Succession planning for our forwards

[Saddleworth2]

Pep yesterday talked about us having seven forwards in contention; Kun, Jesus Navas, Gabriel Jesus, Nolito, Sane, Stirling and Nacho. All competing for a small number of places. When you also consider those that are starting to come into contention from the academy (Sancho et al) and those out on loan (Roberts, Unal, Zinchenko) in the next year or so we are going to need some very clever succession planning and careful integration of young talent. What is for sure is that we can't keep all of them happy. Even if we shed Navas and Nolito, we will have at least 9 or 10 young forwards + Kun. It's a nice problem to have but I can see a number of them will have to move to build their careers. Letting the right ones leave while nurturing those that remain is going to be very tricky and delicate operation. This is where Pep will really earn his crust. Would be interesting to hear from those Bluemooners who follow the academy teams about their views on this.

 

[Kinkys Left Foot]

All academies face the same challenges.
We'll get some right and some wrong. Players mature at different ages. Chelsea let Lukaku go which might seem the wrong decision.
I'm sure the decisions aren't taken lightly and will be the subject of input from across the coaching spectrum. Lots of time and effort and not inconsiderable money has been spent on these young men by the time these decisions are made. We have to be sure we make more good choices than bad ones.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Is something that a club can get monumentally right, and also monumentally wrong. The best example I can think of is Jack Shitshere. I never saw a great deal of him as an Arse Academy player but I suspect he was head and shoulders better than anyone else, but he hasn't developed into the world class player most people thought he was gonna be. Micah Richards was another one. In our youth team he looked fantastic, and then, just as your expecting him to become the next Maldini it goes a little awry!