Yep, agree with that. Newcastle are a pretty good case because despite being a high profile club, with seemingly nothing to stand in their way, bar themselves, they always seem to shoot themselves in the foot somehow. I'm pleased for Pardew that he has done so well for them. On that basis, I expect Toon to find a reason to sack him at some point over the coming season.
Interesting though that Newcastle have sold one of their youth products for a (very) good price and come out of the situation in a better position. I know this isn't necessarily what we want to do, but losing youth is not always the end of the world.
True, and if we sold Luke Shaw for £35M, you would not hear me complain. Half that, And I still wouldn't.
Its been a while since "Fleet Street" has tried to unsettle our players! The Mail are one of the worst offenders
If Cortese is true to his word then he will keep Luke Shaw.He must keep our youngsters in order to continue the dream of having 50% of our first team made out of academy graduates.
Let's hope Luke doesn't have his head turned. The sale of Chamberlain was forced on us because as Nicola said about him. 'The talk of a move to Arsenal has got to him.' We all remember the unpleasantness of Oxo virtually courting the publicity and getting fined. Cortese got the best deal he could. We would never get as much for Shaw who has hardly played, but we don't need 4 million enough to be tempted by that. If Luke loves it here and has been sold the dream and believes it is best for his long term development we have nothing to worry about. Perhaps we should be more worried if no one wanted our academy players.
Somebody mentioned we'll never get to Cortese's target of having 50% of the first team as home grown if we keep selling our youngsters. It'll also never happen if we keep on signing Dutch players who play in the same position as, supposedly, one of our best prospects... Unless of course Cortese knows something about upcoming transfers that we don't which means that in the near future we wont have such a good prospect coming through at left back...
The 50% idea is long term. At the moment, we have just been promoted and we must firstly stay up and secondly do well. I am pleased we still seem to be trying to buy young, so that our imports can be trained to fit in with us rather than the other way round. If Luke (or any other youngster) gets their head down they will still get a chance to prove they are better than the player brought in. If you buy a big star there comes an obligation to play them, but Nigel will play the better man.
Wow. It's taken me to read through to page three to find the crux of this situation. Nicola Cortese has said that this company will bring through players to have close to 50% of the first team squad as home grown. If he sells one of the first ones to come through from the academy that he is investing so much money into, then he will be seen to be a hypocrit. I can't see Mr Cortese doing this, this early in the plan. The Chambo situation was different; he had broken through to the first team and wanted a move. If Shaw gets to that position then it may be different, but by then wwe may be a CL team.
If he wants to keep Shaw (which he does), Nicola will just keep saying no or just start up his shredding machine. Even if Shaw is interested, I can't see him tackling Cortese about it.
The funny thing about all this from my point of view is that I've seen Shaw play quite a few times and he never stood out as being any better than the rest, which could mean, of course, that they are all brilliant! What puzzles me is why Chelsea would want him even if he is as good as some people seem to think. They haven't got much recent history of bringing players through from within their system. It seems odd that they would consider spending money and investing time on an unknown when they can afford to just go out and buy a ready-made replacement for Cole which is what they normally do. Chamberlain going to Arsenal was different in that Arsenal do have a record of bringing youngsters into the team. If he had gone to any other of the top sides I doubt he would have even played yet. The best Shaw can hope for if he goes to Chelsea would be to go out on loan somewhere (albeit on top money!).
Another possibility: that good young prospect only turns 17 next week, and thus probably needs a bit of seasoning before he can step into a Premiership squad; there's a reason why people are gushing over Chamberlain, and that is because his ability and maturity at that age is a rarity. Worry about blocking him when he's at a level where he's being blocked...if we're extremely lucky, that will be next year, at which point we can quickly rectify matters and unblock the position. Harding isn't sufficient cover at this level, I'm afraid, and Shaw is too much of an unknown quantity at his age. Left back isn't our greatest position of need, but if we can bring in a highly-talented player at a reasonable cost who can cover both left back and left wing, it's hard to find fault with the decision.
Just realised that he is still 16. Let's hope there is a contract in a draw already singed then! he can't sign professional terms with us until he is 17. this is why Theo went when he did becasue Arsenal could have got him for a tribunal fee if we waited until he was 17.
Luke Shaw signed a 3 year professional deal with Saints that kicks in on his birthday. A number of papers seem unaware of this. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2228492,00.html
Thank you for that.... i was just beginning to wonder if we could get turned over. How silly of me to overlook the professionalism and forward planning of Mr Cortese.
Apparently, Arsenal are after him as well and £4m is just the opening bid. Also, apparently, the Saints coaches rate him better than Chamberlain.
