IF all the clubs expected to be in the title race, perform to their maximum, it will not be easy for any of them.I can’t honestly see it. They've had an excellent window. Wirtz, Frimpong, Ekiteke, Kerkez, probably Isak. If anyone finishes above them, that club will win the league.
More hoping than anything else mate!I can’t honestly see it. They've had an excellent window. Wirtz, Frimpong, Ekiteke, Kerkez, probably Isak. If anyone finishes above them, that club will win the league.
I can’t honestly see it. They've had an excellent window. Wirtz, Frimpong, Ekiteke, Kerkez, probably Isak. If anyone finishes above them, that club will win the league.
I’m not as convinced by Frimpong as others seem to be & id never heard of Ekiteke.
They’ve lost TAA & tragically Jota. Let’s see how good they are when City are back at it.
You refer to our academy wage structure. It is £50,000 max per year. 'Breaking the wage structure' is sensationalist from Romano as usual. The club is prepared to pay the going rate for the absolute top young talents.Chelsea has spent a lot on transfer fees, but have actually worked hard to reduce the wage bill considerably.
We produce PL ready talents at a much higher clip than other clubs, including Liverpool. Bar City, who also have a world class academy. The fact that some slip through the net is neither here nor there. There is always more to come.
Liverpool don't have a better track record of integrating youth players than Chelsea. Certainly not in the last 10 years or so. We just produce so many that the overspill of Cobham players making a splash at other clubs is something people use to count against Chelsea.
Usually when a young player is in such high demand, every club is promising pathways and attempting to sell a project to the family. Romano reported Liverpool were willing to break their academy wage structure to land him.
This is what Fabrizio Romano reported at the time.
Chelsea tried their best to keep him.
You refer to our academy wage structure. It is £50,000 max per year. 'Breaking the wage structure' is sensationalist from Romano as usual. The club is prepared to pay the going rate for the absolute top young talents.
BTW 50k is a hell of an annual income! Many other clubs reportedly don't have such a cap.
I don't refer to the players that don't sign contracts and leave Chelsea academy/youth team. I talk about the ones that make it to the full time contracts and then stagnate because they are under used or not used at all. In the past they have been shipped out to foreign affiliated clubs. In the current Chelsea set up I think you have 40+ first team players.
From a pure footballing point of view, I feel one would have to be a dyed in the wool Chelsea supporter to stick around and hope a chance comes along.
You sound like a Scouse Chris Eubank?One singular moment does not lose a league season.
It may well appear that way but when one analyzes an entire season one will be better educated on the matter.
You have produced far more players than Liverpool. The overall quality and quantity has dropped over the past couple of years though, in my opinion of course.Sensationalism or not, it's entirely plausible explanation that Liverpool offered financial incentives to the family or the kid when he was ready to sign his first pro contract. It's also entirely possible that he was convinced purely on the footballing project. You're the one that is saying its most likely pathway related, whilst I'm saying there's an equal of it being financial or pathway or both.
Rio is a better prospect than most of the kids we've produced. Typically the creme de la creme of Cobham get fast tracked. Reece James did, Hudson-Odoi did (until injury derailed him), Mason Mount did, Levi Colwill did. Now Josh Acheampong will as well. I think Rio Ngumoha would as well, but he was only 16 at the time, so hard to say with any certainty.
Counting 40+ first team players is disingenuous. A lot of them will be cleared out. We're in the middle of the summer window where signings have been made but all the sales haven't been completed.
I would disagree with you. I think we produce more players than Liverpool. We produce better players than Liverpool. We integrate youth players at about the same rate. But inevitably when you produce so many good players, a lot of them will fall through the net. We could do better of course. I've argued for years that we should be utilising the academy to a greater degree than we are
He has not signed a professional contract. He is not eligible until he is 17.Sensationalism or not, it's entirely plausible explanation that Liverpool offered financial incentives to the family or the kid when he was ready to sign his first pro contract. It's also entirely possible that he was convinced purely on the footballing project. You're the one that is saying its most likely pathway related, whilst I'm saying there's an equal of it being financial or pathway or both.
Rio is a better prospect than most of the kids we've produced. Typically the creme de la creme of Cobham get fast tracked. Reece James did, Hudson-Odoi did (until injury derailed him), Mason Mount did, Levi Colwill did. Now Josh Acheampong will as well. I think Rio Ngumoha would as well, but he was only 16 at the time, so hard to say with any certainty.
Counting 40+ first team players is disingenuous. A lot of them will be cleared out. We're in the middle of the summer window where signings have been made but all the sales haven't been completed.
I would disagree with you. I think we produce more players than Liverpool. We produce better players than Liverpool. We integrate youth players at about the same rate. But inevitably when you produce so many good players, a lot of them will fall through the net. We could do better of course. I've argued for years that we should be utilising the academy to a greater degree than we are
You have produced far more players than Liverpool. The overall quality and quantity has dropped over the past couple of years though, in my opinion of course.
He has not signed a professional contract. He is not eligible until he is 17.
When he left Chelsea you roughly had the same number of players as you do now. So it is not disingenuous.
Some London based media outlets reported, around the time he left, it was due to him seeing a better opportunity to progress at Liverpool.
I wonder what financial package you gave to the 14 year old kid you nicked from citys academy?
The same is being said about our younger age groups. What do know of Jeremiah Adesina?
We have signed him from you. You got McGillvray from us.
Ekiteke is a great player tbf and one that I would liked us to sign. However is still pretty raw and right now Omar is far superior player as was the case in Frankfurt.I’m not as convinced by Frimpong as others seem to be & id never heard of Ekiteke.
They’ve lost TAA & tragically Jota. Let’s see how good they are when City are back at it.
Not at all. My issue is with someone reading what Romano said and taking that as some big story. There are several articles detailing how the academy pay structure is at Liverpool and about the willingness to pay the going rate for certain players outside of that wage cap.My point isn't that Liverpool have given him a big contract upon arrival. Obviously rules do not allow that. My only point here has been it's equally as possible that financial incentives were made to the family or the kid as it is that he was sold on the footballing project. We won't know until someone trustworthy reports it.
I don't know who that kid from City is. But if he's as highly rated as Ngumoha, then it wouldn't surprise me at all if something like that was involved. You seem to take offence at the mere suggestion that it's even possible that money was involved in the decision to join Liverpool.
Kavuma-McQueen has, I believe, been playing up an age group. I know he is in the England squads, but the squads seem to be very southern club based orientated.Interesting. I have never heard of either tbf. I don't watch U16 football, but some players at that age I do at times hear about if they're standing out from the crowd. I have mates who are proper into youth football. They keep track of all the kids in the various age groups. Don't know how they find the time to do that but that's them lol.
Rio Ngumoha, Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, Ibrahim Rabbaj etc are kids I had heard about from them.
I occasionally watch U21 football because that is somewhat close enough to first team level.
I can’t honestly see it. They've had an excellent window. Wirtz, Frimpong, Ekiteke, Kerkez, probably Isak. If anyone finishes above them, that club will win the league.