I think Liamo was just enquiring about the gap between first team and reserve.Originally Posted by pineapple stu
That's brilliant - two players I hadn't even heard of making a breakthrough!
Both of those lads left Premier League sides to move to the Championship clubs during the summer too. Watson left West Ham and Gilbert left West Brom. Interesting route to the first team. They may yet rely on the uncertainty of the loan market but it's great to see them both earn senior exposure in this manner first.
With the January transfer window opening in a few days hopefully a few of our under 23 players will get moves in January - either on loan or as permanent transfers - because a lot of them have been playing little or no competitive football this season.
Molumby - I think he was right to stay and try for a first team place in the autumn but it hasn't worked out. Should have a choice of Championship clubs though after his performances with Millwall last season.
Kilkenny - seems to have stalled at Bournemouth but did at least make his league debut. Needs games though.
Obafemi - Out of favour at Southampton. Might interest a Championship club in a permanent transfer.
Masterson - doesn't seem to be trusted at QPR - should maybe drop another division on loan to get a run of games.
Coventry - possibly injured? Unlikely to play much at West Ham either way though.
Connell - hasn't played any first team football in close to two years now. Surely he will finally be allowed to go on loan in January - Celtic's treatment of him bordering on negligent at this stage.
Ferry - made the Southampton bench a few times last season but seems to have fallen back since.
Hodge - quite a few of the other city players around his age have gone on loan, including Bazunu, would be good to see him go to somewhere in League 1 for a few months.
Travers - needs first team football but will probably be retained as second choice keeper at Bournemouth.
Parrott - a different situation to the others but it's just not working out at Millwall between injuries and the way the team is set up. He turns 19 in a month so still very young obviously but Millwall doesn't seem to be the right place for him. There has been some talk of him being recalled and sent elsewhere. I wouldn't have a problem with a move to League 1 or an Eredivisie team or somewhere else for a few months to see how he goes in a different environment.
In terms of our under 23 players that have been playing this season the clear standouts so far have been O'Shea, Collins and Knight. Bazunu's performances before he got injured were really encouraging as well and Kelleher's short run in the Liverpool first team was great to see, although it now presumably means no loan move this season.
Danny McNamara and Jake Doyle Hayes have also both done really well in Scotland and Mark McGuinness is getting great first team experience out on loan at Ipswich. Scully has done well at Lincoln also.
In the negative column, other than Parrott's spell at Millwall, O'Connor's loan move to Tranmere has been a bit of a disaster - he has lost his place in the team despite being the only right back in the squad and a new right back seems to be their main transfer priority next month. He doesn't seem to have transferred well to men's football at all in the last year and you'd have to worry about his prospects at this stage if he's not good enough for a mid table League 2 team - his place in our Under 21 team could be under pressure in the next campaign as well.
Similarly Afolabi hasn't really managed to break into the Dundee first team, although he did suffer an unfortunately timed injury. But it's a concern that he isn't first choice in a division that would be weaker than the League of Ireland for comparison.
Ryan Cassidy seems to be struggling for minutes at Accrington as well and Aaron Bolger is another I'd be concerned about. 6 months left on his contract at Cardiff and you'd wonder where he goes from here. Probably back to the League of Ireland but he didn't make much of an impression during his loan move to Shamrock Rovers.
Possibly O'Connor, Afolabi, Cassidy and Bolger are four that won't turn out to be as good as we might have hoped a couple of years ago.
Last edited by Eirambler; 31/12/2020 at 1:24 PM.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
The Athletic did a piece on "The 20 Young Premier League players to watch out for in 2021", selecting one from each club. No set criteria for making the list but it is primarily players without a first team appearance. One Irish player on the list- Mipo Odubeko at West Ham.
I fully expect him to play and star for England under the residency rule and for him to be hated to the levels of Rice in the future.
Obviously cynical and hope I'm wrong. He wouldn't be far off senior cap for us now, basically the same situation as Parrott when he was capped, so we'll see soon enough.
Full list is here: https://theathletic.com/2300583/2021...rospects-2021/
Also includes former U16 striker Louis Barry, and Ireland-born Denis Cirkin, and it mentions that he's also eligible for Latvia
I find these kind of articles interesting but unreliable. The Guardian do a next gen series every year profiling what they think are the top 50 or so young players from around the world but their rate of success in terms of picking out future stars is terrible to be honest.
I was looking through their list for players born in 1997 to see how they got on (all of the players are now 23) and very few, maybe five or six at most, have lived up to the hype. Maybe The Athletic will do a better job of picking out talent but it shows what a lottery this kind of thing can be.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...world-football
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
It would be interesting to do one for Ireland right about now. If only to see how many times each member of the squad gets written off over on YBIG before this season even ends.
Don't think I'm brave enough to do one for 2028. 7 years time - there could be 11 year olds today that would be in that squad!
Here's a stab at one for Euro 2024 if we were to qualify.
Gavin Bazunu (22)
Caoimhin Kelleher (25)
Mark Travers (25)
Seamus Coleman (35)
Matt Doherty (32)
Dara O'Shea (25)
Nathan Collins (23)
Mark McGuinness (23)
John Egan (31)
Enda Stevens (33)
Sean Roughan (20)
Jayson Molumby (24)
Jason Knight (23)
Josh Cullen (28)
Joe Hodge (21)
Alan Browne (29)
Will Smallbone (24)
Robbie Brady (32)
Aaron Connolly (24)
Troy Parrott (22)
Adam Idah (23)
Callum Robinson (29)
Evan Ferguson (19)
Eight currently uncapped players. Probably pushing it a bit with Coleman but he's such a warrior that you wouldn't rule it out.
That list will probably look ridiculous in three and a half years time.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
The beauty of your list is that it demonstrates that only a couple from each age bracket/underage side need to make it to improve the senior squad. Odubeko, Obafemi, Cassidy, Kayode are examples of strikers that have a strong chance of making it to a level worthy of senior recognition that don't make your squad. Even in midfield, Bowden, Noss, Grant, Okoflex, Scully, Ferry, Taylor and Connell are potential internationals if they can maintain or, in Connell's case, kickstart their progression.
At the back, I really think that Collins and O'Shea look to have very bright futures. I would have them in the same bracket as Knight and Connolly for my list of long-term squad mainstays. Parrott and Idah could easily join them but have more to do in men's football for me at present.
He can't qualify for England on residency. The only way he could play for them is if he had an English parent or grandparent.
I was way off here, it was actually predictions made in 2003 for Euro 2008, which England went on to not qualify for: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/2641675.stm
That's not true. You can gain residency eligibility by acuquiring British Nationality while also fulfilling the below criteria
"He has engaged in a minimum of five years education under the age of 18 within the territory of the relevant association."
So if he moved to England before he turned 13, he became eligible for England soon as he turned 18 in October last year. I'm not sure exactly when he left Ireland but he could easily be eligible.
The last I can find of him playing for St Joseph's is in 2015: http://dairewalsh.com/?p=3630
He would have been 12 at the time as he turned 18 in October 2020. He could have been schooled in England for 15/16, 16/17, 17/18, 18/19 and 19/20 before turning 18 in October 2020.
So, if he moved to Man City (his first English club) in time to bring the 15/16 school year, assuming the criteria set out by CP is accurate, he would eligible for England.
This Nigerian website reckons he relocated to England with family at 12 in time for the 15/16 school year:
https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/rea...76126419175533
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