I know he's highly rated. PSG wanted to keep him and he did make a handful of appearances for them before it came apparent he wasn't going to sign a new contract. At which point they left him out of the matchday squads.
Oh so we are good with young players when they are clearly better than our other players? Seems a fairly common way of picking a team!
You cant really argue that we didnt give opportunities to the likes of Lavia & Tino. They had never played in the PL until we signed them. Then we play them week in week out and they both move for £30m/£50m. Granted they dont all work out that way, but they get a better chance here than most places.
yeah but they were both better than what we had. Players like Doyle, Dibling, Ballard, Meghoma and SAA may say we haven’t given them a fair go yet, presumably because they aren’t the best player in their position. Mbappe having come from PSG may be better than our other CM options so would get lots of playing time, if he isn’t as good he won’t because we aren’t just going to play an inferior player to try and develop them
We signed him on the condition that we would give him first team football. We then did exactly that immediately after signing him.
No one knew how good Tino or Lavia were at the PL level until we played them and gave them that chance. They had only played youth football before Saints
Sure, but I’m sure Chelsea and City watched them in training and knew they weren’t as good as what they had in their first team squad. We saw them in training and knew they were at least squad players if not first choice in their positions. We may not have predicted they would be quite as good as soon as they were in the PL but we definitely knew they were better than our other options to at least play a decent amount in the first team
My point here is that - over the last 5 years or so - it misleading to say we are good at bringing young players into the side. We have bought in good quality young players on occasion to use. That is not taking a risk on players. We don’t give a lot of game time to our own youth players. We started to last season and then gave up on it. Pretty sure that we don’t make more use of youth than at least half the league.
Yeah I think it’s fairer to say that we follow “if you’re good enough you are old enough”. We aren’t afraid to play young players as long as they are the best option at that moment. Look at arguably our best prospect, SAA. It’s fair to say that last season he was behind: Armstrong Edozie Brooks Fraser Sulemana For playing time on the wing, presumably that’s because Martin thought he isn’t as good as any of them. Of course we hope he is going to become a good player, but we aren’t just going to chuck in a worse player to give them minutes to hopefully develop, this isn’t u11s football where everyone gets to play.
Yeah but our best youth players are still only 17 or 18. Or even younger (Gomes Rodriguez). Ballard picked up a bad injury while on loan. While players like SAA, Dibling and Meghoma haven't played that much, they've been on the bench a lot, so they have had exposure to first team stuff.
But we don't know they are good enough unless we sign them, as we are buying youngsters that have never played mens football or at least not at this level. Lavia - Regular starter Tino - Regular starter Bazunu - Regular starter Edozie - Rotation option, 49 apps in 2 seasons Larios - Not really played, injuries not helped. Charles - 32 apps in first season SAA - signed at 16, made debut but not had much chance since. We spent almost £50m on that lot and only Baz had ever played mens football. That is taking a massive risk and if that isn't giving youth a chance then I don't know what is!
