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Mackem74 said:
Do you reckon you can tell a future prospect at 9 or 10 or as that too young?
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Generally I would say too young. Personally I think it is 13/14 before you can make a genuine assessment. One of the things I always see is a kid who has older brothers. They will be the first to have a physical edge and that often is misleading at young ages, others soon catch up.

Having said that if a kid has natural talent it will stand out. There arent as many as there once were in my opinion but there are some. They are worth keeping an eye on. I was at an u11s event once for cat 1 academies. I saw a lad for Stoke City who has unbelievable. I had to do a double take it was like watching an elite 15 year old. He would take it donw on his chest and ping it firs time to his winger, either foot. He was playing cente back but his coach told me they played him anywhere through the spine depending on what they wanted him to learn. It was a joy to watch.
 
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FellTop said:
Generally I would say too young. Personally I think it is 13/14 before you can make a genuine assessment. One of the things I always see is a kid who has older brothers. They will be the first to have a physical edge and that often is misleading at young ages, others soon catch up.

Having said that if a kid has natural talent it will stand out. There arent as many as there once were in my opinion but there are some. They are worth keeping an eye on. I was at an u11s event once for cat 1 academies. I saw a lad for Stoke City who has unbelievable. I had to do a double take it was like watching an elite 15 year old. He would take it donw on his chest and ping it firs time to his winger, either foot. He was playing cente back but his coach told me they played him anywhere through the spine depending on what they wanted him to learn. It was a joy to watch.
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A close friend of my grandad was a very prominent north east youth scout for a couple of big London clubs in the 90's and 2000's, he even took me to games and told me what to look out for when i was younger. He would say being physically bigger is a short term benefit, long term negative because it trains the player to rely on that physcial advantage which dissapates as the other lads catch up. Being smaller and competing well was in some cases an indicator of a certain type of player.

I agree with 13/14, that's the age you'll see super prospects get occasional training days with pros, I think it's due to puberty interacting with (fast twitch) muscle fibres. The key to a player having a decent career minus being an exceptional athlete is the mentality. There are always exceptions aswell.
 
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I'd send Hemir back to Portugal honestly, he is so young he still needs to develop his game, if he ends up at non league in England and doesn't do well it's almost a death knell.

Edit: on loan, obviously.
 
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FellTop said:
Generally I would say too young. Personally I think it is 13/14 before you can make a genuine assessment. One of the things I always see is a kid who has older brothers. They will be the first to have a physical edge and that often is misleading at young ages, others soon catch up.

Having said that if a kid has natural talent it will stand out. There arent as many as there once were in my opinion but there are some. They are worth keeping an eye on. I was at an u11s event once for cat 1 academies. I saw a lad for Stoke City who has unbelievable. I had to do a double take it was like watching an elite 15 year old. He would take it donw on his chest and ping it firs time to his winger, either foot. He was playing cente back but his coach told me they played him anywhere through the spine depending on what they wanted him to learn. It was a joy to watch.
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Thanks, really interesting. I watch a lot of.academy football at 9/10 in Scotland and fascinated by it. Its so hard to predict how they will develop. Mentality is such a big thing,.even at that age. You can have all the talent but if you haven't got the edge and desire to kick or be kicked then you've no chance
 
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On the strikers - get both of them. A definite upgrade and a possible upgrade for a reasonable price.
And play both of them. Moore would create chances for Langstaff or whoever is next to him just by being there.

Midfield - as much as I like Neil, Ekwah and Bellingham, it's not working as regularly as it needs to. Put an M'Vila in there to sit, Neil is probably the best out of the three, and it's up to the other two to stake a claim when there's actual competition for the place.
 
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