Personally no. I think they are both pretty talented footballers, good technical skills and Cain in particular has excellent vision for picking out a pass.
However, they are both quite slight, slow (for first team standard) and aren’t physically ready for first team football. I think given their frame I doubt if either of them ever will be on a regular basis.
Cain is similar to Cameron Brannagan but personally I think Brannagan was a better prospect. I guess if I was comparing Clarkson to someone it would be Jordan Lussey (although he is definitely better than Lussey).
Looking at the next group of first team players then the place to look is the U18s. Balagizi, Mabaya, Quansah, Musialowski, Gordon and Frauendorf all look like they have a chance.
True, Bradley completely slipped my mind but he’s having a good season. Morton is good, I have him as more of an outside chance than the others listed though (along with the likes of Stewart and Norris).
The U18s have are generally better built. I honestly think the U18 team has some really hot prospects - the U23s are basically trash just waiting to find another club. I think that’s also why we haven’t seen many promotions this year, the club probably feel they are better off keeping the talent together as a group. Could potentially see a lot of players leave this summer and the majority of the U18s go straight through to U23 level next year.
I’ve only seen the highlights of recent games but it seems to have clicked with Balagizi that if he just runs past players there’s nothing anyone can do about it at this level.
I think he’s probably one of the safest bets from this side to at least get a handful of appearances in the first team. As mentioned above he’s a lot bigger and more athletic than the other midfielders on our books but still technically sound and makes good decisions around the box.
This is an interesting statistical overview of his time at Preston so far. I can assume why their statistics and calculations would have his passing as a weakness but I hope that aerial duels are something he improves on. Then again, he’s only 19 years old, I don’t know what I’m saying.
I’ve always thought his passing is quite good, but he is poor in the air for his height. He’s clearly a level or two below the likes of Phillips, Williams and even Koumetio, who are all very dominant.
Feels like Sepp could do with being a bit more aggressive in everything he does. He’s composed, but sometimes it comes off as passive to me. First team football, where results matter much more, should hopefully help him play with more urgency.
If I was making a guess as to why his passing stats are low it’s just because he plays at RB for a Championship team and I assume they are often asking him to play the ball down the flanks for wingers to chase which will be low %.
