Yep, looking forward to see who gets minutes in pre season. Could be none of them but I think the likes of Gordon/Balagizi/Musialowski could be with the first team. Don't think it can be overstated how much time they have for Gordon, given they paid a little chunk for him, and how he's looked a level above in the u18s and scored on his 23s debut. Even came off the bench in a Championship game, so very talented.
Will Frauendorf be playing with the 23s next season? He's some talent from what I've seen, goals in the youth cup semi and final. I think at some point he was out with an injury so didn't see the same football as a few others. The attacking talent in them groups is scary, just a big shame the likes of Stewart and Glatzel have suffered some serious injuries. Hope both can recover and find their feet again. Same thing happened to Brewster when he picked up a bastard of an injury that kept him out for about a year and really stunted his development.
Interested for next season to start for the youth groups, lots to be excited about. The u18s team was fantastic this year with a good league finish and great youth cup run. I assume most of them will be in the u23s group next season. Not sure about the talent below the 18s group who will come up and join that side. I remember that lad Ennis scored a hat-trick in the youth cup and he was only about 16, will he have any chance of being with them? Seems possible.
I think we’d need to keep our hopes in check a bit for the U18s, at least for the first part of next season. The cohort that is due to go up is one of the largest for years at 11 (Bradley, Corness, Hill, Kelly, Koumetio, Morton, Norris, ojrzynski, Quansah, Stewart, Wilson, Woltman). Ok, Kelly, if he goes up is likely to be in that “training goalies” group that we heard about this year when wondering why LFC hoard so many goalies, given that he has rarely played in his 2 years in the U18s. Also, I realise that some are up already. But the problem as I see it is that the U23s seem to play less games (esp as we will be back in the uefa champions league youth tournie again now the senior team has qualified). In addition to which the numbers there are piling up. It’s easy to assume that many will go out on loan but we never really manage to get more than 5 or so non-first team squad out on loan. There is already Bearne, Beck, Cain, Clarkson, o’rourke, Ritaccio, Savage, Boyes, Clayton, Dixon-B, Glatzel, Longstaff, Sharif, Lewis, Millar, Gallagher, Hardy. I’ve not included Jaros, still out on loan, or arroyo, (no work permit.), or Walls or Larouci, guessing either released or won’t sign. Now some others are likely to be let go (Gallagher and Hardy need to be allowed to go or get a loan as a minimum given their age). Cain and Clarkson might still be with the firsts but unless it’s cup stuff, I can’t see them getting much Prem time so they may need to drop down. I haven’t mentioned Gordon but he may automatically be U23s next season or he may be with the first team squad to train and drop down to play.
I don’t think we’ll be able to tell from pre season who is where as there are always more playing up to make up for squad members still having a break after internationals.
