Rony Lopes

[Ray78]

In academy terms I am looking at this as a short term loss but a long term gain.

 

[avoidconfusion]

Will we ever give a youth player a fair crack at the first team or will we just continue to use them to generate revenue, i.e. buy them cheap then sell them for more?

 

[Ray78]

If they are good enough and show signs of consistency then they would be given a chance. Rony Lopes will be in a similar situation when he does sign for Monaco.

 

[goalmole]

Will we ever give a youth player a fair crack at the first team or will we just continue to use them to generate revenue, i.e. buy them cheap then sell them for more?

IMO it's the latter. Said this on here weeks ago and got shot down for my trouble. People seem to think that because we have we have one of the best academies in world football, we are going to be churning out 2 or 3 world class players into the first team every season. The truth is that 2 or 3 every generation would be a fine thing. Player's who we would consider to be good enough to play for the top 10 teams in the world of which we are surely one now, are a rare breed indeed. That is why top clubs trawl the academies and clubs of the five continents looking for talent, and when they find it are willing to pay megabucks for it. It makes much more footballing and economic sense for clubs such as ours to pay for 1st team ready players rather than take a punt on an academy player who may or may not be up to the required standard and who may cost the club points to find out. It's not going to happen unless an outstanding talent is unearthed and is considered suitable for introduction into the first team.
The academy, in my view, is another revenue stream of the club whereby youngsters are recruited, trained, developed and sold on for a profit and only in the case of rare talent will one be kept on as a regular first team player.

 

[BigOscar]

If they are good enough and show signs of consistency then they would be given a chance. Rony Lopes will be in a similar situation when he does sign for Monaco.

Except Monaco actually play young players and have proven that they give them a fair crack.

 

[Ray78]

Except Monaco actually play young players and have proven that they give them a fair crack.

Only Kurzawa could be classed as a player who has come through their Academy. The rest of their young players have been signed for quite a lot of money.

 

[BlueDeadHead]

There may not be a buy-back clause because apparently relations between club and player (or player + entourage) have broken down pretty badly.

Also, people shouldn't act like this is our fault. He is 19, not 23, and like Denis Suarez has put us in a position where we have to sell or lose him for a compensation fee next summer, because he will not renew his contract. No club playing on a level like ours would make 19-year-old Marcos Lopes a regular - he is talented but by no means a freakishly good young player. They might give him occasional sub appearances and cup games, which we could, but he wants more than that.

21-23 has been a normal age for some of European football's best players of recent generations to break through from a top academy into a top team. I can understand why some might want to leave, but they could also be patient and develop a little more, then have a greater chance when they're 21-23 years old and mature footballers. An 18-20yo is not going to break through at a club of our status unless he is incredibly, ridiculously good. Like Sterling, who is barely older than Lopes.

As usual from LC, this ^.

It is hard to be patient when your career is only about 10 years long but to come through one of the top academies in the world is not for the faint of heart. I know Denayer probably isn't happy either right now, but I truly believe he will have the better career in part because he stayed with us.

 

[BlueDeadHead]

I can't help but feel we failed him on this one and hope we don't repeat the mistake with Denayer.
Carling Cup games need to field at LEAST 5 youth players and see how far it takes us. Last season we didn't give the kids a chance properly IMO. Lopes had a good year away considering he got an injury and was primed to join up this season and at least get a chance to breakthrough. This is the player that Viera said was an example to EVERY player in the academy. Nobody was more profressional or hard-working. We've just let him go?! Disappointed and wish him luck. We'll never know how good or bad he was for us...

Not having a go. What would you have done different. Giving him cup games this year wouldn't change anything...he would walk away in a year for free. As far as I see it, to keep Lopes we would require one of the following:

Not have signed Sterling
Not sign De Bruyne
Sell Navas
Sell Nasri

I maybe would consider selling Navas and keeping Lopes, but expectations are high this year. We really need to establish ourselves in the top 6 in the world. With that in mind, the prudent course is to keep Navas and Nasri and that means Lopes HAS to be sold because he is not willing to wait a year when one of Navas or Nasri will almost certainly go.

 

[cleavers]

There may not be a buy-back clause because apparently relations between club and player (or player + entourage) have broken down pretty badly.

Also, people shouldn't act like this is our fault. He is 19, not 23, and like Denis Suarez has put us in a position where we have to sell or lose him for a compensation fee next summer, because he will not renew his contract. No club playing on a level like ours would make 19-year-old Marcos Lopes a regular - he is talented but by no means a freakishly good young player. They might give him occasional sub appearances and cup games, which we could, but he wants more than that.

21-23 has been a normal age for some of European football's best players of recent generations to break through from a top academy into a top team. I can understand why some might want to leave, but they could also be patient and develop a little more, then have a greater chance when they're 21-23 years old and mature footballers. An 18-20yo is not going to break through at a club of our status unless he is incredibly, ridiculously good. Like Sterling, who is barely older than Lopes.

Good post.

 

[cleavers]

it's unfortunate, but to get through in an attacking midfield role here you have to be exceptional, and he isn't Hazard.

Might be upset now, but it's a good fee, there are players behind him in the queue who have the chance, and who knows, if he really delivers in a couple of years, with someone like Pep at the helm, I'm sure differences can be put aside and he could come back. As it is, he wasn't the most exciting in pre-season, and whilst promising at Lille last season, he didn't make the case for "you really can't ignore me now", and the staff have obviously decided we have better options going forward. It's always a shame when you lose someone close to breaking through, but like Weiss, Guidetti etc. it's just a part of the process and we'll move, there's always someone else.

Another good post.