He's on the 'transfer board' I'm sure, but as with Adkins, and most other managers, he won't have anything like total control.
So who is entrusted with our transfer activity, our chief scout, Les Reid or a consortium, I doubt it is Cortese himself?
Paul Mitchell, Pochettino, Cortese, Les Reed and possibly Martin Hunter for the younger signings. I think
I would imagine that Reading just might be the destination for some of these guys... Re: The development of football players Natural ability is what scouts and so forth are able to detect in the early years of a player. However, technical knowledge ("reading the game"), is something that the individuals each must learn, master, and transfer onto the pitch, and this is a never-ending process. While natural ability will be there at the beginning, technical skill may not be. Instead it will improve in a player as he progresses throughout his career. Some players, perhaps with bags of natural talent, may never be able to master the technical side of things. While others may master it very quickly. But there are of course those also who will learn slowly and steadily, but who will nevertheless become very good readers of the game, even if it does take a very long time. My point being, that age should not be the overriding factor in deciding whether a player has what it takes. It is encountered time and time again that players, released by certain youth academies, later become very, very good footballers (ie; Newcastle and Shearer). There is nothing to gain by shedding youth players. It hardly saves on wages. I say the more the merrier. I still have hope for Ben Reeves. He is captain of the U21's (Gape only became captain when Reeves went on loan), and although he is one of the older 'kids', it has been mentioned by the coaches that he came into the game late and will therefore take a little longer to develop.
Its to be expected that many of these would go, they were there to give us a good competitive championship squad but I guess for next season the Don is targeting Europa League as a minimum. All we can do as fans is wish each and every one of them all the very best, they all played a part in getting us to where we are today, without them we wouldn't have done it and for that we should be eternally grateful - and I for one will check out the ex saints scorers come saturday afternoons on the beeb..
I agree with the age thing but we can only have 25 players in the squad. Once a player progresses out of the u21's if they are simply not going to get game time and they are not looking likely to improve they have to be let go to make room. We need more strength in depth in the 25.
Mauricio only has a further 2 seasons (unless contract extended) and he said on arrival that he had been set a target of European football.
He has been absolutely superb down here! Fans love him and really want him to stay. Seen him play a couple of times, he oozes class. Even if he doesn't make it at Saints he should get a good career in the Championship or League One.
good to hear he is doing well, I can only check the result on the BBC and he always seems to be the one subbed or on the bench
