It just shows you how well Forest did to keep Mighten. WBA will want to tie up Rogers soon I'm sure. It's so hard especially when the group is so well represented by not the main academies. Large number of championship/L1 clubs with talented players McCann - Coventry to Man Utd Knight - Ipswich to Man City Tbc Sarmiento Bondswell Gelhardt Greenwood
Mumba too, Sunderland's scholars all signed recently and Mumba was definitely not there (I don't think Greenwood was either but need to double-check).
Looks like Bali is staying so wonder who the second player is ? https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spo...ews/jack-ross-offers-five-sunderland-14846101 Of his decision to include the quintet, Ross said: “Denver, Luke, Bali, Andrew and Elliot will come to Portugal with us, and obviously so will Ethan (Robson) but he’s pretty much in the first-team squad.
But you can't tie these boys down, Knight had signed a scholarship with at least 1 years pro deal (I think 2 though) tacked on the end but we have still lost him because he wanted to go and once that happens there isn't much that can be done. That could happen to Mighten at any point still - presumably until he is in the first team squad as a regular
I think the positive perspective for us is that he hadn't signed anything before signing this current deal and was really happy with what the club have communicated with him. Considering his two best friends are Dekel and Bondswell and they look to be leaving Forest it says a lot about him/his family/David Johnson in keeping him grounded & focused as he felt his best place now is Forest. Forest clearly put the hard yards in though and I am really pleased about that. I guess all players will have certain points where they may feel they need to make 'the step up' and clearly Knight and the people around him felt it was right now which in a way is a pity. I looked forward to seeing him play for Ipswich in the next couple of years. But on the other hand there is City and those facilities and opportunities.
Club had always been confident he was on board, but the offers on the table were huge and life altering to the family. He was given the works at Ipswich - nutritionist, personal S&C coach, and he had 3 agents in place to deal with rights issues, football side and legal side so it was very hard work. He;s played for the 23s and started the Youth Cup ties and clear pathway in place......but then heard just after end of season that his parents heads had now been turned and that was that. From all I hear, they are very well grounded, sensible people so sure the decision has been made with the utmost understanding of what it entails and is the right move for him. A real shame I won't get to see him breakthrough - but would he have done in this league with the physicality on display? We'll never know now but I will continue to follow his career with great interest - and presume that great progress will result in further funds to ITFC
Also notice Armstrong Okoflex from this group hasn't signed a scholarship with Arsenal according to Jeorge Bird.
Arsenal didn't list him or Okonkwo; some fans suggest they're just getting pro deals instead but Okoflex isn't 17 until February or something, so would waste half a season if that's the case. Weird.
Okoflex must think there is Amaechi, Saka ahead of me so why stay. Josh Dasilva and Armstrong Okoflex not in training with Arsenal. Instead undertaking personal training sessions away from the club.— Jeorge Bird (@jeorgebird) July 2, 2018
Just a quick one - what are the current rules between players leaving Cat 1 academies to go to others opposed to Cat 2 ones? A lot of whinging on ITFC boards and social media feeds and blame of EPPP when i think reality is that even without it Ben and others can go anyway if we can't offer them what they want in reality
Not much difference between cat 1 & 2 clubs, both play each other, just a case of small criteria separating 1 &2, the big difference is at cat 3 level, facility and game wise
Interesting choice. Not impossible but still got John-Jules & Balogun eligible for FA Youth Cup in his position this season.
9 of the 51 players from last season's England U16s - this coming season's U17s - have now changed clubs in the last year. Matthew Bondswell - N.Forest to RB Leipzig Rafael Garcia - Fulham to Everton Ben Knight - Ipswich to Man City Noni Madueke - Tottenham to PSV Charlie McCann - Coventry to Man Utd Benni Smales-Braithwaite - Man City to Southampton Seb Thompson - Liverpool to Unattached (possibly Leicester) Daniel Jinadu - Chelsea to West Ham Fynn Talley - Arsenal to Brighton Further to those, there has been considerable speculation about the futures of Joe Gelhardt, Jeremy Sarmiento, Dejan Tekek (apparently very close to Brighton now), Yunus Musah and Armstrong Okoflex. These are interesting times.
Junioren-Nationalspieler🏴 für die #RBLU17! 🆕Matthew #Bondswell (16 Jahre) ist von @NFFC zu #RBLeipzig gewechselt🔃 und hat in dieser Woche mit unseren B-Junioren die Saisonvorbereitung aufgenommen.Alle Infos und Testspiele zur U19 & U17👉 https://t.co/kHutbNr2zh pic.twitter.com/CMpVBMCQYj— RB Leipzig (@RBLeipzig) July 11, 2018 Our second youth player to Leipzig
Armstrong Okoflex is set to join Celtic. Supposedly it came over on one of the big screens at Parkhead last night.
Quite a few of this group will be making big strides this season in my opinion. Nathan Wood is a new name on the #Boro bench - he has travelled with the First Team to Germany just weeks after joining the club as a first-year scholar...Here's more ➡️ https://t.co/I1hRY6yRti #UTB pic.twitter.com/SWf1Wufcbm— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) July 14, 2018
As someone who doesn't know this age group well, could somebody give an introduction for this future U17 group? Are they any good? Who are the standout players? etc.
Some of the other lads like @Garibaldi11 are more up on this than me but it's not a as strong as the foden-sancho-cho generation. I would say not even as strong as last years (garner, greenwood, jones laird). But one's to look out for include Sarmiento (wing/am currently at charlton I believe), Ben Knight (no10 /am, just moved to man city) Gelhardt (number 9 - wigan) and bondswell (defence, liepzig). I also always liked Noni Madueke who just moved to PSV but he faded a bit last year. Mighten's an ok winger who just signed a new contract at forest.
I think the depth of very good talent in 2002s is better than 2001s. Think their results didn't do them justice last season. Squads seemed to be changed frequently for one reason or another with injuries playing a large part. I also think it is a young squad (club15s) in key positions like midfield and also in attack a side that will get better once they physically mature a bit more. Besides Rogers they still got a bit of strengthening to do but they not short skill, creativity and talent. GK Moulden, Jinadu, Sanneh, Trafford RB Livramento RCB Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Simeu, Mengi LCB Roberts , Dorsett LB Bondswell, Cirkin CM Musah, Peart-Harris, Hodge, Azeez, Hoare, Madueke, Pendlebury AMF/WF (creative passing & can dribble) Knight, Carvalho WF (line runners/ speedy dribblers) Rogers, Mighten, Sarmiento, Okoflex CF Gelhardt , Greenwood I think what will be key is settling on CB and CM positions. Harwood-Bellis will need to find his partner. With Wood back from injury I think it could be him but the other options will be there above. This group has also often gone with Dorsett/Roberts to cover LB in the squad. Not impressed with Dorsett so far, Roberts looked decent in those last few games. I've seen quite a bit of Bobdswell - he is a champion athlete and has amazing acceleration with and without the ball. Spurs fans rate Cirkin quite a bit. Would say their best defensive player in new intake that includes Walcott & Binks but can't judge fully as haven't seen a lot of him. I like Musah in MF. Also Peart-Harris impressed in last few games and looks a versatile MF sort (can play deep & higher up the pitch & I think Juni sees some similarities with RLC). Both got size and mobility plus carry the ball. Hodge looks nice too. Small but he gets around the pitch and decent in tight spaces. All three were 15s last season. Azeez also u15 but can'yt seem to remember much of him. The question will be asked can Hoare, Madueke & Pendlebury get their spots back ? Hoare & Madueke particularly. Madueke always looked comfortable on the ball and forward thinking but how was the rest of his game ? But if you balance him off the first 3 ? Carvalho, Knight, Rogers, Mighten, Sarmiento look a nice mix behind goalscoring/hard working 9 like Gelhardt and Rogers can also cover the position. Knight glides off challenges for a small guy. Carvalho also small but picks up pockets of space nicely & always looks busy. Rogers is key to the balance because he has size , close control and dribbling where as Mighten/Sarmiento may be the Sancho options in the squad. Beat players with trickery and dribbles from standing start or line running speed. Think the only 2 positions lacking depth are right-back and centre-forward. We didn't see the best of Greenwood but heard good things so he could provide comp for Gelhardt. For Livramento the competition seems unknown at this stage ie Robinson, Caiger, Dennis. Anyone seen much of Cody Drameh at Fulham ?
I like the 02s. Might be cause i've seen more of them than I did the 01s at this point, but I think they're pretty stacked. There's so many small + incredibly technical players, maybe like Garibaldi says, they lack a touch of physicality and have to grow. There's a lot of 5'5/5'6 players. Hodge is particularly small, not sure if he's Rossitter or Lucas Torreira yet. Eerily similar to the former. The one game they've struggled in was v Holland in the US. That Dutch side had Brobbey, Ihatteren + Gravenberch, all lads involved in their winning Euros team this summer. Ihatteren was my player of the tournament. Gravenberch is massive and looks amazing and I don't rate Brobbey that much but he's built like a truck and has been for years. So i'm not surprised they struggled a little. I think they'll come through really strongly as they mature. People like Fiorini might come through from the edges too, as people always do in the final year. But like the 00s, we'll be sitting here when the Euros squad is announced next summer talking about the excess of talent that is missing out.
I'm a fan of Drameh. From what I've seen of him he's looked very good - as shown by his involvement with Fulham's 23s this pre-season already, but others who have watched him more than me have had high praise. Other players from Fulham who'd be worth a shout is RW/RB Franck Amekortu, as well as striker/winger Khavarn Williams.