understood!! cheers…
He’s also nearly a year older, which makes quite a bit of difference at that age.
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Yes, although another thing to add is that Lavia has been performing as the best player on the pitch right through the age groups - at 16 he was clearly an elite prospect. Bajcetic has had a nice youth career but I don’t think he’s ever been as dominant as Lavia was.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a surprise to me that Bajcetic was good last season, I thought he would do ok if he got his shot, but he exceeded my expectations and I think there has to be a fair - albeit minor - concern that he was playing a bit of an adrenaline fueled peak and his level will drop off a touch this season.
Lavia I don’t really have those same concerns. He’s always looked like he belongs on the highest stage, carries himself that way and I don’t think he would be overawed by any situation. I hope both Lavia and Bajcetic make it as superstars with Liverpool but if I’m a gambling man and had to pick then I’d put e everything on Lavia to be a success.
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Would anyone have seen Lavia as that regular starter for a top side at Bajcetic’s age? Is it not only fair we allow him that same opportunity to at least play the minutes Lavia has at Saints to come to a more conclusive verdict? He played very well when called upon and was only forced out the side in the end because of injury.
I have to say that he was completely off my radar. I’d seen the name as one of our academy players but he came as a total surprise. I was just worried that he was being overplayed. Maybe his injury bore that out?
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If city rate him so much that they put in a 40mp buyback clause of only 2 yrs for an 18 yr old,why sell him to southampton rather than just loan him out?
Because city have preferred a model that sees them bringing in players who are closer to the final product, rather than developing younger ones.
The sales also help them cover theirr FFP on those established players.
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City have an academy which is the best in the world right now with Chelsea a close 2nd.
They pay more than the other clubs for talented youngsters and have better academy coaches in place to get the best of them.
Jadon sancho is a flop at United but he pretty much set the Bundesliga on fire. And would have been useful for any other team in the PL as well and city decided to not keep him
Not to mention the amount they legally get by selling these players. At some time or the other , no one is going to bother about how they got their jumpstart not when 5 years down the line , they are saying (like Chelsea is saying now) that they are financially compliant with FFP and ought to not be punished for what happened in the past.
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Its a point of pride for City that they make so much money from selling academy players. I’m also sure that Lavia wanted a move, the players aren’t stupid they know there isn’t a realistic path to the first team at Man City because Guardiola doesn’t trust them. They can be winning 6-0 at home to a League Two side and he might maybe consider giving Cole Palmer 3 minutes.
Its acrually ridiculous to look at the youth side Lavia played in. For example thisnteam that beat Derby 4-0 - its very much concievable that everyone in that team will be, or already is, an established PL/Top Flight league starter.
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It’s not about “reaching a verdict”, it’s about having a situation that allows Bajcetic to develop at his own pace and hopefully reach his potential. Throwing an 18-year-old straight into a first-team spot is not how you do that. Remember Insua?
Bajcetic will get minutes regardless, Klopp likes and rates him. But he absolutely shouldn’t be our starting DM heading into the season.
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3 to 4 of them would make the first team last season.
The difference in academy products between City and Liverpool is huge.
Doyle so good he does the work of two players!
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Trafford over Adrian
Lavia over Hendo easily
and Fabinho last year don’t need to remember how bad he was.
The difference between City and anyone else in the world is ridiculous.
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Also with respect to buying players younger. There’s a big case to be made that players with the advancements in coaching , sports science , analytics are reaching their peak earlier and are capable of maintaining it for a longer period of time as well…
As opposed to the previous saying that 27-33 be a players prime.
It might well be players hitting their prime at 22 and holding that level for a good decade or so.
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And we are comparing the season where Liverpool finished 2nd to City when @Sweeting posted the city lineup.
Liverpool academy has a long way to go if they want to catch up. City’s B squad have atleast 3-4 candidates who would play for most top 4 squad in Europe.
Callum and Tommy!
Callum is the CB - at 19 he’s already played two full seasons at Sunderland and Coventry. This year he’ll be a starter for Leicester.
Tommy is the CM and was basically an ever present for Sheffield United and is probably going back to them this season where he’ll be a starter.
The depth Man City have at youth level is frankly silly, but they pay a fuck tonne of money to have it so that’s what happens.
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Ultimately I don’t think its our goal to catch them, we simply don’t have the resources to pour into the academy that they do. Chelsea are probably the only club that can afford to stay with them but Chelsea emptied their academy of talent in recent years and are now trying to rebuild.
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A question - do we really want or need to catch them?
Having a high number of quality players in a team, to sell the majority off for profits, clearly makes business sense. It does set players up well and we’ve seen plenty go on to have good careers at other clubs. But we are also being made more aware, from the work Trent’s being doing, being released or treated like a number can also cause severe harm.
Not sure if that’s happening at City, and whether they do pump a lot into the nurturing and care side of their system, but players have left city when they wanted to keep them, because of that block. Sancho, Lavia etc.
Rambling a bit - basically, is bigger always better.
We’ve also done plenty well from our academy over the last few years.
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