I used the wrong term. I mean more from a 2 players per position, everyone getting reasonable game time for both their own happiness and to make it worth their wages perspective
Can see both sides to the argument. Whilst these signings are all obviously highly thought of, talented kids, our first team is pretty ****. Are these guys better than the likes of McCarthy, Stephens/Bednarek, Diallo already? Don’t think anyone knows just yet. It is a big risk as our first team isn’t exactly good for PL standard and if these kids aren’t any better than what we have at this moment in time then we could he in for a long season ahead. You have to think our aim is to develop these young players, survive in the league and then sell/buy more in the same mould. I would hope that we are going to add “experienced” players as well, as although they are also a risk, I would say a mid to late twenties player who has played a lot of first team football represents less of a risk, even if they might not be as good as what we’d expect Bazunu, ABK and Lavia will become at the same age. Bottom line is wait and see I suppose, if they all turn out like Livramento/Broja level of ability then happy days. It would just show how much further ahead even u23 teams of the big teams are than bottom half PL sides
Having 5 central mids would hardly be unreasonable, even playing 2 much of the time. We had Schneiderlin, Wanyama, JWP, Cork and Steve Davis in a side that played a double pivot and found plenty of time for all of them. We've been seriously short of depth in midfield for a while now.
But Diallo seemed to hardly play last season as it was. Let alone with two more midfielders - one of whom could directly take his spot the other stops the option of JWP moving over the Romeu’s position and opening a spot Also I’m pretty sure we usually played Davis as a number 10 and not really in the double pivot - Wanyama, Morgan, Mane, Davis, Tadic, Pelle ?
Scrap everyone else. I want Cork back where he belongs. Him and JWP would help us fight for top 6 easy.
Feed me more. I can’t wait to see how this fabulously nihilistic gambit pays off. Two 17-year olds for the attack now please and then sell everyone over 26 apart from JWP.
Also, a bunch of European clubs have discovered something really interesting: a player doesn't actually need to spend four years farmed out to lower-division clubs if they're really good at football. They won't be the finished product, but really talented footballers tend to be productive even from a young age. Sancho couldn't get playing time at City, so he moved to a club that would play him, and produced 12 goals and 14 assists in a season where he didn't turn 19 until it was nearly over, on a club that was a result away from winning the Bundesliga. Livramento was probably our second-best player as a teenager. Not that he's Sancho-level, but if Lavia is as good as a great many people seem to believe he is, the odds are that he'll be capable of contributing next year. Given that £10m buys you a whole lot of not much if you're buying experienced players, I'll take the guy who everyone raves about as a future star while costing less than Diallo.
Ralph said from very early on that he likes to work with the youth so this spate of transfers seems to make sense. i dont get the concern around age so much, with Romeu ageing out in the next couple of seasons having an 18 year old come in to rotate his position is the ideal. Another highly rated young player in the ranks. Its a different era now to the ‘wont win anything with kids’ generation. these players are ready, they need to play to develop and we are offering them that opportunity. we will be able to profit on the pitch and in the transfer market hopefully. i think its great and im pretty sure theres god level commentry trolling going on with all the alliterative names romeu/romeo/adams/adam/armstrongs
Add KWP, Stuart Armstrong & probably Che Adams and that’s five starting players with at least 2-3 seasons in the PL. Realistically as it stands only Bazunu is going straight into the side anyway, so less concerned about a lack of experience and more excited about an increase in talent.
It wasn't even true during the "you can't win anything with kids" era! The reason Hansen's quote is so well-remembered is that he was talking about Manchester United, whose kids proceeded to win the title that season.
All sounds pretty promising. Realistically JWP and Romeu will be our first choice CMs at the start of the season anyway, so not bothered by Lavia's lack of experience. Would be nice to bring in an attacking player or two now, though.
There is a middle ground between players who have barely kicked a ball in the top level of the mens game and a player who was clearly past it 4 years ago
