I think he will be going out on loan, but probably next season. At 17 he is almost too young to go on loan! I guess potentially he will be used as back up and slowly integrated in though... Either way, exciting stuff and a class player! Like you guys, I think Cork and Morgan are definitely our first choice CM's atm. Cork is my first choice, I can't rate him highly enough after this weekend!
At the moment Cork is coming back from injury, looking in good form and he and Morgan are the likely pairing. But as we have seen this year you need a couple of players in every position. It's not just injuries, sometimes players lose a bit of form and sometimes the opposition calls for the attributes of one player over another. JWP will get plenty of chances, as he has done already this season, and I think it is highly unlikely he is going on loan anytime soon.
Really heartening and great to see. A pleasant surprise this evening and nice to see James committing himself to such a long term contract with SFC.
When does Shaw's current contract run until? Got FM the other day and was surprised to see that it's got it as 30/6/13. Anyone know if that's correct? Lat
2014 as far as I know. Would expect us to try and coerce him into a 2016/2017 extension in January or the summer.
Yeah was just about to edit my post, fantastic maths on my part. Early July 2015 it would be, so we've got him for plenty of time yet!
Just watched JWP interview on Player...got a mature head on his shoulder. I got distracted by his use of the word 'obviously'...approx. 21 times in 2 min (I lost count at one point). Obviously a difficult habit to get out of...obviously. The interviewer mentioned that Cortese was keen that they worked on their education and JWP is still doing that. James said he is keen to get back in team, but Cork's return has cut down his chances. Nigel said he was pleased to hear it as he liked hungry, hard-working players at the club...keeping them hungry explains why they are all little runts (can't seem to breed big bruisers at Southampton).
Apart from 'obviously' being used as a punctuation mark, I thought he came over well. This seems to be true for most Academy lads...we're producing rounded individuals who are less likely to go off the rails with drink and drugs.
Great news that he has signed on hope he stays his whole career that would be absolutely brilliant. Although I think he is an early bloomer and will never be a dynamic footballer, he is solid, neat, and tidy but nothing game changing. Obviously he has ability and seems to have decent acceleration and good stamina but I don't think he will be the one bossing a game. TBH I think he will be Morgan's age before he is as good as Morgan is currently. You would think that someone who looks comfortable in the premier league at 17 will develop into a quality footballer and I think so too just not as good as Shaw who has that bit of x factor I think. One other plus is he is a great role model for everyone in the academy, and while I don't think he is blessed with natural ability his professionalism and maturity is incredible for an 18 year old.
