I notice from a LFC pov that there are no carry overs from a “one to watch” e.g. player A is on the list for more than one season. Is this done purposefully or are our players falling off the radar quickly? (haven’t check other teams)
New players every year, I track their development year over year so no need to repeat picks - also allows me to talk about more players.
That never stopped me or @Klopptimist for that matter!
Played 13 games for NI also, and was MotM in a number of those
Would Evan Ferguson from Brighton be on your previous list ?
He’s gonna be a superstar. Read somewhere that he turned us down as wanted to play in a first team straight away rather than our u18s and U23s. Fair play to him
Evan Ferguson ?
Hey, never point the mic at the speakers and you’re sorted
Good on him, prioritising playing and experience over money and fame. Even more of a reason to buy him.
Heard Bohs will be financially secure for years from their sell on clause
I’d say they are praying he sold. Drastically need improvements to their stadium
OK so I’m finally home and had some time, updated the Amara Nallo and Trey Nyoni signings for Liverpool.
Nyoni I’ve seen a decent amount of - he was always playing above his age group, had barely turned fifteen when he made his U18 debut. He plays either as an attacking midfielder or sometimes he comes out to the left wing. He’s a clever passer, very creative but definitely needs to bulk up as he’s lightweight even for U18 football. No doubting his technical quality though, silky smooth.
Amara Nallo I didn’t know anything about - he’s started once at U18 level so I had to go back and watch the highlights to recall the game. As you can see here (he’s the Number 5 for West Ham) he gets a pretty difficult introduction to U18 football - his movements on the first and third goal are not ideal. Definitely seems a work in progress.
I’ll be interested to see where Nallo fits in. Liverpool already have Furnell-Gill, Lucky, Pinnington and Pitt at U18 level. Makes me wonder if Koumetio and Quansah may move out on loan and Lucky/Pinnington will be called up to the U21 teams full time. U21s certainly have a need at CB already, in the 1-1 draw with Derby it was Luca Stephenson - a CM playing back there.
Another move that interests me today - although I’ve been expecting it for a couple of weeks now - is Palace confirming the signing of Roshaun Mathurin from Tottenham. Mathurin was a massive prospect when he was 15/16 but Spurs, not in a good place with their academy currently, didn’t get much out of him. He played for Palace’s U21 team against Man Utd first game of the season and made an immediate impact. Here at 4:15 is Mathurin (called “trialist” on commentary because they couldn’t name him then) dancing his way through the Man Utd defence. Then at 5:01 he has another dribble to score and put Palace 2-1 up. Then at 7:05 he creates the chance for Raky-Sakyi to cross for the winner. Palace is a much healthier academy environment to be at right now so I’ll be really interested to see how he progresses this season. One for your friend to monitor @cynicaloldgit!
Thank you, this is great, I’ll certainly bookmark and use.
An update - my transfer tracker (all deals involving U21 players from Cat 1 academies) has now reached 423 for this summer - that’s an average of 16 per club.
It’ll only rise in the last 48 hours. Lots of young players move in this final part of the window.
Another thing to note is that of the 258 players to leave Category 1 academies this summer - 129 of them have not yet found a new club - some will before Friday and those others left over can continue to be added because of their free agent status regardless of the transfer window - but as it stands, 50% exactly of those transferred or released by Cat 1 clubs are unemployed.
Squad lists and transfer tracker updated with all the deadline day moves. 479 moves for U21s this summer from the 26 PL2 clubs.
For comparison purposes, here’s the Grauniad’s list of ones to watch this year:
Their list is aimed to be younger than mine (I am not sure how they are getting much info on U16 players) but looks like there are a couple of players on both lists. Mikey Moore has had an exceptional start to the season for Spurs U18.
I have the feeling that Nyoni is generating the same kind of buzz like Doak or even Sterling when they signed. Obviously, that doesn’t mean that they will go on to have careers like Sterling but you get my point. I very much like this “quality over quantity” policy that Inglethorpe has established.