Ex City Youth Players

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Micah was exceptional as a defender, but not as good a footballer as the kids now. Nowhere near.

Sturridge is 25 & has been playing Premier League for years. Ambrose is 17 & only just started in the reserves. You would expect Sturridge to be a bit ahead.

In the days when people like Sturridge & Johnson were playing at City, half the kids teams they played against were like pub teams, with big daft fuckers who could barely pass a football lumping it forward in the air & running after it. Indeed several such teams knocked us out of the youth cup.

Kids like Sturridge & Johnson were head and shoulders above most of the opposition in those days, but nowardays even the shit teams are a much higher standard than back then. Half of these 18 year olds we have now, would have been playing in our first team back then & starring in it.

I know that. I made a point about when they were the same age imo sturridge was better

 

[g180aj]

It’s a long road to step up from youth football to PL standard. Trippier is doing really well, getting better every week. It would be great to see him back one day but he still has a long way to go yet. I think if Burnley where to go down he would have a decision to make, he’d get a good chance of a move back to a PL team but he needs to be careful, he would be better off playing every week in the Championship for Burnley than being a fringe player in a mid table PL team. You would hope he has and agent with the long term in mind.

Maffeo will have to do it on loan first and prove he can do it at senior level, probably a couple of loans to move up through the tiers of football, a long long way to go for him. Fingers crossed.

Imo Trippier was nowhere near the standard of Maffao at the same age, altough no mug at all, just a big step below Maffeo at pretty much everything. Trippier was a less talented, slower, less wel built, English version. I don't think Trippier is very good defensively for Burnley even now & gets hopelessly caught out quite regularly misjudging the pace of passes etc. He is a good crosser of the ball but so imo is Maffeo & I don't believe Trippier's crossing was that special at 17.

I recon 6 months in Burnley's team for Maffeo, & they wouldn't remember Trippier.

Im not having that trippier was one of our best youth players and stood out very time i went to watch the youth team. You can't really compare them anyway until Maffeo is the same age. Trippier will be a top class rb. No way would maffeo be ahead of trapper now or in the future. Players like him, strurridge, johnson are better players than what we have now at the same age.

I would argue with that Ambrose is at a similar level to sturridge. I would say that the best prospect I've ever seen in our accademy is Rony lopes.

 

[Centurions]

Imo Trippier was nowhere near the standard of Maffao at the same age, altough no mug at all, just a big step below Maffeo at pretty much everything. Trippier was a less talented, slower, less wel built, English version. I don't think Trippier is very good defensively for Burnley even now & gets hopelessly caught out quite regularly misjudging the pace of passes etc. He is a good crosser of the ball but so imo is Maffeo & I don't believe Trippier's crossing was that special at 17.

I recon 6 months in Burnley's team for Maffeo, & they wouldn't remember Trippier.

Im not having that trippier was one of our best youth players and stood out very time i went to watch the youth team. You can't really compare them anyway until Maffeo is the same age. Trippier will be a top class rb. No way would maffeo be ahead of trapper now or in the future. Players like him, strurridge, johnson are better players than what we have now at the same age.

I would argue with that Ambrose is at a similar level to sturridge. I would say that the best prospect I've ever seen in our accademy is Rony lopes.

From the little we hear about the younger age groups, there's some that apparently make him look ordinary. Whether they attain their potential is another thing of course.

 

[Nelly's Left Foot]

Sturridge was not a better player than Ambrose or Barker for example.

Sure he had pace & talent, but he was greedy, often didn't see passes (as he doesn't now) & was often injured (as now). Nowhere near as intelligent as a player as these lads. Also his workrate was poor & he used to disappear from games for a large amount of time standing around, then when he got the ball, he would take on 3 players & lose it. In fact when I think back, yeah he had some great moments, but he was well behind Ambrose for instance.

Johnson was better at shooting from distance than many of our current midfielders, a good passer, although not better, but short on energy & lacked pace. That became very evident when he played in the England games. The comparisons to Bell, were an absolute joke.

Tippier was ok for the standard of where we were at the time, but absolutely nowhere even close to what we have now. And he's 24 years old, so he'd better hurry up.

Ireland wouldn't get in ourU16s now.

Sturrdige was greedy at the time, but he is with out doubt one of the most talented players in the country right now. He's always had the potential and goal scoring threat. He is right now miles ahead of anything we have. If he was here now he would be pushing for the first team. It was a huge mistake to get rid of him,

Injury ruined him ( Johnson) , but on pure talent I think he was our best young player we've had.

Overall the academy is better for the number of quality players we are producing, but i think players like richards, johnson, sturridge are better than what we are producing now. Thats just my opinion btw.

Was it a huge mistake to get rid of Sturridge? Looking at the quality player he is now it's easy to say yes but at the time he (or his agent or his father if they were different people) were asking for ludicrous money for a teenager who had played very few first team games. Should we have capitulated and paid him 2 or 3 times what he was worth?

So he went to Chelsea and they didn't pay him what he was demanding from City and it didn't happen for him at Chelsea because he was the big I am plus injuries. Even now although he can look damn good at times he is an injury prone player.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Sturridge was not a better player than Ambrose or Barker for example.

Sure he had pace & talent, but he was greedy, often didn't see passes (as he doesn't now) & was often injured (as now). Nowhere near as intelligent as a player as these lads. Also his workrate was poor & he used to disappear from games for a large amount of time standing around, then when he got the ball, he would take on 3 players & lose it. In fact when I think back, yeah he had some great moments, but he was well behind Ambrose for instance.

Johnson was better at shooting from distance than many of our current midfielders, a good passer, although not better, but short on energy & lacked pace. That became very evident when he played in the England games. The comparisons to Bell, were an absolute joke.

Tippier was ok for the standard of where we were at the time, but absolutely nowhere even close to what we have now. And he's 24 years old, so he'd better hurry up.

Ireland wouldn't get in ourU16s now.

Sturrdige was greedy at the time, but he is with out doubt one of the most talented players in the country right now. He's always had the potential and goal scoring threat. He is right now miles ahead of anything we have. If he was here now he would be pushing for the first team. It was a huge mistake to get rid of him,

Injury ruined him ( Johnson) , but on pure talent I think he was our best young player we've had.

Overall the academy is better for the number of quality players we are producing, but i think players like richards, johnson, sturridge are better than what we are producing now. Thats just my opinion btw.

Was it a huge mistake to get rid of Sturridge? Looking at the quality player he is now it's easy to say yes but at the time he (or his agent or his father if they were different people) were asking for ludicrous money for a teenager who had played very few first team games. Should we have capitulated and paid him 2 or 3 times what he was worth?

So he went to Chelsea and they didn't pay him what he was demanding from City and it didn't happen for him at Chelsea because he was the big I am plus injuries. Even now although he can look damn good at times he is an injury prone player.

One of the most impressive games Sturridge ever had for City, was against Chelsea, I think in the Youth Cup, where he was outstanding (almost as good as Ambrose, Barker etc regularly are for City now).

Then he gets in our first team squad & lets his contract run down without re-signing, & who does he sign for ? Oh look it's Chelsea.

 

[BigOscar]

Still not sure how it could be descirbed as us "letting him go" either? A lot in the Milner thread seem to think it's just a matter of "getting him signed", but if a player (and his agent) decide they are going to leave then there's not a lot you can do about it. Chelsea had blatantly got in his ear and offered him all sorts and he greedily chased it.

 

[BlueDan91]

Former(current) Academy prospects Joe Nuttall & Tom Holland both recently played for Sunderland U18's on trial in a league game against Liverpool

 

[Neville Kneville]

Former(current) Academy prospects Joe Nuttall & Tom Holland both recently played for Sunderland U18's on trial in a league game against Liverpool

I was wondering what had happened to those two.

Both were big players in the City kids' team a few years back, alongside Nemane etc. Nuttall had some bad injuries. Holland looked a nice footballer at that age. I've not seen much of either for a couple of years but I missed a lot of games.

 

[BlueDan91]

Two more current academy players have been sighted at different clubs, Emanuel Vasi played for Norwich U18's at the weekend, whilst Yvan Wassi was in the stands at this weekends academy match, kitted out in his Bolton Wanderers sports wear.

A couple of former players have turned up at Ramsbottom United, winger Donal McDermott and midfield player Ian Bennett

 

[Centurions]

Two more current academy players have been sighted at different clubs, Emanuel Vasi played for Norwich U18's at the weekend, whilst Yvan Wassi was in the stands at this weekends academy match, kitted out in his Bolton Wanderers sports wear.

A couple of former players have turned up at Ramsbottom United, winger Donal McDermott and midfield player Ian Bennett

Hmm, Emanuel Vasi & Yvan Wassi are still listed as City players everywhere. Did they get released?