As sh*t as Brexit is, I must admit I like reading that English clubs are now effectively forced to scout talent from within the UK rather than abroad.
https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/ma...ion-u18-english-u18-premier-league-2024-05-11 Young striker Will Harley is currently on trial at #SaintsFC, currently plays for Hastings United, started today’s game for Saints U18s against West Brom Three other trialists were involved: Khiani Shombe (Lewisham Borough), Zac Jeanes (Worthing) and Brook Myers (Charlton)
Nice to see the club giving opportunities to “local”non-league talent. I don’t recall seeing many Trialists getting games over the last decade or more under Matt Hale, so this is clearly a route the new SR man is willing to explore
Don't know much about any of these lads, except for Brook Myers. That was his fourth game on trial for us. Scored a hat-trick in the first one.
Seems like a good and well-established appointment based on his CV, arguably more so than the Scottish guy he replaced
Another academy player leaving, Harley Emsden-James is off to Arsenal An England u15 international following Gomes Rodriguez and Miles out the door
Genuinely starting to think academies are a waste of time. This is a really dangerous direction for the national team - as it does mean some clubs will be less inclined to nurture talent.
Very, very frustrating. What is the point in giving these players time, money, effort only for them to swan off to a bigger club before they can be of any value to us. Just find it hard to get excited about good players you hear about in the academy now, knowing they'll never do anything of note for us, whereas before it was our clubs pride and joy.
No, the problem is the system. We have a massive wealth imbalance between the elite clubs and all the rest. They can happily hoover up all the exciting talent from every decent academy, offering excessive wages, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop them.
There will be loads of legal stuff before a kid is 16 which stops this. The guardian of the child will have complete control over what they can do. When they hit 16 then I think it is up to the person, but again my understanding is they have to sign a new deal with a club to stay past 16, which of course they don’t have to if they have other offers. A cap could work but I’m sure there would be legal stuff about restricting salaries and that being unfair the players could take down a legal route if they wanted. The “cap” could be like £40k a week or something mental which we still wouldn’t pay
It’s depressing Could the club have been better at giving youngsters chances? Possibly - but most of the best players start first team 16/17 and this is the point they’re running for the hills. I don’t blame them, Jimmy Jay Morgan & Dom Ballard were killing it for the academy two seasons ago and both got big injuries last year and whilst Dom won’t be pleading poverty, I’m sure JJ feels vilified taking the biggest pay day. I agree there is nothing you can do about wages and individual choices and nor should there be, but I agree there should be a restriction on the number of players clubs can have on their books in academy age groups
Saints youngsters playing at AFC Totton on Saturday, a lot of talk on high profile exits, although nothing usually confirmed officially for those age groups. Guess we’ll have an idea on the state of play Saturday
