The simple fact is he didnt progress while with us, at all. He went on loan in the prem and did the sum total of sod all. He may well go on to have a good season next season and prove us wrong, and I hope he does. But the lower leagues are full of players released by top teams who do well at that level. This is how an academy is ran, bring through players you can sell on for a bit of money who arent good enough for our squad whilst looking for the 1 or 2 young players who will make it. Look at all the ex Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, City etc youth players floating about now. We had many years with the academy being almost forgotten about, we have had to catch up quickly. We will have many young players leave us and do ok, but I doubt any who have left lately will prove to the club it was a mistake to let them go.
