Is anyone else worried ?

[colin's bell helmet]

sad to say, but irleand would be first out the door, closeley followed by swp.

if we hang on to irleand, what value he has left after last season cash in, because if he has another shocker, we'l make not a right lot.
and is he ever going to get a game?
de jong, vieira, barry, silva, yaya etc he's not going to get game time

yeh get rid we need the money.....i'm not sure we'd cope losing money on ireland.

 

[Seosa]

I'd take Milner over Ireland any day of the week, in fact Ireland'd be the first out of the door, but whether we need Milner or not is another matter. Richards and Onuoha are just not good enough, tbh I rate Onuoha higher than Richards and that isnt saying much.

 

[Marvin]

Nope if the academy players are good enough they will prosper, if not.........

Exactly. With a European campaign, and a long domestic campaign I hope players like Ireland and Onouha will return inspired by the signings and determined to prove their ability as players. They will certainly get their chance, and is their a better place to be in football than at City? Perhaps a lot will depend on their relationships with the manager.

Just as likely that there will be older players who can't afford to sit on the bench as their last years as top flight players ebb away.

Players like Petrov need to play at their age. Likewise Bellamy. He's made it clear that with his knee he has maybe 1-2 seasons left, and every game counts. We need more players like Bellamy in top flight football

 

[Metal Biker]

Premier League rules state each club has to name at last 8 homegrown players in their squad of 25 don't they?

On that basis i don't think we'll see them going anywhere any time soon, unless i'm very much mistaken.

 

[BitterBlue94]

Premier League rules state each club has to name at last 8 homegrown players in their squad of 25 don't they?

On that basis i don't think we'll see them going anywhere any time soon, unless i'm very much mistaken.

i think the rules are 4 players developed at our club, 8 from england

 

[Challenger1978]

Personally i think we should get ourselfs a couple of feeder clubs that we can send the kids to on longterm loan deals to get them some play time. Also loan deals to other prem clubs would be a wise idea to. A bit like Hart to Brum last year that brought the lad on loads, we just need to make sure we get the right deal when we send them out.

 

[Pam]

Couldn't care less, really.

 

[LoveCity]

It's hard to tell what Michael Johnson will be like when he's fully fit but if he is as good as he used to be, he could still be an important player for us in the coming years. I also hope our academy is still prioritized but as mentioned if they aren't good enough, they just can't play in major competitions for us. But if the potential is there, then they deserve chances. Micah, Onuoha, Ireland have had chances, with Micah and Ireland succeeding for a while until they just seemed to go backwards.

Onuoha loves City more than anyone else at the club but unless he significantly improves, will never be anything more than a substitute I'm afraid, and he deserves a proper career.

Weiss, Boyata, Ibrahim, Guidetti, Nimely, Ball, Cunningham, and any other promising academy lad will still get their chances I think but the bar is higher now and I think we'll only see 1-2 make it every few seasons.

Joe Hart isn't an academy product per se but is the nearest thing and to see him become our #1 would be very satisfying if he can oust Given.

 

[Breadsnapper]

Not worried in the slightest when you consider how well Ibrahim and Boyata did when called upon. They should both go on to be class players.

 

[pierod]

To be honest, I'm stuggling to remember the last time I thought "I can't believe we sold him". Perhaps Anelka?

We seem to have always had a habit of glorifying our academy and "discovered" players, raising expectations unrealistically. It would be easy to list a fair few players that have been highly thought of, sold on and yet done very little elsewhere. I think it's a hopeful attitude that most fans of any club in any division have, so I'm not criticising.

But no, I'm not worried at all about those players you mention.