Rabbi Matondo

[balotelli's back pocket]

Undoubtedly been tapped up

 

[waspish]

Undoubtedly been tapped up

The way the fees are now we should get a decent fee even in a tribunal.

 

[aguero93:20]

The way the fees are now we should get a decent fee even in a tribunal.

He's under contract until 2020 so can't see it going to a tribunal.

 

[g180aj]

Unfortunately English football isn't set up for kids to succeed anymore and on top of that kids are being ill advised by their families and agents.

The focus on the money and fame asap rather than a long term career.

Football is in desperate need of a reform before we lose the game we love.

 

[Cobra]

Unfortunately English football isn't set up for kids to succeed anymore and on top of that kids are being ill advised by their families and agents.

The focus on the money and fame asap rather than a long term career.

Football is in desperate need of a reform before we lose the game we love.

Which kids have been ill advised then?

 

[Tevez City]

He has a contract until 30.06.2020

Loan him to Nac Breda and let him saved them, and then sell in the summer.

 

[domalino]

Marcus Wood and Taylor Richards have both liked the city watch tweet about this.

 

[Gabriel]

This was almost bound to happen. Once we started signing young players who were likely to be first-team starters for the next five years, players in the Academy were going to realise the path along that route was likely blocked. Similarly, why would Academy players choose the prescribed ‘loan’ route when no player has yet trodden that path and returned to claim a place? Sorry Zinchenko.

I can understand players wanting to choose their own destiny, and I can understand the club’s position, too. Unfortunately, the media will be less understanding, and the plaudits that should be raining down on the Academy for producing quality footballers will be outnumbered by the brickbats.

 

[K10&S21]

Marcus Wood and Taylor Richards have both liked the city watch tweet about this.

for real? seems like we are going to have a mass exodus

 

[Cobra]

for real? seems like we are going to have a mass exodus

There's no real reason for any kid to stay past 18/19 though. We've had one academy player start a Premier League match in the past 6 years (Jose Pozo in 2014, and that was only because Dzeko got injured in the warm up).

 

[Bubbagump]

I am surprised Raheem has not been mentioned for forcing a British player to leave this island!!!

 

[waspish]

There's no real reason for any kid to stay past 18/19 though. We've had one academy player start a Premier League match in the past 6 years (Jose Pozo in 2014, and that was only because Dzeko got injured in the warm up).

Yep we not like the rags where players hang around like a bad smell and stay till there 22+ years old.

 

[Delphinho]

Big loss if we lose him

 

[oldius]

He has turned down an extension offer. The concern I have is that it is already public and that will not have come from the club. It is poor if other paid employees of the club are liking the rejection of the offer too.

It is reality, but we should not be playing blackjack with teenage players. Players should be fighting with every fibre of their being for a sniff of first team football, not holding the club to ransom if they don't get it by the age of 18.

 

[twosips]

He has turned down an extension offer. The concern I have is that it is already public and that will not have come from the club. It is poor if other paid employees of the club are liking the rejection of the offer too.

It is reality, but we should not be playing blackjack with teenage players. Players should be fighting with every fibre of their being for a sniff of first team football, not holding the club to ransom if they don't get it by the age of 18.

I actually don't think they're holding the club to ransom because they're not getting games at 18, more leaving because they know they won't get them at 19/20/21 either. They're just cutting to the chase and not wasting three years of their career on pointless naff loans/scratching their arses in the terrible u23s league. As someone said, not a single academy lad started in the PL for us for 6 years...and even that was a bit of a farce due to a mass injury crisis. Great education, yeah, but very little job prospects beyond that.

I always think of it like getting a scholarship at some massive company, which gives you access to all the best training the sector has to offer, but you know getting a promotion past 'junior' level is nigh on impossible given the quality of employees there (you've heard tales of some guy working as an intern for 18 months essentially unpaid getting increasingly frustrated etc), so you leave to an emerging company who has an exciting rep, though smaller, but one will step you up and trust you knowing you have that great education. You get a promotion as you take the job, you're a priority in a small team - you fully well know that you'll probably be able to progress quicker there and then go back to that big company as a senior member of staff 3/4 years down the line.

 

[blueinsa]

Its a balancing act the club so far have probably failed to get right.

When pep comes out and says the club did everything to keep players like Sancho and Diaz you then think well possibly financially but we didn't give them time on the pitch in the shirt.

Its win at all costs football these days and no slip up is ever allowed, especially by our own fans who have melt downs if we are not 5-0 up in some games but play the kids, drop points possibly because of it and i can just imagine the stick Pep or any manager would get.

Can he play them from the bench more in games we are dominating and have already won? Sure he could but that would be at the expense of seasoned pros who he needs to keep happy.

My take is this. We have been incredibly successful of late, beyond our wildest dreams and right now, top 4 is almost guaranteed we are that good so why not give the very best we have in the academy set up a few more minutes from the bench in the PL and even starts in the hope they not only develop more but stay and prove they really do belong in the team.

Only thing to lose is maybe the odd bad result of it but at that point as fans we have to accept the reasons why and live with it.

Its either that or accept a majority will go on to other clubs and the academy will be essentially a money making exercise from which we will take into the first team on the real exceptional talents like Foden and whose to say that isn't the way it should be because long gone are the days 11 local lads lined up to play for us.

 

[balotelli's back pocket]

Marcus Wood and Taylor Richards have both liked the city watch tweet about this.

Really? Wood has no reason to be annoyed with us and Richards should wind his neck in

 

[Delphinho]

Really? Wood has no reason to be annoyed with us and Richards should wind his neck in

Is Wood still here? He left us in the summer, didn’t he?

 

[K10&S21]

I actually don't think they're holding the club to ransom because they're not getting games at 18, more leaving because they know they won't get them at 19/20/21 either. They're just cutting to the chase and not wasting three years of their career on pointless naff loans/scratching their arses in the terrible u23s league. As someone said, not a single academy lad started in the PL for us for 6 years...and even that was a bit of a farce due to a mass injury crisis. Great education, yeah, but very little job prospects beyond that.

I always think of it like getting a scholarship at some massive company, which gives you access to all the best training the sector has to offer, but you know getting a promotion past 'junior' level is nigh on impossible given the quality of employees there (you've heard tales of some guy working as an intern for 18 months essentially unpaid getting increasingly frustrated etc), so you leave to an emerging company who has an exciting rep, though smaller, but one will step you up and trust you knowing you have that great education. You get a promotion as you take the job, you're a priority in a small team - you fully well know that you'll probably be able to progress quicker there and then go back to that big company as a senior member of staff 3/4 years down the line.

Its a balancing act the club so far have probably failed to get right.

When pep comes out and says the club did everything to keep players like Sancho and Diaz you then think well possibly financially but we didn't give them time on the pitch in the shirt.

Its win at all costs football these days and no slip up is ever allowed, especially by our own fans who have melt downs if we are not 5-0 up in some games but play the kids, drop points possibly because of it and i can just imagine the stick Pep or any manager would get.

Can he play them from the bench more in games we are dominating and have already won? Sure he could but that would be at the expense of seasoned pros who he needs to keep happy.

My take is this. We have been incredibly successful of late, beyond our wildest dreams and right now, top 4 is almost guaranteed we are that good so why not give the very best we have in the academy set up a few more minutes from the bench in the PL and even starts in the hope they not only develop more but stay and prove they really do belong in the team.

Only thing to lose is maybe the odd bad result of it but at that point as fans we have to accept the reasons why and live with it.

Its either that or accept a majority will go on to other clubs and the academy will be essentially a money making exercise from which we will take into the first team on the real exceptional talents like Foden and whose to say that isn't the way it should be because long gone are the days 11 local lads lined up to play for us.

you fail to mention or downplay one of the major failures in our policy to youth. we sign 14-16 year players and lose them by 18. Instead we should concentrate on signing 18-20 year olds. then send some on loan and then when they return back we should give them a chance in the first team.

 

[blueinsa]

you fail to mention or downplay one of the major failures in our policy to youth. we sign 14-16 year players and lose them by 18. Instead we should concentrate on signing 18-20 year olds. then send some on loan and then when they return back we should give them a chance in the first team.

Trouble is by that age group you have missed out on the big talents.