Rony Lopes

[Ray78]

Absolutely no comparison.

i'll leave it there. If you think the two are anywhere even close, we have no common ground.

Difference in opinion when it comes to defenders. Neither Rekik or Denayer would of pushed our lot to higher levels this season despite having successful loan spells.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Why do you think that is?

Other clubs have won the league and champs lge with kids as part of their squad? Why is it different for City?

No one is expecting the team to be full of kids, but with the players we are producing they are more than worthy of a squad place. There seems to be also this argument that players who cost a significant amount of money are immediately better or having a collection of the best players also makes the best squad.

Kane outperformed ade and soldado last year. Coquelin was better than the vast majority of defensive midfielders. The same arguments could have been made for not giving them a chance last year. Both clubs have benefitted from playing them

There's not many that have won things with many kids regularly involved and the ones that are, are usually bought in for big money. We can do it, and we will do it, given time!

The management have deemed 3 worthy of a squad place, one didn't want to accept that role (lopes) another it's been decided would be better suited to a loan deal (denayer) something most people on here would agree with and another will get his chances this season when the time's right (kelechi)

Kane is 22 and Coquelin is 24 neither are kids and Kane notoriously did his fair share of loans before he got a chance at spurs in the Europa league. And above all else, both teams were woefully under-equipped in their respective positions and both were/are a level below and can afford to take chances risk free. Even now, after they've had their chance to progress, neither Kane nor Coquelin would even make our bench.

 

[Daz_Blue]

At least he gets to play now instead of loping around at city

 

[Bluewonder]

If that happens we have missed out on a potentially world class player.

If his game totally collapses then there was no way he was ever going to reach superstardom anyway

 

[MillionDollarDream]

That is a matter of opinion and I go back to what I said to you earlier. The club will not under any circumstances compromise the first team by giving the kids a chance.

IMO the academy will likely throw up a first team player every 3 or 4 years if we are lucky. The rest will have been trained, coached and educated at a world class facility
and will be sold at a profit and go on to have productive football careers.

I think we are very lucky to be in this position.

The first part is practically what Khladoon said in his interview. It might need to be pinned to the board so people don't forget.

 

[yankcitizen76]

I realize that people are a little pissed at our youth policy right now. But given that Pellers and his staff put these kids through their paces every day and that their professional well being is riding on their performance, I don't blame them of being a little hesitant..... a talent has to come through the system that is undeniable, and that just hasn't happened yet. I am sure someone will.

 

[.A.]

I can only believe that you've not watched the youth teams if you really think that, there are some supremely talented youngsters in there.

How good did Lopes look at 15, 16, 17, 18? He was one of the best young talents around and was a major coup for us signing him; he even made a decent impact in most of the first-team chances he was granted. Bold statement ahoy, but it's hard to imagine David Silva being 'better' at the same age.

Lopes was supposed to be the one that bridged the gap between our academy and first team; he's a special talent who ticks all the boxes of the modern City player in his position. The fact he's been sold on without a sustained opportunity to settle into and establish himself on the senior squad is a huge kick in the bollocks to all of those with aspirations of making it within the immediate future, and it makes a mockery of the projected holistic approach.

It'll be hugely disheartening for the likes of Byrne and Barker; excellent young players though they are, it was widely accepted Lopes was the jewel of his generation in our academy, and if he can't get a decent crack of the whip, they might as well start looking for another permanent club tomorrow.

If the primary purpose of the academy is to generate income through sales, fine, but the club should shut up and stop patting itself on the back for creating a holistic pathway of opportunity for young talent that there had been absolutely no evidence of in the 2 years since the term was emphasised.

 

[Forzacitizens]

By the looks of it for an academy player to make it into the first team they're either going have to be

A) an exceptional talent or

B) accept they are going to sit on the bench for a period of time

In the KDB thread I received some abuse for daring to criticise Txiki

Pellers wouldn't make that type of mistake - he obviously thought it was a loan deal for lopes

How unprofessional is that? theres obviously been a lack of communication there

The Denayer situation has been handled appalingly. Let's face it we didn't need otamendi and this has had consequences for Denayer

Just why?

Then club obviously faces conflict of interest. They want big success but can't risk using academy players. I can understand it to an extent

But what's even more strange is that we let Lopes go who we've help educate and mould to go and then buy Patrick Roberts

If wherever reason our signings and our seaon are unsuccessful we have every right to ask questions of our leadership

 

[MillionDollarDream]

By the looks of it for an academy player to make it into the first team they're either going have to be

A) an exceptional talent or

B) accept they are going to sit on the bench for a period of time

In the KDB thread I received some abuse for daring to criticise Txiki

Pellers wouldn't make that type of mistake - he obviously thought it was a loan deal for lopes

How unprofessional is that? theres obviously been a lack of communication there

The Denayer situation has been handled appalingly. Let's face it we didn't need otamendi and this has had consequences for Denayer

Just why?

Then club obviously faces conflict of interest. They want big success but can't risk using academy players. I can understand it to an extent

But what's even more strange is that we let Lopes go who we've help educate and mould to go and then buy Patrick Roberts

If wherever reason our signings and our seaon are unsuccessful we have every right to ask questions of our leadership

A) yes, and all top teams want that from their academy. Barca got really lucky with their golden generation,since then, their academy is producing players that end up at Stoke and Villa and continue to buy top talent and win multiple trophies a season. I mean why buy Neymar they had Affalay coming back from loan right?

B) a lot of these kids should probably temper their expectations when training at a big club. It's great to have confidence but it's better to prove your worth on the pitch vs voicing how much you need to be in the first team. That new kid at Madrid is nowhere near the first team but has clauses in his contract that he must train with them leading to disruptions at the youth level where he goes to get game time.

Otamendi is a rare break that if a rival pulled that move off there would be a thread about why Txiki didn't think to do it. We would also laugh if the rags said "forget an Otamendi we have Paddy Mcnair" .

What's wrong with educating a youth player and towards the end of their contract come to the terms that he isn't meeting the standard and its best if we help them find work elsewhere? We now buy Roberts, repeat the process and then see where it takes us.

And at the end of the day: " The club will not under any circumstances compromise the first team by giving the kids a chance."

 

[Severus]

Did we include a buy back clause at least?