England U-16 Discussion Thread #2 [R] (2010 born)

Yeah will be. Both players called up from Chelsea haven't been offered scholarships and have been trialling elsewhere recently.

 

So not good enough for Chelsea (who on recent form aren't even the top u16 group in the country). But good enough for England. Who is picking these teams ?

 

Squads are very experimental at this age. A player being released by Chelsea shouldn't necessarily disqualify a player from an England squad at this age. Rice and Olise were both released by Chelsea at a similar age to this.

It was also mentioned earlier that a lot of the bigger names in this squad are away with their clubs at the Messi Cup.

 

Good to see some new faces whith many of the Chelsea/City boys in Miami. Has Jobling really not been offered a scholarship or is it more a case of him declining the option in search of a club with an easier path to the first team? I thought he was quite highly rated by his club (and the England youth coaches) to be honest.

Wellspring recently made his Youth League debut if I´m not mistaken. As did Nduka (who I was anticipating for quite some time in one of these) but he then was sent off around the 30th minute...

What happened to that other Newcastle midfielder (can´t renember his name) who was invited to one of the camps but had to withdraw due to injury? Is he still injured?

 

Tough competition for their u18 and u16 teams for starting elevan spots. They literally have 4 central defendars-Lewi Richards, Dante Waite, Jacob Hall and Calvin Diakite from their First years scholars this year! And Riley Ebho as a right back. Lewi Richards could play as a right back too! And from their u16: central defendars- Gabriel Sambou;
Thomas McDermott, Samuel Ekhosuehi, Isaac Badu Silva(he could play as right back too) and George Jobling as a right back! That's a lot of players for two positions! And 18 players for First Year Scholars this year is a lot! Probably next Year less than 10 players will sign a contract as first year scholars!

 

Good point. Chelsea very aggressive in the transfer markets at 14 and 16. Stats like this make you wonder why anyone goes there. Literally queues of players in every position.

 

Wow I thought George Jobling looked especially good. That's a huge overload of right sided defenders.

 

Well, watched pretty much both semi finals and both City and Chelsea lose. Think it’s fair to say their standards dropped off compared to their group games. It’s the same for all the teams but the pitch that was used looked pretty awful it has to be said, looked rock hard bounced all over the place.

 

Chelsea struggled against both Argentinian teams from what I´ve witnessed. Could it be due to the heat? Perhaps. But I feel like they couldn´t really deal with their passionate "leave your soul on the pitch" approach as you usually don´t see other European academy players playing as if their life depends on it (not just a Chelsea/English academy thing, German academies regularly struggle against South American and Mexican teams in the younger age groups too) so it´s a positive they become acquainted with these different styles of play.

 

Apparently Chetam Ezenwata has been added to the squad.

 

Several reasons imo. Argentina has a complex relationship with the English. They don't exactly hate us. But they are going to treat any game against an English team as a cup final. And yes as you say the academy football culture there is more brutal and competitive than it is in North West Europe. Finally that Chelsea age group, while it has some talented individuals, can struggle against teams that match or exceed them physically. Arsenal beat them earlier this season, by overpowering their midfield and defence. And they got bullied out of the u16 Premier League nationals by Villa. So as soon as I saw the River Plate players (some of them looked like grown men) i knew Chelsea would have issues.

 

Interestingly, he recently featured in the Nigerian squad at the FC Bayern Youth Cup. Not an official Nigeria team but I imagine they're aware of him from that, especially as Nigeria won the tournament.

Not quite sure why he played in it though as it's meant to be for grassroots/lower level players who are looking to be scouted, and Charlton's academy is already a pretty high standard.

 

Manchester United and Arsenal have missed out on teenage prospect George Shepherd after he agreed to sign his first professional contract with hometown club Coventry City - Daily Mail

 

For what its worth TransferMarkt now have George Shepherd date of birth as 09/12/2008 (17) https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/george-shepherd/profil/spieler/1231179

 

Won 4-2

Kwasi Senyah
Vincent Joseph x3

 

And Isaak Gulliver (WBA) to make the 26 on the teamsheet

 

I've noticed he has deleted all of his Germany-related stuff on insta, still following many of the German 2010s though and some other famous German players. It doesn't mean much in the end but I guess it indicates he might play the u17 qualifiers with England. Wonder how much of a role having his former Liverpool youth coach as the England coach might have played.

 

was he born in Germany? curious on the German links specifically. his brother plays for Blackburn iirc.

 

I thought he was born here but another poster said he was born in England iirc. Don't know anything about their back story at all tbh. Believe his brother was at Liverpool before his move to Blackburn too.

EDIT: Came across some timid rumours Dortmund scouts have liked what they've seen from him...

 

Fejokwu scored one of the Dutch goals btw.

 

If he goes to Dortmund then that might not be good news as far as sticking with England but you never know.

 

First time I watched Fejokwu yesterday. Played RWB for the Dutch and was outstanding. His goal was fantastic. West Ham will have quite a fight on their hands to keep him considering dual nationality. Vinny from Liverpool was great too.

 

England U16s 4-1 Netherlands U16s

Mylo Bernard x3
Josh Blake

 

Team was Jack, Lartey, Kapotwe, Senyah, Deighton, Sykes, Lloyd, Christie, Bernard, Blake, Kilw.