Ross Barkley?
Your Hidden Gems or under the radar - Wanted Signings
- Thread starter Dan600
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Well, he has been in hiding for a few years.
He hasn't shown potential to be that special, has he?
Adam Phillips, of Barnsley. He plays advanced midfielder, and is on fire at the moment. Two goals on Saturday, two assists the previous one before, two late goals the week before that. All in 2-1 wins. He has been in the EFL League One team of the week for the past two weeks and should make this week's team. He lives in the North West.
Hiding in plain sight
Plays on the left as well, watched play for England unders he really stood out.
Left villa for game time 8 Mill.,
He's definitely too good for League One, with some real quality. He captained England u-17, but has been a late developer in the professional game. But, of course PL is a different level and we won't know until he gets a chance there. But I would think it would be worth a punt. We signed Tommy Taylor from Barnsley and think how successful some of Tommy Docherty's signings from lower divisions were - Coppell, Hill, Pearson, Holton etc.
To be fair a lot has changed in 50 odd years
I've never seen this guy play, so not commenting on him individually, but there are crazier ideas that selling Mount to some Prem team for 50M, buying a cheap #10 to backup Bruno and using the 35-40M elsewhere and just kicking the can down the road 2-3 years at that position. Unless you're sold on Mount as a really quality starter here (and I'm not), we're going to need to buy a star there anyways to replace Bruno.
No. 30, Adam Phillips, five of the six goals nominated, plus the assist in the other!
Archie Gray, might not be completely under the radar but he is absolutely class
Exciting talent, I can't believe how young he is. He represents a great prospect considering what is the modus operandi in the game these days as he is comfortable as both right back and midfielder.
Had a similar path as Niko Sigur from Hajduk (Croatia), who I also rate highly ( not as Gray ), who also used to play in the middle in the youth teams but due to the injuries stepped up in the first team as a right back. Those types of players are unique profiles and can have a great future career ahead of them.
I wouldn't say he's under the radar as such but if there's any Danes reading then I'd like to hear your thoughts on Morten Hjulmand. I watched the cup semifinal between SCP and Benfica, and he looked a interesting player as a potential DM/deep lying midfielder. @andersj @Mike Smalling
That's the most I've ever seen of him, to be honest. He's never played in the Danish league and has hardly been involved with the national team, so he doesn't have a lot of exposure in Denmark yet. I would expect him to be well behind someone like Christian Nørgaard in the DM pecking order for the national team. They seem like somewhat similar players.
Cheers.
A player I would love for us to bring in is Ronnie Edwards, he plays for Petersborough, and is only 20 years old. He is a modern centre back who looks like he is definitely made for the premier league. I think Palace enquired about him and were quoted 10m. He would come in and be one of our backups, but he has the potential to be a starter one day.
Raoul Bellanova RB Torino
Sorry, you probably know him better than I do. But yes, interesting player. Quite surprised to see how he has progressed.
I think there’s some real quality within the other divisions. We just never seem to exploit it.
Look at Palace; Eze, Olise and now Wharton. Then you had Alex Scott at Bristol etc.
Oh I think there is too but our fans have no patience for developing these players
I mean should we though?
Clubs looking to stay up top usually are not the best place for developing talent unless the said talent is prodigious enough to warrant such an investment.
We’re talking about finding players at lower levels before they get to PL
I missed the days when you could sign a Lee Sharpe from the likes of Torquay Utd.
If we were organized in the front office we would be able to do it.
Really interesting stats and a big lad with a strong aerial %, so much needed height into the squad. Will have to have a proper look at him in a game.
Mario Lemina could do a job for a few years. Good player.
Does it mean that City, Liverpool, Arsenal & co. are not organized either as they haven’t signed any gems from lower leagues either in years/decades?
He must have been going up almost directly against that young lad at Benfica that is hyped up a lot. Did you happen to watch it? Do you know how that battle went?
Any posters here who could shed some light on Mandela Keita Belgian prospect playing for Royal Antwerp . I did saw his name mentioned here earlier If I remember it correctly .
It simply means if we were better organized in that department we would, for it's in our culture! We have never been afraid to take chances on the Sharpe's, Zaha's, Bale's, Ramsey's, Powell's and Dan James' of this world. Even if some rejected us. In Fergie's day a player like Alex Scott (Bournemouth) and Morgan Rogers (Villa) would have been picked up without hesistation before their current clubs got 'em That's how we went to Mexico and brought back Chicharito.
I'm willing to bet under the new regime, if they are organized we will raid the championship for some talent.
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Agreed. The quality of football in the championship isn't that bad. Not up to the best a top league has to offer, no, but it's not all hoofing up to big lads up top with no semblance of modern tactics either. It's why I'm so eager to see Amad for us because, like the players you mentioned, he was one of the leagues better players at such a young age. If he hadn't been there on loan, I'm sure a Palace or someone would've snapped him up, gave him a run in the team and not looked back.
If I could choose anyone from the championship right now it'd be Dan Neil. I think he'd be a fantastic partner for Mainoo. Very press resistant, gets stuck in, has a Carrick-esque line breaking pass in him. I think he'll be playing premier league footy next season regardless of where Sunderland finish.
And none of Zaha, Powell or James worked out well for us.
In regards to Scott and Rogers, it’s too early to tell if they’ll be successful in the PL.
I think it was easier to pick up talented players on lower levels back in the day. There’s probably less ”Chris Smallings” as the scouting network of PL clubs are very extensive. Most young talents are signed up by top academies at early ages. Something we’ve continued to do throughout.
Those didn't. But I'm willing to bet Ramsey and Bale who rejected us for others would have. Given the epl careers they both had. The point is we we're never afraid to pick talent from the lower tiers
The problem is we aren't Fulham and the like, we can't just give people time to develop in our team as there is a demand to win and pressure that's not conducive to the Chris Smallings of this world. They still exist, they just go to Fulham level clubs and are harder to buy - Kilman at Wolves is a great example.
That’s a fair point. If you look at the current state and atmosphere of the club, it would very difficult for a young lower league player to come in and get the patience required.
It's a shame, everyone is too scared to give players a go unless their talent if so obvious it's impossible to ignore. I get it though and I don't blame a manager for it, they're paying for a good decade of mismanagement.
Mats Wieffer
24 year old all action midfielder for Feyenoord, he’s similar to Everton’s Onana as he’s leggy and loves a slide tackle, but Wieffer is superior on the ball white his progressive passing and carries, and for around 1/2 the price of Onana.
24 year old all action midfielder for Feyenoord, he’s similar to Everton’s Onana as he’s leggy and loves a slide tackle, but Wieffer is superior on the ball white his progressive passing and carries, and for around 1/2 the price of Onana.
Neil does look a good footballer. I know you’ve had your eye on him for a while now.
Any interesting links?
Pascal grob, massively underrated in the epl, better than mctominay for midfield and don't imagine he would cost much, would be great rotation option in midfield, i still would take welbeck as back up option if we are going to go all in as hojlund being our main striker next season and only playing one up front, no point wasting huge money on another striker to just sit on the bench when we have big holes to fill in the first team.