Pretty much this ^^ Everton are clearly looking to compete and appear to be willing to invest in talent to do that. NUFC on the other hand are still looking to get 'pound for pound value' or whatever ****e Charnley trotted out and are looking to survive, the cheapest way possible. As long as Ashley remains that philosophy will remain................... and as soon as Rafa realises that he is pissing in the wind with Ashley he will look to get the **** out too. As much as I love NUFC if I felt it was best for my Son to play elsewhere then, in the current climate, I would encourage him to do so................ especially whilst we are looking increasingly like a yoyo club.
Thinking it through it has to be the offer from Everton. Whatever it is we're promising clearly isn't very good, or at least isn't keeping up with the times. We're hardline, we won't change policy for individuals. However, Everton, Southampton and Spurs all worked out a few years ago that it was a worthwhile economy, paying more for 16/17 year olds than other clubs, as the benefit (Kane, Barkley, Shaw) massively outweighs the risk. It's this kind of strategic thinking that completely eludes our illustrious owner (Sports Direct can be like Selfridges, he claims) and his pet monkey, Lee. Hence the continued relegation and inability to produce talent. I imagine Rafa gets it, but it will take time and PL stability to bring us up to code.
But this is what I don't get - MA always said that he wants us to be self-sufficient and like Arsenal so we have a ready made LB and we are not tying him down. The argument would then be that we don't need to buy a LB as Dummett and Haidara/Lazaar will suffice until Gibson is ready thus saving us more than the £6M we could get for him now.
Seems pretty certain now, apparently hasn't been around the teams since May so this has been a long time coming. Guess this is just the reverse of what we did with Gosling (we ****ing lost out there) At least we've got 6 mill towards the kitty
Apparently the figure is going to be in excess of £6million in total. He'll probably develop into a world class player if he goes. He would have only turned out average if he stayed under the expert tutelage of NUFC.
Exactly. If I was a promising youth teamed I'd be looking at Carroll and Dummett and be wondering why those are the best we've produced in the last decade. To be fair all the way back to Chopra we've let the majority of our talent stagnate and, by the time they're leaving, they're falling down the leagues Is it the area? Is it our youth set up? I'd say the latter
Beardsley, Shearer, Gascoigne, Carrick suggest not - even Alan Thompson, Lee Clarke, Steve Howie, Michael Bridges are better than any in the last decade.
And some of that (clark, Howie and I think beardo and Gascoigne but its before my time) was when we barely had a youth set up, whilst the others had to go elsewhere. In the long run we keep too heavy a gap between youth and first team. With a relegation battle on our hands I don't expect that to change this season either
Does appear strange. Everton willing to pay so much for the lad yet we hardly see him as good enough to be a regular in the under 23/reserve team.
Wasn't his brother very highly rated and on the brink of the first team a couple of years back yet he seems to have vanished
Maybe we could just send them his brother, pocket the 6million and hope they don't notice. #pullinganameobi
Just turned 20 I think. Regular U23 and decent but a good season on loan would do him the world of good.
Or does it send him down the line of vuckic, arma and Curtis good (where's he gone?) Just can't remember when us loaning a player out has been particularly successful, bar Armstrong coventry Oh yeah, there was Lua Lua, who scored against us while on loan at Pompey, then said he never wanted to come back
Carroll, Krul, Lascelles, Darlow, Dummett. Just off the top of my head a group of players who we loaned out and came back stronger and more first-team ready.
Personally wouldn't class Lascelles and Darlow as that was a continuation with the same team they'd been at for years. Carroll was 1 goal in 11 apps. Krul, fair doos, but his last two loans were useless. I think on the whole I don't see our players becoming good because of loans, I think its in spite of them