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.
I think that the Premiership has improved a significant amount in the 12 years.Quote:
Originally Posted by John83
There's still a propensity to give random teenagers games in dead games in fairness. They have to have them in the squad; they may as well try boost their resale value.
I have never heard of Michael Harriman! Wiki says he's now (maybe) at AFC Rushden & Diamonds, who were relegated from the seventh tier this year.
Started at QPR
https://foot.ie/threads/179676-Michael-Harriman
Yes I'd be on the fence on Curtis based of what I've seen so far, he could win 50 caps or be the next Lee O'Connor as things stand. But still, I'm sure there are loads of teenage players at Sheffield United and he's one of the few making the bench every week and now getting a run out. So he's doing something right anyway.
It definitely has, as the money has continued to pour in, but the funnel of decent youth players to successful pros is just that: a funnel. That was the cream of the crop for us in 2012; some of them just withered on the vine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
I know Will Keane now plays for us but back then he was playing international football with England.
Interesting (but natural in the context) that 3 have double digits games for LOI sides - Murphy, O'Mahony and Curtis. Ferguson only a handful of games having left much younger. Fraser English born.
Hindsight is 20:20 but I definitely feel like there is more potential in this 5 than the other 5.
I don't think Forde or Harriman was ever heavily touted.
Carruthers was probably and has plenty under 21 caps for us but his commitment and discipline have and continue to blight him - I see he's in National League South at present and was celebrating a goal by gripping the flab on his stomach recently.
Keane wasn't with us at the time.
Doherty has had a long top flight career but wasn't he 18 moving to England and without any top flight games in LOI?
As I said hindsight is 20:20, but the gap is 12 years and that has to demonstrate something positive.
If any of them were offered as good a career as doherty they should take it. He had been a very good professional for 13 or 14 years and has a few more years at championship level in him I'd sayQuote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
Agreed on that.Quote:
Originally Posted by liamoo11
Fair to say that if Sam Curtis is going to be something of a guinea pig for the staying at home until 18 approach in comparison to the move to the continent approach taken by many others post Brexit, he might not be off to a good start:
https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...267615093.html
I saw a post on their forum saying that he initially struggled to adapt to the step up from the football he was playing in Ireland to the Premier League 2.
Maybe that's not so suprising. Fitness alone would be a big step up. PL2 is full of great players building fitness, and quality young players trying to prove themselves. I expect a lot of PL academy players find it a very tough step up. That's not to say how weak the LoI isn't a major handicap for player development, but in the short term having a pipeline where a reasonable number of players get transferred from the LoI as adults and make it as pros in England (or any reputable league) is good enough. It'll feed money into the league, make LoI clubs a viable career step, and encourage clubs to invest in their youth development.
Message is quite clear. Don't take a summer off.
Strange comments from a manager who after all saw fit to put him in at that level so soon after joining the club. Strange comment from you, to construe that as him not being off to a good start. What more can he have done, at this point ? First team appearance at that level of club is no given at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
I wouldn't attach too much value to the singular post you saw somewhere saying he struggled at PL2. It's one opinion, that's all it is. I remember hundreds of posters on the Leicester forum back in the day wondering why they had wasted a million quid on this Vardy kid. They were all wrong. He did ok in the end.
I would observe, this is similar to Moyes on Coleman way back, if any of you remember ? He was constantly harsh and critical, constantly referencing the standard he'd come from, the ground he had to make up & doubtlessly it was true & its probably true again of Curtis. Looking back, he was doing it because he knew there was an unbelievable player to be had if handled well. Same again would be lovely.
I don't know about that, when you make your first appearance and the managers comment afterwards includes the phrase "it wasn't by any means an accomplished debut", that probably suggests he has a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully he can do it.
Still he watches him every day against players at that level & gave him the debut. He will have catching up to do and he might not cover the ground, yesterday may be as good as it gets. But if his manager is unhappy, I don't see his choice of words as being great, threw him under the bus a bit & didn't have to, could have handled it very differently, he signed & picked him after all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
To be fair, he went to Sheffield without a preseason. It was always going to take him time to get up to speed.
There aren't many lads out there who have over 60 senior appearances before they turn 18 and already an established under-21 international player. The fact he's already made his first team debut is phenomenal at all.
He's 18, makes Premiership debut... career is obviously over
Sheffield United don't have-a team in PL2Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023%E...lopment_League
Their U21 side play in the Professional Development League. They won the title just last week, with Curtis getting a goal in a 5-0 win against Crewe Alexandra
Absolutely nobody has said that. But it does appear that he was well off the pace and has a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully he can do that now and make up in the areas he has fallen behind on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
He is 18 years old.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler