30 Jun 2025 13:08:18
Rumours say 14-year-old wonderkid JJ Gabriel has committed his future to us following a crucial intervention from Jason Wilcox and director of football negotiations Matt Hargreaves
Great news if true.
30 Jun 2025 17:29:33
That is correct Redman, he has committed his future to us and as you rightly point out Jason Wilcox and Matt Hargreaves played a huge part in it.
I know someone at the academy and was told a little while back that the likelihood was he would leave this summer, with every major club in Europe desperately trying to sign him.
I saw his debut for U18s, just a kid, yet he scored his first goal within minutes of coming on. Indeed he has made 3 U18s appearances and played a total of 71 mins and scored 3 goals, one every 24 mins!
The club are very, very keen to try and keep him under the radar as much as possible as they, rightly, do not want to overload him with expectation levels at his age. Indeed, it was noticeable when he came on for his debut that the T. V. commentators did not big him up at all, in fact they just said his name, clearly they did this under order's from above!
One word of caution, he will have another option to leave upon his 16th birthday, so hopefully all goes well for him in the interim. Think he may well be in U18s squad on a regular basis from now on. Whilst he is a phenomenal prospect we all know the number's of youngster's who turn potential into achievement is pretty low so very much finger's crossed for the long term.
One other rated academy prospect 16 yr old Jayden Ngwashi has also agreed a 4 year contract, again despite numerous other offers.
Has to be recognised that the work from Ineos over last 12 mths is the reason he has stayed, the signings made and also the clear opportunities being given into the first team squad.
Not only Diego Leon arriving tomorrow, but also another very highly rated youngster Enzo Kana-Biyik an 18 year old centre forward whose contract with Le Havre is expiring today, again chose us despite others very keen to sign him. It's expected he will be going out on loan to FC Lausanne.
Finally, Jonny Evans has today been appointed as Head of Loans and Pathways, helping to progress the careers of the club's young player's.
The future is bright, it's not orange, it's most definitely RED.
01 Jul 2025 16:28:27
While it is good to see so many prospects, I doubt we will ever see the number come through like 92. If we get 1 or 2 that turn into regular first team players that is a great return on the investment.
01 Jul 2025 23:21:35
You may well be right Grim, but what made the CO92 so memorable was the fact they all came through at the same time. How many breakthroughs were there the previous 5 years? or the 10 years after after them?
With what we have building in the academy I can certainly see a fairly steady stream of prospects coming through. There is a very clear strategy of investment in top young talent, with the fingerprints of Jason Wilcox all over it.
It should also be remembered that a big objective of this strategy is to produce players who can be sold in the £15m-£20m range, obviously to provide additional funds for investment in the first team squad. Very effective if it can be achieved.