Charlie McNeil

[Colin Bells Boots]

To those who follow our youth teams , are situations like this arising in the wake of the Sancho situation with our young players in your opinion.

Not sure how a 16 year old feels " increasingly under-valued " as I cannot believe that they honestly expect to be in one of City's senior squads at their stage of development.

 

[Ezzy]

To those who follow our youth teams , are situations like this arising in the wake of the Sancho situation with our young players in your opinion.

Not sure how a 16 year old feels " increasingly under-valued " as I cannot believe that they honestly expect to be in one of City's senior squads at their stage of development.

I don't personally see it like that. I believe the U18 & U23 are very well balanced in terms of personnel and Rotation.

In McNeil's case, He's a Man U fan(joined us from their Academy, cause of superior coaching and facilities probably).

He's a Brilliant striker, but is small in size(~1.7m) and frame. Turned 16 in September, and seemed to have been ear marked to complete the season with the U16. He made his first start for the U18 around dec-Jan ish? And a couple of 10 mins subs apps only.

My guess maybe he wanted to be involved with the U18 quicker and on a more consistent basis. Considering we had Bobb & Alex Robertson, both 16 and diminutive too, playing U18 since start of season.

Next season our U23 will retain no players from the 19/20 season, which leaves us with McNeil and Delap as our only strikers for the U18 & U23.

That is why we are in the Market for Luka Reischl. He's 1.84m tall, so despite bieng 16, he would be able to handle rotating between the U18 & U23 as required, unlike McNeil for who this would be too soon.

So I guess it's a combination of all these things that made him feel undervalued, and the fact that he doesn't support City made the choice easier I guess.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

I don't personally see it like that. I believe the U18 & U23 are very well balanced in terms of personnel and Rotation.

In McNeil's case, He's a Man U fan(joined us from their Academy, cause of superior coaching and facilities probably).

He's a Brilliant striker, but is small in size(~1.7m) and frame. Turned 16 in September, and seemed to have been ear marked to complete the season with the U16. He made his first start for the U18 around dec-Jan ish? And a couple of 10 mins subs apps only.

My guess maybe he wanted to be involved with the U18 quicker and on a more consistent basis. Considering we had Bobb & Alex Robertson, both 16 and diminutive too, playing U18 since start of season.

Next season our U23 will retain no players from the 19/20 season, which leaves us with McNeil and Delap as our only strikers for the U18 & U23.

That is why we are in the Market for Luka Reischl. He's 1.84m tall, so despite bieng 16, he would be able to handle rotating between the U18 & U23 as required, unlike McNeil for who this would be too soon.

So I guess it's a combination of all these things that made him feel undervalued, and the fact that he doesn't support City made the choice easier I guess.

Thanks for that - much appreciated.

 

[Centurions]

To those who follow our youth teams , are situations like this arising in the wake of the Sancho situation with our young players in your opinion.

Not sure how a 16 year old feels " increasingly under-valued " as I cannot believe that they honestly expect to be in one of City's senior squads at their stage of development.

I have no inside knowledge whatsoever but that stinks of his parents not happy that he's not the star man.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

I have no inside knowledge whatsoever but that stinks of his parents not happy that he's not the star man.

Parents or parents/agent would seem a reasonable guess.

 

[GunnerManc]

He’s a very level headed kid and is an unbelievable talent! This isn’t about him being a Man U fan it’s all about playing time! All the kid wants to do is play football and they’re doesn’t seem to be a pathway at city at minute for any kid! Look at Sancho and what he has done by moving away from city! Fair play to him wanting to make him self into a pro footballer

 

[Centurions]

He’s a very level headed kid and is an unbelievable talent! This isn’t about him being a Man U fan it’s all about playing time! All the kid wants to do is play football and they’re doesn’t seem to be a pathway at city at minute for any kid! Look at Sancho and what he has done by moving away from city! Fair play to him wanting to make him self into a pro footballer

And do you think he's ready to play 1st team football anywhere? (let alone at City)

Do you think he's even close to to the level Sancho was when he left?

The few media outlets that have picked this up are poor to say the least. They claim he's following the successful paths of Sancho and Diaz. Sancho is a given but to claim that Diaz has proven to be right is laughable, he played a few La Liga games towards the end of last season which I highly suspect was part of the deal when he signed. This season he's been subbed on for 3 matches for a total of 23 minutes.

 

[CWMCFC]

And do you think he's ready to play 1st team football anywhere? (let alone at City)

Do you think he's even close to to the level Sancho was when he left?

The few media outlets that have picked this up are poor to say the least. They claim he's following the successful paths of Sancho and Diaz. Sancho is a given but to claim that Diaz has proven to be right is laughable, he played a few La Liga games towards the end of last season which I highly suspect was part of the deal when he signed. This season he's been subbed on for 3 matches for a total of 23 minutes.

It doesn't matter about whether he's ready or not now, it's the future potential.

We have Foden just about knocking on the door after patiently waiting for his chance for the past 2 seasons. By all accounts one of the most talented young lads to ever come through our system, life long blue, completely integrated with the squad and even he is struggling. Now there's also talk of us bringing in another £50m midfielder in Aouar for when Silva leaves, rather than giving Phil a proper crack.

Angelino had to leave the club in order to get proper minutes, lit up the Dutch league, earned a move back and was shipped off after 6 months back at the club. Now he's thriving elsewhere at a club that has given him a proper chance again.

McNeil will be looking for examples to show that there is a pathway at City and there unfortunately just isn't one. Until someone properly bucks the trend and becomes a regular in this squad - and we all hope that Foden can be that player - these cases are just going to repeat and we will lose great talent, because we simply don't utilise ours and instead like to buy the finished article.

 

[oldius]

He has been spoken about as one of the Academy's shining stars for years. There has to be a path for players like this but he is 16 for goodness sake; head down, work hard, feel blessed and if by 20 you are no further on, then leave with blessings.

 

[Ezzy]

It doesn't matter about whether he's ready or not now, it's the future potential.

We have Foden just about knocking on the door after patiently waiting for his chance for the past 2 seasons. By all accounts one of the most talented young lads to ever come through our system, life long blue, completely integrated with the squad and even he is struggling. Now there's also talk of us bringing in another £50m midfielder in Aouar for when Silva leaves, rather than giving Phil a proper crack.

Angelino had to leave the club in order to get proper minutes, lit up the Dutch league, earned a move back and was shipped off after 6 months back at the club. Now he's thriving elsewhere at a club that has given him a proper chance again.

McNeil will be looking for examples to show that there is a pathway at City and there unfortunately just isn't one. Until someone properly bucks the trend and becomes a regular in this squad - and we all hope that Foden can be that player - these cases are just going to repeat and we will lose great talent, because we simply don't utilise ours and instead like to buy the finished article.

It hurts to lose talented Youngersters when you don't want to but that is, even more so for us at the moment because of Pep being stubborn, a by-product of what the Club is trying to do.

We lost Sancho at 17 for Peanuts on August 31st 2017
We got Braaf at 16 for Free on August 31st 2018
We will sign a top class 16-17yr old LW this summer.

Even tho we lost so much potential money for Sancho.
Even tho we could sell(2023 contract) Braaf before he plays in the first team.

It does not matter in the long run for us, all that does is the long-term project.

We are not like the feeder or steppingstone Clubs that can only compete for or stash a small amount of youth talent

We are not like the Premier League clubs that need to bring through any decent talent they have their hands on and call them generational.

There is a reason the Club pretty much "killed off" most of the coverage on Academy Games in 2017:



"In this level, we don’t give presents for itself. They have to win this chance."

Jason Wilcox: "I don't see too many 18/19-year-olds playing as regulars in first teams across the league. So it's a big task but one that Phil and Eric have achieved and our job is to produce more. That's our aspiration, to produce unbelievable footballers."

Jason Wilcox: "A club like ours, where we're competing to win the Champions League, and to win the Premier League, and to win the FA Cup, and to win the Carabao Cup, this takes patience and trust in the project and what we're trying to do."