22 age range - hence why when people watch the u23s it looks bereft of standouts. What we do have is a heck of a lot of talented kids that are 18 or under - so we won’t see them necessarily take off until they fully grow into their bodies…. But there are a lot of very good technical young footballers in the academy currently. Probably most important we have a first manager and coaching staff that are willing to promote these players and provide a pathway to the first team.
Let’s enjoy it while it lasts!
