Mason Melia F St Pats b.2007

[Eirambler]

I doubt any chaos at Spurs will directly affect him as he's unlikely to be playing first team football there when he first goes over, unless he's an absolutely exceptional talent. In which case he'd be better moving now (I appreciate he can't go to the UK until he's 18, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's better off as a result).

[Acornvilla]

My feeling on it is that when to leave is very much a case by case thing, given he and his family already turned down a move to man city with loan they feel being closer to home until he's 18 is best for him for whatever reason, which so far has served him will. We all know the next step is the one where we've lost many promising players, or they show up again mid 20's as jobbing internationals!

He's been looking far ahead of his peers for underage international sides for years but it's only the last 6 months really that he's begun to establish himself as an option that really contributed at Pats, all we can hope is that upward trajectory continues and in 12 odd months he's built up a lot of experience and resilience. I think his technical level is high, he seems to make good decisions on the pitch, I think all of these things will improve before he lands in the UK.

I could see him signing in January 26, spending 5 months playing u23 and training with the seniors, making some cameos if he really does continue to improve at the rate we would all like him to, and then after the following pre season go on loan somewhere. I do think as mentioned below, he is considerably more physically prepared than Curtis just as a result of his natural size, he could be a very strong and pacy man in a few years.

Maybe Spurs will be knocking around the Conference league by then and actually have ample games for the kids, there's so many variables at spurs, especially the ownership keeping spending relatively tight for one, they've had a few teenagers in the starting XI recently. I find them a fun drama to keep an eye on, so looking forward to having an Irish angle, a part of me still think Ange finds a way to turn it around

[passinginterest]

This feels like a really significant step for the League of Ireland. I'm sure Melia won't be too aware of the wider expectation, he'll have enough of his own, but if he's a success and justifies the transfer fee it sets a great new precedent and shows the genuine benefits to the League of Brexit rules preventing players moving before they turn 18. Hopefully there's a couple more similar deals in the next year or two, to maybe reduce the expectation on this single move. With all the positivity around the league, growing crowds, Rovers in the Conference league knock out stage, expansion of the league structure, alignment of the domestic calendar, academies, etc. we could be looking at a new era defining moment.

No pressure...

[Olé Olé]

Some interesting coverage of the move. Melia's uncle Clive Clarke was on Joe Molloy's podcast and gave the impression they were always going to hold out for an English move and that Spurs were the first club he went to, he liked it and they have a record with young players.

Malachy Clerkin clearly knows his stuff in the Irish Times. States that the fee paid by Celtic for Liam Scales at 600k being the record was a "damning indictment of the status of the domestic game."

The fact that Clerkin reckons Celtic paid UCD the 600k as opposed to Rovers is another "damning indictment of the status of the domestic game." Christ.

[Acornvilla]

It would be interesting to see a list of highest total final fees paid for transfers, after add ons and sell ons etc. Bazunu has been worth 3-4 million to Rovers so far for instance. They've a few more smaller examples of this already too. Even Seamie Coleman ended up being 400k.

I do think the up front fee is by far the most important thing, as it trends in the right direction even leaving Melia or the large shadow of Evan Ferguson out of it, events like the random huge Matt Doherty payout will become more regular too you'd hope.