Chido Obi Martin

Grande said:
Isn’t Kone 18 and Obi 16? I would perhaps expect to see Obi start at u18 just to dampen expectations and let him get to know some of his age group as well, and then fluctuate a bit between u21/u18 depending on how it goes?

He has been playing with 16 and 17 year olds at international level, not scoring a goal a game there, so I don’t see the inevitability of him spending some time there still. Maybe he’ll be playing in the FA Youth Cup as well?
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He might spend sometime with u-18s but seeing as he obliterated opposition at the level last season with Arsenal, I see us wanting to challenge him at a higher level with u-21s. I could be wrong but I see him spending most of his time with the u-21s and then shuffle in and out of the u-18s depending on injuries.
 
saik said:
He might spend sometime with u-18s but seeing as he obliterated opposition at the level last season with Arsenal, I see us wanting to challenge him at a higher level with u-21s. I could be wrong but I see him spending most of his time with the u-21s and then shuffle in and out of the u-18s depending on injuries.
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Do players like him who are just wildly physically further ahead than the rest of their age group ever wind up in a situation where they're too good for u18 but u21 is a bit much? Intuitively it feels like it would be a thing.
 
DOTA said:
Do players like him who are just wildly physically further ahead than the rest of their age group ever wind up in a situation where they're too good for u18 but u21 is a bit much? Intuitively it feels like it would be a thing.
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I can't think of examples right now, but it certainly happens. Also, the jump to senior football is huge. Wheatley for example was very comfortable at u-18s but struggled massively against L2 opposition with the u-21s couple of days ago.

It's all a part of their development and it's good that they are challenged at higher levels. Cant risk young players becoming complacent just because they are too good for the youth teams. We will get a real idea of Chido's potential when he starts playing for the u-21s week in week out.
 
These are the signings we need, not £200m worth of attackers, that are only a couple of years ahead in their progression. Huge gambles.

At least with our new structure, the jump into the first team will be drastically less than someone coming from an entirely different league with different pressures.

Get all the talented kids in, spend the Zirzkees, Antony and Hojlunds money on established players; so we have a decent mix, and blood the youngsters around them with much less risk.
 
DOTA said:
Do players like him who are just wildly physically further ahead than the rest of their age group ever wind up in a situation where they're too good for u18 but u21 is a bit much? Intuitively it feels like it would be a thing.
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I dont think theres much difference physically between the age groups in most cases. And natural growth and getting used to the new challenge will see players who are physically ahead at 18 get physically ahead in the 21s within a reasonable amount of time.

The only time that wont be the case is when they are playing against the overage players that are allowed to play. Perhaps its an overage player who is very physical and has the tricks of a veteran to be able to nullify them in a way they havent experienced. But unless its like a fullback vs a young winger, or a CB against a young striker they arent usually going to go head to head all match. And... From what I've seen of overage players playing next to the youngsters, they are usually one of the dodgiest players on the pitch performance wise and maybe their real value is in communication, talking and half time team talks etc.

The big culture shock will usually come when they go on loan, or play in the first team. Some will go on loan to a lower league team where you would think they'll have the quality to do really well and for example someone who has lots of end product at u18s and u23s struggles to set up and score goals. That can then lead to them not having a lot of confidence and not looking such a great prospect. Not to mention if they go to the championship, or play in the first team where it would be more understandable that a young player isnt able to decide games too often.

For me personally I always just go back to Sir Alex. He said you need to give young players a chance because sometimes they'll surprise you. If its a surprise it means you werent actually convinced that they were going to do the job. Sir Alex would gamble and give them the chance to show something he hadnt seen yet and we obviously saw it paid off for him.
 
redNATION said:
Given Zirkzee and Hjolund haven’t exactly set the world alight, I think he could very well be our starting no9 from next season if he fulfils his early potential, it’s not a high bar he has to meet.
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It will be at the age of 17-18.

You can fully expect to see Hojlund improve on last season and with enough gametime get more than his previous 10 league goals
 
How long before Lusale, Kone and him appear on the squad in FIFA? I need some motivation to play with the current squad proving so underwhelming.
 
lysglimt said:
I mean the class of 92 will never be repeated - I will go so far as to say it's impossible to get that in todays football.
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It's not impossible at all, in my opinion. Barcelona currently have Yamal, Bernal, Cubarsí, Casado, Gavi, Balde, and Fermín López in their first team, and who knows how many more talents of this caliber at youth level, still unknown to the masses. And surely you cannot forget Unicef Barca.
 
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