Cole Palmer

[Cityfan]

The Academy is producing a number of very good players but very few “exceptional “ ones. The very good ones are basically a useful revenue stream (£10/15m per player transfer fees and a percentage of sell-on fees are not to be sneezed at) but what we need are players of the quality of KDB, Sergio, Merlin, Yaya etc., and with the exception of Foden (and maybe Lewis) we are just not seeing it yet.

Are we not picking up on the exceptional young talent in our scouting system ?

I think one of the problems is that exceptional talent is just that exceptional.
Since Fodens emergence how many other English players have shown anything like that ability? Sakha and Bellingham? They came from London and Birmingham. If United were producing a stream of outstanding players I would think we were lacking.
The likes of McAtee and Palmer and possibly Bobb may prove outstanding. Trafford and Lavia are doing well elsewhere but it's very tough trying to produce upper premier grade players at a young age.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

I find myself agreeing with both sides of the argument.

From our major rivals, I'm looking at Rashford, TAA, and Saka, whilst Birmingham and West Ham have produced Bellingham and Rice respectively.
However, I'd still argue that Foden has equal potential, and has definitely achieved more.

On the other hand, this was supposedly our best crop of youngsters, and yet one by one, they're slowly being discarded, (often by the same Bluemoon posters who've been lauding their talents for the last few years)

Realistically our bar is now so high that Richards and SWP would probably have never made it.

 

[OntarioBlue]

I think one of the problems is that exceptional talent is just that exceptional.
Since Fodens emergence how many other English players have shown anything like that ability? Sakha and Bellingham? They came from London and Birmingham. If United were producing a stream of outstanding players I would think we were lacking.
The likes of McAtee and Palmer and possibly Bobb may prove outstanding. Trafford and Lavia are doing well elsewhere but it's very tough trying to produce upper premier grade players at a young age.

Exactly

There is a statistic that says only 180 of 1.5 million boys playing organised youth football in the UK will play a single minute in the Premier league.

The vast majority of these 180 boys will be good “squad” players. Such has been our success in recent years we are looking for more than “squad“ players. We want the absolute best - the crème de La crème. Of these same 180 boys logic tells you that maybe one or two will fit that criteria. We have to identify them early and sign them before every other Club gets to them. It’s a tall order.

 

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

I find myself agreeing with both sides of the argument.

From our major rivals, I'm looking at Rashford, TAA, and Saka, whilst Birmingham and West Ham have produced Bellingham and Rice respectively.
However, I'd still argue that Foden has equal potential, and has definitely achieved more.

On the other hand, this was supposedly our best crop of youngsters, and yet one by one, they're slowly being discarded, (often by the same Bluemoon posters who've been lauding their talents for the last few years)

Realistically our bar is now so high that Richards and SWP would probably have never made it.

Spot on about Richard’s and SWP and if you reverse this logic …..the likes of Palmer, Lavia, Sancho, Bobb etc….would definitely have made it in our team

 

[Deleted member 77198]

The Academy is producing a number of very good players but very few “exceptional “ ones. The very good ones are basically a useful revenue stream (£10/15m per player transfer fees and a percentage of sell-on fees are not to be sneezed at) but what we need are players of the quality of KDB, Sergio, Merlin, Yaya etc., and with the exception of Foden (and maybe Lewis) we are just not seeing it yet.

Are we not picking up on the exceptional young talent in our scouting system ?

There are thousands of academies in the world who have a combined tens of thousands of players every year that come through and either make it or don’t. Many end up working on site or in offices and never play the game again. But within those that do make it, there are maybe the odd few dozen who will go on to be decent players at the top level, filtering down to even fewer who will compete at the top of the top few leagues. Within those few dozen they’re maybe two or three who will go on to be elite. That’s across the entire world of football.

For us to have Foden come through our Academy is incredible. We may ever have anyone come through of his quality again.

We can never expect City as one individual academy to keep bringing through elite players. It would be an extreme anomaly for one academy to keep brining through elite players on a regular basis. And to bring through a number at the same time is a freak occurrence in football.

Where it has happened in the past (United in the 50s, Celtic in the 60s, Ajax and Bayern in the 70s, Ajax in the 90s, Barcelona in the 00s) they’re often just freak one-off anomalies against decades upon decades of it not happening across the thousands and thousands of football academies in the world.

Ajax may be the only European club where it’s happened more than once.

 

[Ste68]

Spot on about Richard’s and SWP and if you reverse this logic …..the likes of Palmer, Lavia, Sancho, Bobb etc….would definitely have made it in our team

I think lots of the academy players would make it in top half premier league sides and a few in top 5. Lavia and Sancho for example are already there along with Foden and Lewis (I know united have destroyed Sancho but he has ability). Just think City have become geared up to winning trophies every single year so will not take the risk on too many of them despite the talent and opt to cash in. We will let some really good players go but if the trophies keep rolling in so be it. I expect Trafford will be another who plays top 5 , possibly for us , but no way do you replace Ederson with him now. If you go back to the Keegan/Pearce years we would have had half the squad filled with current academy players.

 

[Coatigan]

Has HE actually said this, or is it media speculation?

HE has. So has PEP. Quite a few TIMES.

 

[Lavinda Past]

Such as? We’ve got a good crop coming through at the moment & it was easier to get into the City team in those days.

Such as? Over 62 years of watching...?

Now you're being daft.

Yes, it was easier to get into the team, but at least our 'good crops' were given decent opportunities in those days.

Yes, I'm an FOC, but I get much more excited seeing a few 'home-grown' / local lads playing for City than I do for many of these multi-million 'wonderkids' signed from two-bob leagues.

 

[Lavinda Past]

Doku is better than palmer and has a higher ceiling

How do you know...?

Have you been in his house?

"Better" is a currently a matter of speculative opinion. Only time will tell.

"Higher ceiling". What a crock of shite that is.

 

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

I think lots of the academy players would make it in top half premier league sides and a few in top 5. Lavia and Sancho for example are already there along with Foden and Lewis (I know united have destroyed Sancho but he has ability). Just think City have become geared up to winning trophies every single year so will not take the risk on too many of them despite the talent and opt to cash in. We will let some really good players go but if the trophies keep rolling in so be it. I expect Trafford will be another who plays top 5 , possibly for us , but no way do you replace Ederson with him now. If you go back to the Keegan/Pearce years we would have had half the squad filled with current academy players.

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