Comments on: We’ve Had Money To Spend Because Of Academy Sales… Unlike Rivals

By: Smudger

Smudger — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:45:46 +0000

@ Pat pretty fair assessment!

Guys i was wondering is Wes fit for the pre season??

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:59:42 +0000

Lupoli scored 45 in 22 games for Parma, the record in italian youth football. I wish he’d have stayed with us. he wasn’t patient enough and I thought he still had something to prove. Oh well.

By: Gerry Gooner

Gerry Gooner — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:38:12 +0000

Well done Pat and well done to the Utd fans for pointing out the fact that many of their players have been poached too.
The reality about most academies is that they are money making machines. Most players get a good footballing education at the likes of Utd or Arsenal but most don’t make the grade. Some disappear and some go on to make good livings a lower division clubs. Some are pushed out cos they’res too many ahead of them but rise to the top a few years later (e.g. Muamba, Rossi, Pique). Despite my admiration for the Arsenal Youth team this year- We’ve all heard it before. Most of them won’t make the grade when push comes to shove- some players develop better than others. A classic example is the Lupoli/ Rossi partnership at Parma youth poached by Arsenal and Man Utd respectively. Ask anyone at Arsenal at the time and Lupoli was really highly rated- higher than Rossi. Look at their careers since- Lupoli struggling at Norwich- Rossi a top class talent? Alot of it had to do with physical development- Lupoli never got the stature.

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:55:44 +0000

Arsenal u-18 were impressive this season. City manager said there has never been a youth team like that, in terms of physical strength and technique.

Okay, tell me why we shouldn’t count Cesc, Gibbs, etc? Rossi joined United when he was 17 while Gibbs joined Arsenal from Wimbledon when he was 15/16. Richardson was signed from West Ham when he was 16/17. Developmental age starts at 15-16. You “poached” Pique just like we “poached” Cesc. Lee Martin was signed from Wimbledon a year before Gibbs joined us, and he’s also about 3 years older, maybe 2 than Gibbsy. Eagles joined from Watford at a very young age, much like many of our youngsters do.

Recently(from 2005):
Stokes to Sunderland: 2 million
Aliadiere to Boro: 2 million + add-ons
Muamba to Birmingham(4 million) + sell-on clause to Bolton(1 mil): 5 million
Larsson to Birmingham: 1 million
Stuart Taylor(perennial reserve keeper) to Villa: 4 million
Pennant to Birmingham: 2 million(“undisclosed”, but its rumored to be)
Owusu-Abeyie to Spartak Moscow: 2-3 million (rumored, since Arsenal always say undisclosed)
Bentley to Blackburn: 3-4 million
Bentley from Blackburn to Spurs:ADDITIONAL 8.5 million(12.5 total) due to a 50% sell-on clause Arsenal made when selling him to Blackburn
Ryan SMith to Derby: 500,000
mathew Connolly to QPR: 1 million
Justin Hoyte to Boro: 3 million

We’ve always had a pretty shit academy, I will admit. I’m 18 but I know more about Arsenal than most. This group of kids we have right now…quite a few can make it with Arsenal. They play the same type of football as the seniors do, but with a higher work rate/toughness.

Coquelin, Bartley, Wilshere, and Jay Emmanuel Thomas could see some premier league time next season

By: cantona7

cantona7 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:24:24 +0000

actually i had huge hopes for ebanks blake, i made him my top striker in Football Manager back when i was a student. I also had Phil Bardsley coming thru the ranks in my team as a CenterBack. Bardsley was another i had very high hopes for.

Speaking about youth, I would love to see the son of our great GK, Schmeichel, wearing our shirt. But now that we have Ben Amos so promising, i dun think that will ever happen sob*

By: Haakon

Haakon — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:26:00 +0000

@tel – you’re missing the point. All other clubs also has an academy, wages for their talents etc. Big difference is that we’re capturing value from our talents where as liverpool, chelsea etc are not.

By: aig alex is god

aig alex is god — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:17:42 +0000

nicoqb.ya u gotta point.people r going to much ga ga over him.but i feel he can improve besider rio and vida

By: schmikes1

schmikes1 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:55:44 +0000

the chelsea academy is shite, possibly with the exception of mancienne coming through. terry was even poached at a very young age from west ham! and think of those three lads chelsea took from leeds a couple of years ago – none of them are anywhere to be seen! in terms of english talent, as Marq says, the rent boys are light years behind! Only Miroslav Stoch seems to be the only lad that chelsea are willing to blood from time to time and even he’s pants!

By: Marq

Marq — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:36:03 +0000

My feeling is the list is a little bias, but only against Arsenal. They have pretty much the same system as us, but the players to come out of our academy that have been sold tend to be higher profile, Rossi, Pique, etc.
-> So I say in the top 4, we just about edged Arsenal. Liverpool & Chelsea are lights years away

By: NicoQB

NicoQB — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:29:55 +0000

@aig alex is god
Yes the standard response is to point to the city match where to be fair, Rafael was very good.
But in many other matches his positional sense was a times shocking, and while he’s good going forward, let’s not forget that a defender’s first task is, would you believe it, defend.
He’s still got much to go before he’s on the same level of reliability as Brown and even O’shea.
But I’m not dissing him, I still think he’s very promising, just not as much as some make him to be.