Sam Curtis D Sheffield United b. 2005

**JR89** · 12/11/2023, 4:44 PM

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.

**Eirambler** · 12/11/2023, 6:29 PM

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.

**JR89** · 13/11/2023, 1:04 PM

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.

**Razors left peg** · 13/11/2023, 3:12 PM

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

**CraftyToePoke** · 13/11/2023, 4:36 PM

If the big names want him, take the money but with a loan agreed to somewhere he will continue playing as part of it ?

**Razors left peg** · 13/11/2023, 4:43 PM

Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke

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!

**Olé Olé** · 13/11/2023, 5:35 PM

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.

**Razors left peg** · 13/11/2023, 5:52 PM

Originally Posted by Olé Olé

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 see

**Eirambler** · 14/11/2023, 6:45 AM

Originally Posted by JR89

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.

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.

**seanfhear** · 14/11/2023, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by Eirambler

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.

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.

**JR89** · 14/11/2023, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by Eirambler

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.

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.

**Jolly Red Giant** · 14/11/2023, 9:16 PM

Originally Posted by seanfhear

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.

Brighton have a very good academy set-up and do have several prospects that have a lot of potential.

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.

**JR89** · 20/01/2024, 12:45 PM

Would be a good move for Curtis.

**tetsujin1979** · 25/01/2024, 3:53 PM

Move confirmed - signed a contract until 2027
https://www.sufc.co.uk/news/2024/jan...ungster-joins/

**Eirambler** · 25/01/2024, 4:47 PM

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.