My honest reaction is that League One feels a level too high for him at this stage.
Any relation to Jimmy Melia?
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Melia, Okosun and Orazi from that Ireland U17 squad have been linked with all the top PL clubs.
Have a friend involved in the FAI. They have very high hopes for that age group and plenty of top clubs have been enquiring from Germany to England etc. Melia the pick of the bunch!
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Irish players canāt come over until theyāre 18 since Brexit though so more of those top lads will likely go to Europe imo.
Was just wondering the same thing!
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https://twitter.com/CaoimheSport/status/1676562659699826688
https://twitter.com/CaoimheSport/status/1676565161195216896
Heās had a pelvic growth issue. Returning to U21s fist and foremost. Suggests he wonāt go on the pre-season tour - which makes sense if heās on a specific rehab programme, but a shame for him to miss out.
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I think at this point, we all have to be content with his being able to make it back to training/playing at all?
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Weāve also had a couple of false dawns on his return already so for now Iām cautious about it.
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Ignoring Gordonās injury, who would we say has the higher ceiling, him or Doak? Could either one be a potential future first-teamer?
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Iāve only seen their performances in the first team, I was genuinely impressed and excited by Doak while Gordon was in my opinion merely competent.
But thatās a fairly small sample size anyway.
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For what itās worth, I was really impressed with both. There was something about Gordon that made me think that he can play a different role than the wide one, there was a certain elegance about him, while Doak seems a nailed-on winger (probably on the right) and a pressing demon. I really hope both can stay clear of injuries.
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High hopes for Doak but the chances that either can nail down a first team spot will prove to be highly unlikely especially if he fails to impress this pre-season. You can feel his lively sharp presence on the pitch & heās a willing runner but his end product isnāt the best & his shooting is questionable.
Our track record from the academy the last 20 years has been pretty atrocious with Trent being the only real success. (Jones slowly starting to add his name into that hat, but heās not there yet) whereas the 90s and 00s you had Mcmana, Owen, Fowler, Carra & Stevie. We tend to fail in finding suitable loans thatāll work out for our prospects which is why we rarely ever see them go on to have meaningful careers.
Complete and utter nonsense as usual.
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Doak, but Gordon is also very good. Gordon has better goalscoring instincts I think, but Doak is more dangerous with the ball at his feet.
Hopefully Gordon returns well. Heāll have still been able to train so he should be stronger physically than the last time we saw him, as opposed to somebody like Brewster (who missed a similar amount of football due to a traumatic injury).
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If Doak remains relatively injury free I do think we have some player from what Iāve seen.
The difference in treatment received by Gordon and Brewster before him is notable. While I understood the value and morality of standing buy Brewster when he experienced his injury the amount of focus he received after having done essentially nothing was weird. There is a fine line between being open to kids coming through and allowing them to own a part of the success the senior players achieved, and I wonder if Brewsterās subsequent trajectory made us reevaluate how we handled that situation.
Heās going to really have to take pre-season by the scruff of his neck & feature predominantly, getting Kloppās attention earlier the better itāll be for him.
If you compare him now to the level say Sterling was at the same age, or Foden/Rashford etc thenā¦and factor into account it was much easier to breakthrough back then to what it would be now. Talent is one thing but you have to be both mentally & physically ready, well beyond your years.
Mateusz Musialowski too created a lot of excitements at one point.
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