Was excellent again today in what will very likely be his final game in the LOI. Think Jon Daly himself talked about it recently. Won't be short of options come next month when he can officially sign for a club in the UK.
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Seems like there's two main possibilities with Sam. One is that he'll be a defensive lynchpin for the national team for a decade or more and win 60+ caps. The other is that he's possibly not really dynamic enough to be a top level full back and not big enough to be a standout centre back - and that's a position we look stacked in for the next 10 years anyway, with or without him. So he ends up being a slightly better version of Lee O'Connor and doesn't make a huge impact on the senior team.
Will be interesting to see what road he goes down next - Premier League academy or a lower tier team where he'll be aiming to play first team football again next year.
Brighton can't have all the Irish players but hopefully they've been tracking the lad. They've done a good job getting Moran ready for senior football when no other club would touch him because of his size and O'Mahony seems to have come on leaps and bounds since joining them in January.
They've also got the added bonus of Bloom owning one of the top clubs in Belgium if they feel that route is better for his development than a loan in the EFL.
Would he be better off going to Championship club where he has chance of going straight into 1st team? After playing so much 1st team football in last couple years he could struggle with being put into youth teams now
If the big names want him, take the money but with a loan agreed to somewhere he will continue playing as part of it ?
Maybe, I just think its an interesting one. Melia might have the same issue in a couple years. When you've played so much mens football it might be difficult enough to adjust mentally to going back to youth football, even if its at an incredibly high level!Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
He's had such a breadth of senior football already and it is incomparable to any other lads that have gone across at around 16 or 17. As an example, Brighton would have dropped Mark O'Mahony, Evan Ferguson, James Furlong and Andrew Moran into underage football after those lads had a bit of exposure to LOI but none had anything like the extent that Curtis has (for a variety of reasons of course!).
You'd be imagining that a Brighton or Man City or suchlike would acknowledge this and loan him to a sister club in Belgium as it would represent a step up on LOI and surely better for a lad his age than League One.
Yeah I think L1 would be too low which is why I wondered about a Championship club. Will be interesting to seeQuote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
I'd actually be content enough to just let Brighton have all the Irish players. All the highly rated ones anyway. Don't think there's a better overseas club they could develop at and it must be reassuring for them going over to find so many Irish lads there when they arrive.Quote:
Originally Posted by JR89
There must be a lot of clubs looking at what Brighton are doing with young players at the moment, and thinking ~ ~ That's working very very very well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
I'm all for Brighton taking our best young players and hopefully they are in for him. Probably the best PL club a young player could join atm. Ferguson is a beast and likely would have made it no matter where he went but the work they've put in with Andy Moran especially I'd be confident they'd do a good job with Curtis.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
Brighton have a very good academy set-up and do have several prospects that have a lot of potential.Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
However, it is still worth noting that of the current squad there are only three players of note that were at Brighton before their 18th birthday - Lewis Dunk, Evan Ferguson and Solly March. What they appear to be exceptional at is taking players in the 18-21 range with potential and developing them into quality starters - MacAllister, Sanchez, Caicedo, Van Hecke are examples.
Move confirmed - signed a contract until 2027
https://www.sufc.co.uk/news/2024/jan...ungster-joins/
Not beyond possibility that he gets Premier League minutes this season. Ryan One, who is younger than him and signed from Hamilton in the summer got a run out recently. Sheffield United obviously heading for the Championship in May though which is likely no harm at all from his point of view.
Fair play to himQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
And he's on! Well done to him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
I think the names on that list suggest it might be advisable not to get too excited over that stat. It's certainly better to have them than not, that said.