Derby letting Luke Thomas go to Barnsley for 1.2m does seem a bit odd. #barnsleyfc appear to be very active in the transfer market. There's lots of speculation some of which simply aint true. I gather #dcfc Luke Thomas transfer is currently the most advanced.— Andy Giddings (@SportGids1) June 11, 2019
It does, though I don't understand why do Derby let him go so easily, looked like a good prospect last season.
Don't think they can make a definitive decision on a player like him who does have some decent talent to kick on. Can only be a financial decision because they are walking a tight rope there.
Reece Oxford’s move to Augsburg is on the brink of collapse with the West Ham defender now the focus of interest from West Brom and Middlesbrough. @SamWallaceTel reports - https://t.co/SjlNqmH4g3— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) June 12, 2019
Aston Villa eye £10m bid for Southampton left-back Matt Targett | @mcgrathmike https://t.co/3qHz35z9KT pic.twitter.com/eLcopAfFcl— The Sun Football ⚽ (@TheSunFootball) June 12, 2019
Chelsea 'WILL serve transfer ban this summer'... as their appeal against sanctions will not be heard until after the window closes on August 8 https://t.co/sTwCX8HAJf— Mail Sport (@MailSport) June 12, 2019
Like I’ve said before, Sam Wallace is one of the few journalists that cares or is knowledgeable about the England Youth Development teams. England's youth development has slumped since tournament success of 2017 share England won the Toulon tournament in 2018 but finished ninth this year Sam Wallace 13 JUNE 2019 • 8:00 AM The Toulon tournament went as badly for England this month as the recent run of junior men’s competitions have for the Football Association: three defeats in the group games, and if you thought the Nations League went on too long this was even worse. The team then had a four-day wait to play a ninth-place play-off. No overnight flight home on Friday after the final group defeat to Chile for Paul Simpson’s men. No quiet shuffle through Luton airport’s VIP fast-track in the early hours. The Toulon tournament requires every team to take part in a post-knockout classification stage which in England’s case was a one-off game against Guatemala for the honour of ninth place. They secured that with a 4-0 win on Tuesday and were finally free to go home before the semi-finals. England Under-20s teams have won the Toulon tournament for the previous three years under three different managers – Gareth Southgate, Neil Dewsnip and Aidy Boothroyd – so the FA can at least point to a vintage in that regard. This year they were up against older squad profiles, including Japan’s prospective Olympic team although coming last in a group including Portugal and Chile was not what they would have had in mind. The Uefa Pro License group studying with the English FA were there to observe the tournament as part of their coursework, a cohort that includes Frank Lampard, and no doubt there was much to analyse. Last chance glory saloon for the men: the England Under-21s begin their European championships campaign against France in Cesena in northern Italy on Tuesday, a short, tough tournament in which the nation’s record of winning is frankly dreadful. An England Under-21s team have not won any version of it since 1984, although this time, with the focus on the women’s team in the World Cup in France and rather less scrutiny perhaps it might be different. Certainly Boothroyd’s Under-21s squad does have some excellent Premier League talent, including Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Phil Foden, James Maddison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin who are among those extending their season until potentially June 30. For the England male junior teams it has been a very poor year indeed in tournament football after the golden summer of 2017 when the FA’s junior sides brought home two world titles (Under-17s, Under-20s) and one European championships (Under-19s). Gareth Southgate and Aidy Boothroyd discussing things like football at an England training sessionCREDIT: GETTY IMAGES That was a high benchmark and the FA has slumped quite spectacularly off its stool. Denied by the clubs a whole range of players for last summer’s Under-19 European championships – which is also a qualifying tournament for the Under-20s World Cup - the team struggled and as a result will now not defend their Under-20s title in Poland in October. For the Under-17s competing at their Euros in Ireland in May the situation became farcical when one selected player was ineligible to feature. The FA had originally hoped the Fifa-paperwork for 16-year-old Arsenal midfielder Yunus Musah would come through in time for him to represent England but it turned out that it arrived only on the day that they travelled home. He would have been eligible for the knockout stages if only his team had made it that far. In an era when many young players have options to represent different nations, much of the FA’s talent identification work goes into securing those they want to represent England. In this case, they left it too late. Tournament success is not the ultimate indicator of successful development, although it is certainly one that is hard to ignore. It has been a better year for the Under-18s who are not an age group who have sanctioned Uefa tournaments. The Under-17s beat Brazil in October but struggled to assemble the same team again come May. Why has it happened? There have been some major changes at the FA. The talent identification department, based at St George’s Park underwent a restructure in October 2017 and its then head, Richard Allen, left at that time. Earlier that year also saw the departure of the FA’s first head of people and team development, Jonny Zneimer, who had been seconded from the agency Lane4 which worked closely with the FA for the previous two years under technical director Dan Ashworth. Those changes to staff at St George’s Park had begun almost as soon as that successful summer and autumn of 2017 was over and the improvement in tournament performance culminated with fourth place for the men’s senior team at the World Cup in Russia. Since then Ashworth has left to go to Brighton and Hove Albion and has been replaced by Les Reed. It looks likely the Under-17s 2017 World Cup-winning coach Steve Cooper will also be on his way soon, to Swansea City. Both of them represent success stories for the FA’s development teams, proving that successful administrators and coaches in youth development can move on to careers in senior football. It also asks questions about what comes next. It comes at a time when there has never been more competition to plan the success of national teams years in advance, especially given the huge player resources of major European nations like France, Spain and Germany. For instance, the Liverpool Under-18s captain Paul Glatzel, Merseyside-born to German parents, began by representing England at junior level but has since transitioned to Germany having been keenly pursued by their scouts. Identified early by the FA as one with great potential, these are the kind of players who have to be persuaded and developed. It may yet be the case that the women’s team at France 2019 deliver the FA the senior tournament success that it has sought in recent years. The Under-21s final in Udine falls one week earlier than the women’s final in Lyon on July 7 and an England team in one or both would represent a good end to the season for the FA, which finds itself a long way from those happier times in 2017.
📄🖋️ | Barnsley Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Luke Thomas.#YouReds | #WelcomeThomas pic.twitter.com/Nt9idgaULz— Barnsley FC (@BarnsleyFC) June 13, 2019
Found this interview with Marcus Edwards really I interesting for those interested. Really hope he gets a good move this Summer one way another if that means a loan or permanent move. Such a talent and if he gets a Club that really believes in him, it could make all the difference. “Some people don’t understand me”. I got to know the real Marcus Edwards. His first major UK interview: https://t.co/lgve3rjeLB— Jack Pitt-Brooke (@JackPittBrooke) June 14, 2019
One of the interesting things about next season is what Arsenal do with Willock, Nketiah, Nelson, Smith-Rowe, Saka, Amaechi. Not sure all can be kept happy in the attacking areas. Not even talking about the one's below this group. #BristolCity assistant coach Jamie McAllister has been studying for his UEFA Pro licence badges this summer, which involved watching the recent Toulon U20s tournament (with fellow students Frank Lampard and Exeter's Matt Taylor) and #AFC's Eddie Nketiah. https://t.co/PXfpZwwTan— Gregor MacGregor (@GeeMacGee) June 15, 2019
Always find these type of lists fascinating so just thought I’d post it here. Below are the rankings of players born in 1999 or later who have made it on to L’Equipe’s list. L'Equipe's top 50 list of Under-20 players 1. Matthijs De Ligt (Ajax) 2. Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund) 3. Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen) 4. Joao Felix (Benfica) 5. Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan) 6. Nicolo Zaniolo (Roma) 7. Moise Kean (Juventus) 8. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) 9. Declan Rice (West Ham) 10. Ibrahima Konate (RB Leipzig) 11. Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal) 12. Alban Lafont (Fiorentina) 13. Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea) 14. Dan-Axel Zagadou (Borussia Dortmund) 15. Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham) 16. Evan N’dicka (Eintracht Frankfurt) 17. Justin Kluivert (Roma) 18. Andreas Skov Olsen (FC Nordsjaelland) 19. Phil Foden (Manchester City) 20. Kik Pierie (Heerenveen) 21. Reiss Nelson (Arsenal) 22. Pedro Porro (Girona) 23. Rafael Leao (Lille) 24. Ozan Kabak (Stuttgart) 25. Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal) 26. Boubacar Kamara (Marseille) 27. William Saliba (Saint-Etienne) 28. Rodrygo (Santos) 29. Yan Valery (Southampton) 30. Mason Mount (Chelsea) 31. Gedson Fernandes (Benfica) 32. Jonathan David (Gent) 33. Junior Traore (Empoli) 34. Diogo Dalot (Manchester United) 35. Ezequiel Barco (Atlanta United) 36. Sandro Tonali (Brescia) 37. Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen) 38. Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid) 39. Ferran Torres (Valencia) 40. Dwight McNeil (Burnley) 41. Alexander Isak (Borussia Dortmund) 42. Malang Sarr (Nice) 43. Fran Beltran (Celta Vigo) 44. Cucho Hernandez (Huesca) 45. Arne Maier (Hertha Berlin) 46. Hannes Wolf (Salzburg) 47. Giorgi Chakvetadze (Gent) 48. Yari Verschaeren (Anderlecht) 49. Donyell Malen (PSV) 50. Erling Braut Haland (Salzburg)
Thats the trouble so many outstanding young right backs coming through. Surely southgate could push wan bisakka to left back. Problem solved. Have arrans or james as back up
I think that Smith Rowe and Nelson will be in and around the first team. Most likely used initially in Europa League/Cup games.
Focusing so much on England, there are quite a few players that I hadn't heard of. A very interesting if subjective list.
Football talent Scout just did a list for 2001 age group: 1. Mohammed Ihattaren 2. Ryan Gravenberch 3. Mason Greenwood 4. Rodrygo 5. Reinier 6. Lucien Agoume 7. Naci Unuvar 8. Thiago Almada 9. Daishawn Redan 10. Takefusa Kubo 11. Kang-in Lee 12. Fábio Silva 13. Pietro Pellegri 14. Roberto Navarro 15. Victor Mollejo 16. Jérémy Doku 17. Adil Aouchiche 18. Oliver Batista Meier 19. Adam Hlozek 20. João Pedro 21. Willem Geubbels 22. Yari Verschaeren 23. German Valera 24. Brian Brobbey 25. Ilaix Moriba 26. Benoît Badiashile 27. James Garner 28. Ander Barrenetxea 29. Pedro De La Vega 30. Lorenzo Colombo 31. Han-Noah Massengo 32. Sepp van den Berg 33. Ronaldo Camara 34. Sergio Camello 35. Antonio Marin 36. Myron Boadu 37. Eddie Salcedo 38. Karim Adeyemi 39. Ömer Faruk Beyaz 40. Rayan Aït Nouri 41. Luan Candido 42. Moussa Ndiaye 43. Bryan Gil 44. Filip Marchwiński 45. Emiliano Gomez 46. Simon Sohm 47. Filip Stevanovic 48. Gabriel Veron 49. Kenneth Taylor 50. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia He only finds space for 2 English players which I find a bit harsh but no real surprise by the amount of Dutch talent.
English or just in general? I’m kind of surprised that Curtis Jones didn’t make it. Also players like Tommy Doyle and Saka.
In general. Would've had those three in for sure. Outside of England, Sebastiano Esposito should be around the top 10 and Rayan Cherki likewise. I can only assume he just forgot about those two because to miss them out entirely is bizzare. Probably others you could think of too.
Some odd names on here to for the Golden Boy nominees: 100 players nominated for the Golden Boy 2019 award! pic.twitter.com/2Imwe3mfWh— Football Talent Scout - Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) June 15, 2019 After the year he’s had, was surprised to see Oakley-Boothe on the list tbh,