It's Quiet - a new dawn

[Akiva]

Pep in January said in a press conference that the only reason he couldn't get thrown into the first team was because he didn't have expereince playing in front of proper crowds in high stakes games, unlike the youth players Pep had from Barcelona who played in the Spanish 3rd division.

So Maffeo goes off and gets (more) experience playing in high stakes games in a promotion race, does really well, and the response from Guardiola and co. is to sign Jesus Navas as our back up RB next year.

If the club isn't saying Maffeo's got no future here, then I imagine his agent soon will be because he's done exactly what was asked and they've blocked him off again.

This is all hypothetical and dealing with a lot of what-ifs. Here's what we know:
1. Pablo Maffeo, 19, is a City player under contract until summer 2019.
2. He is coming to the end of his loan period with Girona at the end of June.
3. Pep has stated all our young talent will be assessed and discussed further in the summer.
4. Sammy, a writer for goal.com, says Jesus Navas is getting a contract extension as squad depth, presumably at RB.

There are a number of potential outcomes for Maffeo:
1. He impresses in training and pre-season friendlies much as he did at Girona, the club keeps him and he becomes squad depth.
2. He shows talent but is still raw and Pep would prefer him having game time, particularly in La Liga, to work through it. He goes out on loan again.

If the latter is possible then surely the club has to have a contingency plan (Navas) available? And, if the former, then what has been lost by keeping Jesus who can also fill in on the wing as required?

Meanwhile, Maffeo is still only 19. Another year on loan isn't unthinkable and the club can find other ways to fuck him off if they really want to go down that route, as you suggest.

 

[Centurions]

Yep, Zinchenko's case is another example. Instead of training under Tuchel and getting gametime in Bundesliga, he rots in PSV's reserves. Guess he regrets now as he was promised first team opportunities before signing. Such things affect badly the club's image as a good place for youngsters.
Besides, the English B-team system is much worse than in Spain and can't guarantee seamless transition to a senior football. If the talented player (say, Odegaard) signs for Madrid, he can rely on:
- practice in reserve teams of different levels
- loan to Eredivisie
- loan to Bundesliga
And they choose the destination very carefully, I must say.
We, on the other hand, send M.Garcia to Alaves for unknown reasons. Probably expecting him to bench the team's captain Garcia and rising star M.Llorente. The lack of proper planning is obvious, the issue with our loaning system needs to be fixed somehow.

Zinchenko's case is a terrible example. Just from memory the only person claiming he was promised first team opportunities before signing was his agent (which the lad may have repeated too). And if he can't get a starting place in PSV's team surely that's down to him? No loan team will guarantee game time if the player isn't up to the job, hopefully he's learning from the experience just what he needs to do.

We don't have a B-team system at all, the now U23's league isn't even close.

As for Odegaard he's another terrible example as it looks more and more likely he'll leave Madrid and try to reboot his career (at 18 ffs).

'practice in reserve teams of different levels' ? I don't even know what that is supposed to mean. You mean he's not getting 1st team opportunities?

'loan to Eredivisie' ? Is that so much better than loaning to Spains 2nd tier? You know that his team are only 8th in a weak league?

'loan to Bundesliga' ? If you're still talking about Odegaard then I can't see any reference to that.

This is what Madrid have done for Odegaard's career so far: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...Munich-scout-didn-t-sign-Martin-Odegaard.html

 

[domalino]

This is all hypothetical and dealing with a lot of what-ifs. Here's what we know:
1. Pablo Maffeo, 19, is a City player under contract until summer 2019.
2. He is coming to the end of his loan period with Girona at the end of June.
3. Pep has stated all our young talent will be assessed and discussed further in the summer.
4. Sammy, a writer for goal.com, says Jesus Navas is getting a contract extension as squad depth, presumably at RB.

There are a number of potential outcomes for Maffeo:
1. He impresses in training and pre-season friendlies much as he did at Girona, the club keeps him and he becomes squad depth.
2. He shows talent but is still raw and Pep would prefer him having game time, particularly in La Liga, to work through it. He goes out on loan again.

If the latter is possible then surely the club has to have a contingency plan (Navas) available? And, if the former, then what has been lost by keeping Jesus who can also fill in on the wing as required?

Meanwhile, Maffeo is still only 19. Another year on loan isn't unthinkable and the club can find other ways to fuck him off if they really want to go down that route, as you suggest.

Here's what we actually know:

Maffeo impressed in pre-season and came into the squad.

Both RB's were injured and Maffeo didn't get a chance.

Bother RB's were bad, seriously bad, and Maffeo didn't get a chance.

Maffeo left in January after playing well in the only 3 games he was given a chance in.

Pep said he just needed more experience in front of proper crowds, so he went and got it.

Pep has offered 31 year old Navas a position as back up RB before Maffeo has even returned.

That's what we actually know and absolutely everything that's happened to date points towards the club passing over another promising youngster who will inevitably leave unhappy and discontented because when he was ready to make the step up, he wasn't given an opportunity.

Nothing that the club or Pep has done or said to date actually suggests he'll come in as back up RB and Navas will spend a season doing fuck all while Maffeo plays 20 games as back up right back, in fact it all suggests the opposite.

Anyway this is the transfer forum and we'll probably get bollocked for going off topic soon so perhaps lets just leave it at agree to disagree. You can carry on blindly hoping something very unlikely will happen, and I'll cynically assume the club will continue true to form.

 

[manygoose]

Maffeo will be 20 when he returns. Everybody knows he's been ready to play for at least a year. That's the point. Pep said all he needed was experience equivalent to Barcelona's youth players, and he's got that. That's the point.

And why would he want to be part of the first team squad next season? Pep already said this season he couldn't play a kid in front of a senior player like Zabaleta or Sagna, so next season he won't play him ahead of Navas. So he can hang about and do sod all like Tosin? well it's definitely a good way to run his contract down while ensuring he leaves for free.

We're talking about a scenario where a clearly ready kid is being overlooked in a time when both senior players in his position are leaving, and instead of getting a chance, we've signed a 31 year old winger to play ahead of him. That's the point.

Also Dele Alli didn't "need a loan", he's been playing first team football since 16.

we should learn from mk dons who are really good at giving young players a chance

 

[Saddleworth2]

Yeah, maybe it's hard for a kid with no experience to look better in training that seasoned international players, that's why someone needs to give them a chance in a game. I doubt Harry Winks looked like Spurs best midfielder before Pochettino gave him his chance.

It can't be easy. Every game has an importance. Plenty on here still not happy that we played a 'weakened' team in the LC. Garcia was the first to get hooked when we run into trouble at Boro. I just think for a youngster to break through at City they are going to have to be absolutely exceptional. Even Kelechi has struggled this season and like it or not, they are not going to get long to prove themselves when they do get an opportunity. Fwiw, I don't think Tosin is exceptional. Garcia might make it but he is going to have to be patient. Roberts looks a prospect and will get a chance. Maffeo same as Garcia. For a club whose ambition is to be in the same sector as Barca, Madrid and Munich it is going to be so tough to become a regular in the first team and only a very small number will ever make it. If the academy produces one or two in the next three years I will be delighted. If it continues to produce excellent footballers that we educate to a high standard and then sell on for a reasonable profit then in my eyes it will have been a great success.

 

[Centurions]

Yeah, that's the other part of youth development that's completely unique to Manchester City.

Teenagers have to immediately be better than seasoned international players before they get a hint of a chance.

I doubt Harry Winks looked like Spurs best midfielder before Pochettino gave him his chance, he still isn't, but he does have 30 appearances this season.

Harry Winks is now 21 and he didn't play any PL games last season at all, he's played 21 PL games this season but only started 2 averaging around 22 minutes for his games played. Admittedly he's been injured for a the last few.

 

[domalino]

we should learn from mk dons who are really good at giving young players a chance

Or Tottenham. That's the team 8 points above us who've given over 80 appearances to players from their academy this season.

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Pep in January said in a press conference that the only reason he couldn't get thrown into the first team was because he didn't have expereince playing in front of proper crowds in high stakes games, unlike the youth players Pep had from Barcelona who played in the Spanish 3rd division.

So Maffeo goes off and gets (more) experience playing in high stakes games in a promotion race, does really well, and the response from Guardiola and co. is to sign Jesus Navas as our back up RB next year.

If the club isn't saying Maffeo's got no future here, then I imagine his agent soon will be because he's done exactly what was asked and they've blocked him off again.




Why are we the only team in world football that needs kids to have 5 loans in the very top divisions in European football before they get a chance?

Tom Davies didn't need a loan, Marcus Rashford didn't need a loan, Alex Iwobi didn't need a loan, Trent Alexander-Arnold didn't need a loan, Josh Onoma and Harry Winks didn't need loans.

Maffeo has had two successful loans, and now he apparently needs a third.

Which of those players mentioned would you put into the City team?
Also, Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker and Jordan Pickford were on loan into their 20's. Not held them back much and we are supposedly sniffing around 3 of them! Fact is, if Maffeo is good enough, he will eventually get in the side.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Or Tottenham. That's the team 8 points above us who've given over 80 appearances to players from their academy this season.

Are you talking about new academy graduates like Harry Winks with that stat or established stars?

 

[Tugay One Cup]

Fact is, if Maffeo is good enough, he will eventually get in the side.

That is in no way a fact.