If we had to field an Academy-only Premiership side

They are not physically up to it, to play as an 11.

Some could have been playing regularly for the first team, for a year or more imo but not all at once. They were sacrificed by Pellegrini v Chelsea thrown in together in a formation that didn't suit them. Just one or two, in a full strength team is different.

I think some of the older players like George Evans & Lopes, even Devante Cole could have been used in our team. It doesn't matter if they stay in it for ten years.

Glen Whelan plays Premier League football every week & he wouldn't get in any of these teams if he was a kid now. Neither would Ireland or Barton or that Spanish kid who scored v Liverpool.

But as an 11, there are too many small kids to survive all at the same time. Any of them could make it though. You can't tell which, until they actually play for a season or two.
 
Tron Coltrane said:
Going back to the original "if we had to set out and start a Premiership campaign with these guys..." thread, I wondered to myself if it wouldn't be worth skipping experience (in Fofana) and starting Aleix & Davenport together as a midfield two. Absurdly young, but for Pep's style of play there's a lot of ball retention and controlled passing in there. I guess for me (again, going back to the original post) I would start the season more cautiously like this:

--------- Nacho ---------
Barker ---------- Roberts
--------- Byrne ----------
-- Aleix ------- Fofana --
Angelino/Denayer/Tosin/Maffeo
---------- Hart -----------
Click to expand...
I'm puzzled as to why Hart is included by the OP or here? As far as I'm aware he never played any youth football for us and had made his debut within 3 months of joining (albeit down to injuries).

I just can't accept him as a youth product.
 
they'd come 17th i think. With the way Adarabioyo played against chelsea shows he's a serious talent (iffy distribution though)
Jack Byrne, Seko Fofana, Jason Denayer, Enes Unal, Olivier Ntcham , Divine Naah and Ian Lawlor have all had regular game time.
 
ColinLee said:
I'm puzzled as to why Hart is included by the OP or here? As far as I'm aware he never played any youth football for us and had made his debut within 3 months of joining (albeit down to injuries).

I just can't accept him as a youth product.
Click to expand...

Laziness & poor memory, I suppose. Didn't actually remember that first team appearance before coming back from the loan spells.

Should probably drop Enes Unal under the circumstances as well, though, and scrap the original premise.
 
To be fair it's an ill-conceived thread title. If you want to be accurate, Roberts, Hart, & Unal should all be off the list, and if you take them off the list it's not a very interesting discussion. In my head it was more of a "Players who were purchased or developed as youth prospects and not yet full-fledged senior players in their development when we bought them..." discussion, rather than the literal use of the word "Academy," but that seemed convoluted for a thread title.

Regardless it might be a piece of mercy to let this thread slowly descend into the depths of not very interesting conversations. I think I'm on my own in my reckoning, but in hindsight it's kind of a global disposition rather than anything specific to this group of players. It came across like I thought this particular group was some kind of golden generation, when in truth I think a dozen European clubs could throw a youth side into a league and survive mid-table after 6-8 weeks if they were well coached. I just think people thrown into the deep ends of pools often end up swimming.
 
Would a more relevant question be "How would this team do in the Championship?".

In with a shout of the play-offs in my opinion. I do think that you need a few older heads though. I can remember Neil McNab doing a great job in the 89/90 team when surrounded by youngsters. His goal at Birmingham was a great memory. Loved that season more than any other.
 
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