If you look really positively at our squad for the future - there's obviously Devenny, he seems fine and should improve, Wharton to come back: that should be handy. Riad looks ok, he'll probably be fine.
However, those saying Imray, Kphora won't make it without experience at higher levels then consider Mitchell and AWB - both basically took their chances when they got it.
I was also thinking about JRS and I don't think we should write him off. He's got better stats than Esse and it was more around his age that Wilf really developed properly for us. However, if we got good money for him, with a sell on clause - plus say Esse as his replacement then fair enough.
Ozoh too should not be written off. Shame he's injured but I suspect he'll come back. He's very physical so he always runs a risk of injury at his age.
Add in that Whitworth and Goodman are both decent then we do have some players who could be regulars in a season or two. And we won't have paid much for many of them. Is it a bright future? Not sure: but not bad.
I admire your optimism and positive take , but in reality very few home produced young players make the breakthrough at Premier League level.
Only AWB and Mitchell in the last decade (Wilf was before that), and even then Mitchell came from Brentford.
Other youngsters from that period either ply a trade at lower levels or have disappeared from the professional game.
I think JRS will be sold in the summer.
Glasner was clear at a recent press conference that JRS wanted to move on in the past summer.
He’s had his moments with Sheffield United, but has not really pulled up trees and has been recently injured.
With Ozoh, I think his early involvement with the first team was more due to him being able to cope with the physicality than because of advanced technique.
It was evident that when Glasner discussed him, he referred to his attributes being possibly more suited to a role in the back 3 than in midfield.
H
I note that Devenny has signed a new contract, but it’s only in the region of 2 years.
I might be wrong, but in my view if the club really thought he could become a first team fixture in the coming years I’m sure they would have tied him down to a longer period.
Of the current crop, although I’m not in the know, it’s said that there are high hopes for Khpora to make the breakthrough.
Perhaps that’s why we don’t seem to be linked with any right backs.
However, like Imray, you would have thought he may benefit from a loan first to at least give him experience of first team football.
The above is not a negative take.
It just demonstrates how exceptional ( and sometimes lucky) a young player has to be to become a regular Premier League starter.
Ireland
