From admitedly what small amounts I've seen I do not believe he'll make it if we consider that being an important member of the starting eleven, however as someone who can give good performances against weaker sides and 'put a shift in' for a couple years before selling him on for decent profit I think there's a few places in our squad for such players, that might be Byrne. Most top teams have a couple of those sorts of players who don't have the talent to be a top dog but can still be valuable to the club in a specific way before moving on, pocketing us some cash and making way for the next kid.
It can help in the dressing room (one of us, trying hard as their not 'established' and keeping the senior pro's on their toes) and save us having to spend stupid cash on subpar players then feeling we need to justify their pricetag.
I think a success for Byrne would be this sort of role for us, and thats nothing to be ashamed of.
Then again look at any post about Harry Kane from a couple years back and you realise just how odd and unexpected a youngsters rise can be.
The main thing for me regarding Byrne is that, as a creative player, he is very good & clever but doesn't appear a potential 'genius' nor does he score loads of goals or have pace, physicality etc, so it's not obvious how he could play as a first choice for City in that role.
So then if we look at other positions, well he's not a wide player so we're looking at the Ferns or Yaya's area. Now comes the problem, purely because he's a boderline midget. A few seasons ago when he first came through, he would sit deep, play triangles with the defenders etc then build attacks, & sometimes finish it off. Brilliant imo, eyes in the back of his head, cool as a cucumber on the ball & gets stuck in. But defensively as good as the Ferns or even Yaya or Kean Bryan for that matter ? No chance.
But then, is Gundogan ? And how many assists/goals does he get ?
I think Byrne could easily have played for City from the bench for some time, maybe even becoming an occasional starter & done a decent job whilst the top players rested, as possibly could Evans, Lopes, Maffeo, Bryan, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, loads of them.
The question is which ones just do that & pass through or which ones make a longer term job for themselves. Byrne can probably 'fill in' as you say, & then move on, & that is success for the academy. But it's just possible he could go up a level too or find a specific role.
Whatever, I'll trust the next manager to decide on that, wheras imo the current one hasn't got a fucking clue either way, so he's probably better off where he is.
