ono said:
He's very average imo. Know a lot of people who played with him at Junior Level at Farsely Celtic when we was around 13 (i think) and back then he was average, but he was much bigger and faster than everyone else in the team so he got noticed. His footballing ability was pretty average, much like it is today. Problem is, he longer has the physical advantages at senior level as opponents know how to play against it, and they higher we go (Champions League) the more obvious this will become.
Whether or not he can be moulded into a good player is a different matter. He might have enough to work with and be successful at a top club, but the chances are, he won't imo. When all is said and done, he doesn't have much footballing ability to fall back on. However, i do understand that great teams are rarely made up of 11 great footballers, so maybe Bobby will see enough in him to try and turn him into a top player.
Without trying to sound too harsh, Micah Richards is a by-product of a scouting system that consistently fails the 'footballers' out there. Same can be applied for plenty of players in and around the England set-up. Then every 2 years we wonder why England fail so miserably on the world stage.
This is why to me he's a CB. He was never going to be a footballing defender, from day one you can see that, but its better to have one of each at CB anyway. In England like or not you are going to need a strong CB or you are going to get bullied at Bolton, Stoke, blackburn etc. Arsenals 'footballing' CB's are proof of that.
Englands problem's are something else and if SWP made it through it dis-proves your theory as he is tiny and has made it to the highest level. Your post makes it sound like there is a Xavi and Iniesta doing kick ups in a field on their own, because scouts told them they were too small or slow.
Not true, if those players were English they would have made it through the ranks, just like Joe Cole did and Wilshire is now.