Quotevan Dijk and Tierney? Tierney's not world class, but he's playing at a higher level than most Irish players.Originally Posted by seanfhear
It’s got Agent Hype written all over it. If these players were good enough they would almost certainly be going somewhere better than Celtic. Ok, the odd one should come through but the reality is most of them are probably not good enough to be at a better place than Celtic. The Idea that Football / Any Football Clubs are letting Great Talent slip through their fingers is bordering on laughable. When you see how much that rare diamond is worth then that makes no sense.
If Celtic wee that terrible then the odd fella that left Celtic would go on to be World beaters = = How often has that happened. Actually Celtic are probably gambling on getting the Odd Shock through. Some of the English Premiership clubs are paying eye watering wages to some young fellas and ironically enough that is possibly why they don’t make it = Too much too soon.
Just listened to Ger O'Brien who is head of the academy at St Pats being interviewed on the latest LOI Central Podcast. Well worth a listen to. He talks about the changes needed in Ireland due to players not being able to go over to England until they are 18.
I dont think the general public realize the impact that is going to have on player development in the coming years. He makes the point that the likes of Connolly, Parrott, Idah, Knight, Bazunu would all have not being able to join English clubs until after 18 and how we were already struggling to do well at international level. Without major investment in coaches its going to be a disaster on the horizon.
I know most of us here were probably aware of it but he speaks very well
Celtic make a great job of those two. Obviously Van Dijk came already fairly well developed from Holland, I assume.
Dembele also was brilliant as a young player there. There has been lots
Who is Dembele with now ? I get a bit confused with the Dembeles. That seems to be a common name.
Most of the best players (he mentions Cathal Heffernan,Adam Murphy and I don’t remember the other name) are on professional deals so would get good level of training or atleast adequate level of training until they turn 18. Didn’t do much harm to Andrew Moran or Sinclair Armstrong so far atleast.
People talk about facilities and all that but what’s more important over everything is more time on a football field, there needs to be a way financially to get these kids more training time to try challenge them and especially the ones in limbo, the ones who may not be ready for a professional deal but may need extra training to get to the level required.
Van Dijk was developed in Holland, both his Dutch club and Southampton have about as much if not more claim to his success than Celtic.
Every clock is right twice a day, just because one player bucked the trend isn’t going to change the fact that Celtic are dreadful at bringing through youth.
Considering his agent also advised him to go to Watford in the first place would tell me his agent isn’t very good and would tell he has been badly advised on this occasion.
Just been confirmed of signing for Celtic, and boy he has ****ed up so badly, playing in the 5th division of Scottish football is really going to improve him as a player.
Though not one running 5 minutes slow
I'd dispute Tierney not being world class, to be fair. I know he hasn't played Champions League knockouts but can't imagine it'll be long until he is.
There's no problem with Celtic, or any other Scottish premiership side, as long as players are getting first team football (in the SPL not in the Lowland League). The problem is that Celtic sign so many young players but give so few a genuine shot at first team football compared to English teams of a similar standard (by that I mean upper end Championship teams for the most part).
I've said it before but, if a player wants to maximise his chances at Celtic, he should only go there if they've paid a few million for him. Because then he'll be given a chance if he's any good at all because they'll want to justify the outlay. These young lads that they pick up for around £100k are just free hits for them, maybe one in 10 will make the grade and they'll sell on for millions. What happens to the other nine in the end is their own problem.
Celtic have already made a profit from the Connell, Afolabi, O'Connor and Frimpong signings by selling on Frimpong. If the other three never kick a ball and sit out their contracts it will still have been worthwhile and profitable for Celtic.
Despite the spin I can only assume Lawal has gone there because he has either been badly advised or, quite simply, nobody else offered a multi year deal.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
There is a problem at Celtic when they develop as many internationals as the likes of Dundee United, Inverness, Hibernian etc when they want to consider themselves a “big club”.
Considering Lawal was advised to go to Watford on the first place would indicate to me that he’s been badly advised. I saw a picture recently of Ryan Cassidy, Darragh Burns & Dawson Devoy who all went on trial at Watford, one signed and the other 2 stayed in Ireland, it’s striking how well Dawson Devoy and Darragh Burns look playing mens football at their age yet Cassidy on loan at Accrington Stanly lions totally out of his depth playing men’s football. Probably indicates in itself why Watford was probably not a wise move for Lawal and because of that it doesn’t really surprise me that he’s been badly advised about going to Celtic.
How do you know how well Burns and Devoy would have fared on loan to Accrington Stanley after a while with Watford's underage teams?
None of that is comparable.
Probably not much better because it would have been the same mistake made.
CSAD Will you ever give it a rest about Celtic. Painful to read such whinging.
Celtics first interest is not in 'bringing through' players. Either for Ireland of anyone else. Its winning trophies. They sign a lot of players, both youth and cheapish younger pros with first team experience elsewhere. In the hope that some of them will be a 'hit'. Coaching and development panel league structure aside, its then mostly up to the players themselves to become that 'hit'. In over 20 years of closely following Celtic they have always had some 'youth' either getting a run in the first team or making the bench. The majority of these players that got a chance turned out to be not good enough in the end. That's football though. You have 10 kids all trying but only 1 of them will make it in the game. Off the top of my head I've seen Celtic play the likes of youth players Jamie Smith and Ross Wallace in massive European games. Darren O Dea played against Milan in the San Siro and got more than a fair crack of the whip at Parkhead. The foot.ie hero Cillian Sheridan played and scored for the first team. Aiden Mcgeady was good enough to get his chance at 16 or 17. Tony Watt scored the winner vs Barca. Mikey Johnston has had plenty of opportunity in recent seasons, getting the nod over established players at Ibrox etc etc etc etc. I could go on and on. Basically if a young player is better than his peers at Celtic, he has a decent shot at first team action. That many of those I listed as examples went on to have medicare careers tells you a story about the competitiveness of football at the highest level.
The dude abides....
Even taking just Celtic's handling of Luca Connell in isolation, the club have inarguably mismanaged the career prospects of a talented young player enormously. He was playing regularly, and excelling, in the the Championship (obviously a far greater standard than Scotland) and since his ill-advised move to Celtic his career has been set back to an almost incredible degree.
Celtic and Rangers left the reserve league in 2019, meaning their youngsters play only meaningless friendlies in empty, God-forsaken, windswept fields around Scotland.
Any agent who suggests a talented young player make the move to Scotland is guilty of terrible incompetence at best, and simple self-interested and inscrupulous greed at worst.
Last edited by Trequartista20; 18/07/2021 at 11:03 PM.
"due to players not being able to go over to England until they are 18"
What do u mean? I didnt here this. Are u saying only adults can sign for uk clubs?
Diggs, there isn't any txt spk in RLP's post. What point are you trying to make?
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