And Kevin Zefi reported to be headed for Inter:
https://twitter.com/noriordan/status...522894336?s=19
And Kevin Zefi reported to be headed for Inter:
https://twitter.com/noriordan/status...522894336?s=19
i think it'll happen a lot more frequently now. especially kids around Zefi's age. At some point during Brexit, not really sure when, perhaps now, the EU exemption regarding the movement of players under 18 will no longer apply to England and Scotland, meaning their academies can't bring in U18s from outside the country (except when the family moves to the UK for entirely non-footballing reasons). That's the reason Evan Ferguson's move to Brighton was cancelled.
So with England and Scotland off the table, there'll be plenty of European clubs looking to Ireland and plenty of Irish kids looking to Europe.
Hard to tell if it's a good thing yet, it's certainly the great unknown. For better or worse, England has been the primary route for the past 30 years. Obviously it's closer to home and easier to arrange flights to and from Dublin and there's no language barrier. But the structures in place in English clubs regarding reserve football often make the transition harder and generally English clubs are financially sound enough that they rarely need to rely on academy players.
I'd say you'll have some kids sticking around till 18, that was briefly en vogue with the likes of Aaron Bolger, Trev Clarke and Brandon Kavanagh sticking around at Rovers, it looked like that might become more prevalent. But with those lads struggling and with the departure of Bazunu to England, someone else left Rovers who i can't remember now, then the likes of Sinclair and Zefi look destined for Europe now, it looks like they haven't been really able to keep the brightest talents. Whether Italy or Inter is ideal is another question, my only recent knowledge of them is the handling of Ryan Nolan which hasn't really worked out too well. Maybe in a decade France or Germany or Spain could become the prime location
Bohs have kept Andy Lyons and there's a few other good lads like Tierney, Grant, Ferguson and Devoy who have only played in Ireland so far. But they primarily seem to be doing a good job of signing lads who return home from the UK and integrating them into first team football (Leahy, Talbot, Mandriou, Finnerty, Levingstone, Thompson, McAuley etc etc).
It'll certainly be an interesting few years...
Last edited by elatedscum; 26/07/2020 at 1:30 PM.
Great post and very true on all fronts in terms of the variety of routes and uncertainty (like everything else at present).
I think James Furlong is the lad you are referring to that left Rovers.
As things stand December 31st is the Brexit cut off. Players need to be 16 before then to go to England.
Hard to know for sure if players are better staying or going at that age. Take for example Bazunu. If he stayed he'd have played another year or more of first team football in Ireland. But then he might learn a lot about goalkeeping in the Man City academy too, especially the distribution side of the position working alongside someone like Ederson.
Maybe signing players and loaning them back, with "holiday" stints in the UK academies alongside first team football in Ireland might be an option, if that can be done legally.
It's a while away yet but we're going to be looking at a slightly depleted looking Under 21 team for the rest of the qualifiers. Strong probability that Connolly, Molumby and O'Shea will no longer be available. Potentially Obafemi, Smallbone, Knight, maybe even Idah might be senior callups as well and Travers will presumably stay with the Seniors also.
Even then though, we still have the potential to put together a decent enough squad.
GK:Kelleher/Bazunu
RB: L O'Connor/McNamara
LB: T O'Connor/Burke/Clarke
CB: Collins/Scales
CB: Masterson/O'Hora
CM: Coventry/Connell
CM: Knight/Hodge/Taylor
CM: Smallbone/Ronan
LW: Ferry/Scully
RW: Obafemi/Kilkenny/Elbouzedi
CF: Idah/Parrott/Afolabi
Getting a bit tight on cover in central defence if O'Shea moves up, but otherwise still looking pretty strong.
I think you can forget about Connolly, Obafemi, Molumby, Smallbone and O'Shea all things going well. They're more than worth a senior call up at this point.
Without them it's still shockingly strong when you compare it to some of the squads we had before where, like when we had a clubless Grego-Cox leading the line.
Training camp squad set to be announced, and will cause the postponement of Shamrock Rovers v Bohemians: https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-39476695.html
Rovers have requested for the game to be postponed because Neil Farrugia and Liam Scales are in Jim Crawford's plans for a gathering in Northern Ireland in preparation for the remainder of their qualifying campaign.
Bohemians duo Danny Grant and Danny Mandroiu will also be with the U-21 team so their boss Keith Long has no issue with the Rovers request which will have to be granted.
That'd be my 23:
Kelleher
Bazunu
Maher
L O’Connor
McNamara
O’Shea
Masterson
Scales
Collins
T O’Connor
Clarke
Coventry
Knight
Ronan
Taylor
Mandriou
Smallbone
Elbouzedi
Farrugia
Scully
Obafemi
Afolabi
Hale
With Conor McCarthy unlucky to miss out at centre-back. I can't see either Hale or Clarke getting the call though, so replace them for Grant and Leahy
After the last couple of days I'd be pleasantly surprised to see Obafemi involved. I can see him picking up a "knock" beforehand and withdrawing.
I don't see the sense in having an under-21 training camp, whilst English clubs are in their pre-season and Irish clubs are mid-season. A disruption to all really, and the players coming from England would have to get special allowances not to have to quarantine, just to have some training sessions..
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
The training camp will be held in Northern Ireland, so no need to isolate.
Jim Crawford's first game will be away to Italy, followed by a home game a few days later against an Iceland side they lost to - given the last game is against Luxembourg, those two games are basically the entirety of their campaign - so if results are negative, that'll be it for them. The two games Italy have in hand are home and away to Sweden, so you could easily see Italy drop points, so if you were to draw against Italy and win against Iceland you'd be in great shape.
You've possibly lost Connolly, Idah, Molumby and Parrott for October. So there'll need to be a bit of a rebuild as we'll be relatively light on attacking players. Maybe Farrugia and Elbouzedi on the wings and Obafemi up top. Otherwise Afolabi leading the line? Either way, with a new manager and a few players graduating to the seniors, there's plenty of work to do.
Shame they can't arrange a friendly, probably NI 21s would be the only option but they're playing 2 games this window... Maybe you'd be able to have a friendly with Scotland or Wales and play it in the Brandywell? Both sides are only playing one game, Wales early and Scotland late in the window.
Wouldn't be surprised but hope his attitude is to arrive along and prove his worth and push for an October or November call-up to the seniors...
Will smallbone and obafemi can make their way over together from Southampton.... if they need a lift I will pick them up
A little light up front but the rest of the field looks solid. Surely Anthony Scully deserves a place now since he was getting regular starts and goals at Lincoln before Covid kicked in.
#prayforluca
From senior squad involvement to missing out on the Under 21s in the space of a year - a cautionary tale for others.
Hodge, Scully and Kilkenny must have been close as well.
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