Great going. The shortlist is made up of 3 Irishmen, 3 from England and one a piece from Germany, Portugal and Denmark.
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Great going. The shortlist is made up of 3 Irishmen, 3 from England and one a piece from Germany, Portugal and Denmark.
I wonder will we see any Irish lads getting a run in last game this weekend? O connor maybe at utd might be most likely to be involved on the bench seemingly trained with first team last week. Molumby maybe on bench but hughton seems so conservative probably not. Maybe someone at Southampton o connor or smallbone might make bench. Might Cassidy get a bench spot with Watford preparing for a cup final and resting lads? West ham might find a start for Coventry?
Depending on parrotts recovery with son and kane out maybe would make the bench. Might kian Flanagan be rewarded for winning that the under 23 player of the year by been on bench for crystal palace ?
Will Ferry won Academy Player of the Season at Southampton's end of season awards: https://southamptonfc.com/news/2019-...lub-7-may-2019
I think with that unbelievable victory by Spurs tonight the physios at White Hart Lane will be moving Heaven and earth to get Kane ready for June 1. Which means that Parrott may not be thought of by the coaching staff at the club in terms of end of season games? Who knows though.
On a different topic, looking at the standard of play by all four teams in the semi-finals of the Champions League, how far are our young lads from ever scaling those heights?
Parrott was still wearing the boot cast in Tallaght on Thursday night, so can’t see him playing any part in Spurs season or the u21s. Heard from someone involved with one of the youth squads that he was set to go to Armenia with the 19s but wouldn’t treat it as gospel yet
Thank God this lad is notoriously grounded and hungry. He's clearly the envy of every Irish underage manager when he's selected for one of the other squads and they are all clearly referencing him when he's injured too.
unfortunately none of these did make a final day squad.
However, the Southampton players had a good reason - they were playing Newcastle in the play off for Premier League 2 Division Two
Southampton won two-one, and will play in Premier League 2 Division One next season, but I'm not sure who of these players will be overage for the competition.
The whole game is on YouTube, see below
With the U23 season I got to thinking about when we may see some of the players we've been tracking breaking through to a level where they might merit consideration for the senior squad. And while it's probably too late for all but a couple to be factors in the current campaign, it's possible that there could be a significant number of youngsters making the grade in time for the World Cup Qualifiers in 2020. So here is a list of uncapped youngsters (plus Obafemi, who's only played 10 minutes) who I think could step up to first team football over the course of the next 18 months - as a rough criteria I'm looking at players with significant experience at their club's highest underage level at least as that indicates that a first-team breakthrough next season is a decent possibility (some will already have first-team experience). So here goes...
Goalkeepers
Mark Travers, Caoimhin Kelleher
Defenders
Conor Masterson, Corey Whelan, Lee O'Connor, Jimmy Dunne, Tyreke Wilson, Nathan Collins, Ryan Nolan, Dara O'Shea, Aaron O'Driscoll, Corrie Ndaba
Midfielders
Danny Crowley, Connor Ronan, Jason Molumby, Conor Coventry, Josh Barrett, Olamide Shodipo, Jake Mulraney, Harry Charsley, Josh Cullen, Jordan Shipley, Jason Knight, Will Smallbone, Will Ferry, KianFlanagan
Forwards
Michael Obafemi, Troy Parrott, Aaron Connolly, Ryan Cassidy, Jonathan Afolabi, Adam Idah, Glen McAuley, Aaron Drinan, Aidan Keena, Rowan Roache, Tyriek WrightSo, not too shabby - I know not all of them will become international standard players in the next fifteen months (if ever), but if even two or three in each area do, our squad will have a lot more depth when the qualifiers for Qatar start, as there's only likely to be a couple of retirements. There's also a Nation's League campaign next Autumn which could give Stephen Kenny an opportunity to give debuts to the most promising prospects
So what do you lads think? Is it possible that we'll have a much-improved squad for the next campaign? How many of this group (of 37!) will be ready when the qualifiers kick off? Have I missed anybody? Are there LOI players who could be added to the list? Or have I included a bunch of players who really not contenders?
Kieran O'Hara and Luca Connell are two not on your list that could go a long way in a short space of time depending on their next club moves.
On the other hand Jake Mulraney is nowhere near international level and never will be. He's exceptionally quick but almost every other aspect of his game is poor.
Conor Masterson released on a free. Bit unexpected, but I think it's the start of his career now. He was never going to make it at Liverpool
Edit - actually, I'm mixing him up with Kelleher! But roughly the same point stands
Yes, completely forgot about Connell. Wasn't sure about O'Hara as I couldn't see a clear path to first-team action at Championship level for him next season, or alternatively being second-choice at least at ManU, but I guess one of those could happen.
As regards Mulraney, I concede I haven't seen him play, but he has been playing regularly for Hearts (same level as Horgan, Rooney and Hayes who are/were considered to be on the fringes of our squad). I didn't realise he's already 23, so it looks more like steady development for him rather than a potential meteoric rise over the next eighteen months.
Apparently Norwich were showing interest a few weeks back and Liverpool actually wanted him to stay, so hopefully this is a planned move to kick-start his first-team career: https://talksport.com/football/efl/5...remier-league/
Whelan does appear to have been released, although nothing is confirmed yet. I think Robbie Keane is the last Irish player to appear for Liverpool, definitely the last Irish player to appear for them in the Premier League - that was in January 2009, more than 10 years ago! Since then, off the top of my head, Daniel Cleary, Joe Rafferty, Alex O'Hanlon, and now apparently Whelan and Masterson, have been released with only a few appearances on the subs bench between them.
Any central defender at Liverpool is going to find it hard to get into the first team. Van Dijk is always going to start, so there's effectively only one spot available to them.
Piece here from the Liverpool Echo - https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/spor...pools-16278151
**Sorry for the essay :p **. Whelan is definitely leaving. As for Conor Masterson, thoughts below...
To be honest, I'm surprised that he's not sticking around. Only because he's yet to go out on loan. The normal formula is to given him a season in the championship or league 1 to see how he gets on, to have a true sense of where he's at.
He was very unfortunate with the injury he got at the end of last season. It meant he fell behind Nat Phillips and George Johnstone during preseason where he was still injured. Then Hoever (who is playing tonight in Tallaght for Netherlands u17s) came along and was absolutely stunning, getting promoted at age 16 to being around the first team squad.
Assuming Liverpool wanted to keep him, it's a high risk, high reward choice to leave. He could end up falling into the traps that Dan Cleary did. Signing for a championship side, almost breaking in, managerial change, then a year or two of stagnation before returning to Ireland. Young attackers and midfielders at the fringes of the first team always get an opportunity to play the last 15-20 minutes of a match and impress, whereas a centre half, it's generally "if it ain't broke...". Especially when the young player has no previous experience of senior football.
Clubs like Liverpool are very good at arranging loan deals which highly incentivise playing their players. For example, if the player is playing more than 75% of matches, Liverpool will cover the majority of the wages and if they play less than 25%, the loaning club has to pay a penalty fee. Clubs want to keep Liverpool happy as if they are considered a good fit, they can agree a series of loans with promising young players, year on year, and if not, then their rivals might be the ones receiving the same players.
The counter argument is that theoretically if he signs for say Luton, by Luton owning him, they should have more interest in giving him game time and building his value etc. etc. but it doesn't often work that way. Also, depending on the player, year after year loans can really hinder development if they struggle to adapt to living in a bedsit or a dodgy hotel for several months, years of transience. Mental health problems or depression is not uncommon, also players diets can be an issue as well.
In terms of Conor specifically. Good player, very comfortable on the ball. Reads the game very well, good in the air (as with a lot of young ball playing defenders, has the odd clanger in him).
To break in at Liverpool, you need to be absolutely outstanding, I always felt he lacked a yard of pace to make the grade there. Best case scenario, he signs for a Championship side with a manager prepared to give him a chance. He breaks in during preseason and is playing regularly at that level for a couple of years before making the step up to the premier league. Honestly though, I would have said the exact same thing for Cleary, Cleary was/is faster and more physical but not quite as smooth as Masterson. Fingers crossed for him.
And the winner is... https://www.premierleague.com/news/1221430
I know when clubs are struggling to avoid relegation kids rarely get a chance, but I was a little surprised Hughton didn't bring Connolly into the mix, even off the bench, to see what he could do at Premier League level. Ah well maybe he'll get a chance under a new manager next season. Would be great to see him break through.