U21’s to First Team

[PATRIQT]

For those that follow the U21’s closely, who and how many of the young lads look like they can come into the first team next season?

I suspect we’ll promote more than we’d have initially intended, as numbers are so low.

[Royals and Racers]

Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan for one. Jack Senga as well and i would add Craig and Carson( if he signs) maybe John Clarke has a chance as well.

[Hound]

Yeah that lot plus Abrefa if you’ve not included him already. Abbey maybe.

[Snowflake Royal]

Possibly Dorsett if you include him.

There's likely to be the odd surprise too.

I don’t think I saw anyone talking about Abrefa or Rinomhota or Richards as potential first teamers before they broke through.

[SCIAG]

I don't follow any of our teams as closely as I used to but I've been to more youth team games than first team in the last year R&R knows more than me.

Abrefa is quality but I think people know that already. Dorsett and Abbey should be good enough in League One.

The first time I saw Carson play he got sent off in a really stupid way, and I haven't been convinced by him since but I know R&R is. Don't rate John Clarke.

Craig is tidy, hopefully he and Senga can pick up some minutes in the middle. Mamadi Camara looked really good a year ago, but for whatever reason hasn't pushed on the way I'd expected.

Then Kelvin E and Jahmari Clarke both have quality but aren't necessarily out-and-out strikers. It's easy to look at them and see two tall, quick forwards, but Kelvin is more about playing slightly off the striker and finding little passes in tight spaces, while Jahmari is very comfortable coming in from the left. If either of them worked a bit more on their "poaching" then they could be very good strikers.

The younger ones to look out for are Harvey Maunder and Luca Fletcher. Maunder is an attacking midfielder who scored shedloads at U18 but got a bad injury and hasn't quite stepped up yet. Fletcher is a 16-year-old striker who has just done his GCSEs and is being strongly linked with Man City - if we keep him then word is he'll be in the first-team squad next season. His agent is Jay-Z.

Not sure what is going on with Basil Tuma who had such a promising debut.

Possibly Dorsett if you include him.

There's likely to be the odd surprise too.

I don’t think I saw anyone talking about Abrefa or Rinomhota or Richards as potential first teamers before they broke through.

I remember I had picked out Richards as a first-team contender the year that he broke through (receipt). Nameless also talking him up in the same thread. A few of us were talking up Abrefa.

People who didn't follow the youth sides were hyping up Rinomhota because we had no fit senior defensive midfielders, but I poured cold water on the suggestion about two weeks before he made his debut Think my words were "he's not nearly as good as Kelly".

[blythspartan]

Personally, I really like Craig. He gives himself time on the ball and has a bit of bite. There’s no guarantee that some of our better youngsters will want to stay with us tbh.

[Snowflake Royal]

I don't follow any of our teams as closely as I used to but I've been to more youth team games than first team in the last year R&R knows more than me.

Abrefa is quality but I think people know that already. Dorsett and Abbey should be good enough in League One.

The first time I saw Carson play he got sent off in a really stupid way, and I haven't been convinced by him since but I know R&R is. Don't rate John Clarke.

Craig is tidy, hopefully he and Senga can pick up some minutes in the middle. Mamadi Camara looked really good a year ago, but for whatever reason hasn't pushed on the way I'd expected.

Then Kelvin E and Jahmari Clarke both have quality but aren't necessarily out-and-out strikers. It's easy to look at them and see two tall, quick forwards, but Kelvin is more about playing slightly off the striker and finding little passes in tight spaces, while Jahmari is very comfortable coming in from the left. If either of them worked a bit more on their "poaching" then they could be very good strikers.

The younger ones to look out for are Harvey Maunder and Luca Fletcher. Maunder is an attacking midfielder who scored shedloads at U18 but got a bad injury and hasn't quite stepped up yet. Fletcher is a 16-year-old striker who has just done his GCSEs and is being strongly linked with Man City - if we keep him then word is he'll be in the first-team squad next season. His agent is Jay-Z.

Not sure what is going on with Basil Tuma who had such a promising debut.

Possibly Dorsett if you include him.

There's likely to be the odd surprise too.

I don’t think I saw anyone talking about Abrefa or Rinomhota or Richards as potential first teamers before they broke through.

I remember I had picked out Richards as a first-team contender the year that he broke through (receipt). Nameless also talking him up in the same thread. A few of us were talking up Abrefa.

People who didn't follow the youth sides were hyping up Rinomhota because we had no fit senior defensive midfielders, but I poured cold water on the suggestion about two weeks before he made his debut Think my words were "he's not nearly as good as Kelly".

Thank you for putting your views on John Clarke in context at the end.

[Hound]

Tbf Kelly at his best (Stam season 1) was better than Rino at his best imo

[South Coast Royal]

Not yet convinced, unlike others, about Abrefa.
Hope to be proved wrong and that he develops quickly in the way Richards did.

[Snowflake Royal]

Tbf Kelly at his best (Stam season 1) was better than Rino at his best imo

On a technical level 100%. Not completely convinced I'd pick Kelly first tho.

[Snowflake Royal]

Not yet convinced, unlike others, about Abrefa.
Hope to be proved wrong and that he develops quickly in the way Richards did.

I think the only thing people are convinced on with Abrefa is he has potential and we need to use him to see if he can live up to it.

[Hound]

Not yet convinced, unlike others, about Abrefa.
Hope to be proved wrong and that he develops quickly in the way Richards did.

I think the only thing people are convinced on with Abrefa is he has potential and we need to use him to see if he can live up to it.

Yeah basically. He looks like he has the ingredients to be decent but obvs until he plays regularly difficult to say

[URZZZZ]

Tbf Kelly at his best (Stam season 1) was better than Rino at his best imo

On a technical level 100%. Not completely convinced I'd pick Kelly first tho.

Think people forget how good Rinomhota was in that first season. A real calm, composed head in the middle amongst more of the “flair players” in the likes of Kelly, Swift and Bacuna

Ruined by the ineptitude of later managers who decided to play him in a position which severely restricted his abilities. Asking him to play as the CDM was a really poor move

He picked it up again under Paunovic briefly but then kept picking up injuries and it was unfortunately the time to move him on. Doesn’t look like he’s had a very good season at Cardiff

Shame because Rinomhota and Kelly had lots of potential but yet more examples of poor management of decent players

[Hound]

Tbf Kelly at his best (Stam season 1) was better than Rino at his best imo

On a technical level 100%. Not completely convinced I'd pick Kelly first tho.

Think people forget how good Rinomhota was in that first season. A real calm, composed head in the middle amongst more of the “flair players” in the likes of Kelly, Swift and Bacuna

Ruined by the ineptitude of later managers who decided to play him in a position which severely restricted his abilities. Asking him to play as the CDM was a really poor move

He picked it up again under Paunovic briefly but then kept picking up injuries and it was unfortunately the time to move him on. Doesn’t look like he’s had a very good season at Cardiff

Shame because Rinomhota and Kelly had lots of potential but yet more examples of poor management of decent players

Oh yeah, they were both great at peak. I was a massive fan of Rino originally just felt he plateaued and went downhill - as did Kelly

Big shame for both. I’d just pick Kelly ahead of him on balance - just seem to remember him coming up with more ‘moments’ that won games that season

This is all from memory though so I’m sure it could be torn to pieces by stats etc

[Vision]

Not yet convinced, unlike others, about Abrefa.
Hope to be proved wrong and that he develops quickly in the way Richards did.

I think the only thing people are convinced on with Abrefa is he has potential and we need to use him to see if he can live up to it.

Yep and thanks to Ince we know nothing more about him now than we did at the start of the season.

Say what you like about Gomes and Pauno ( God knows there’s plenty negative to say ) but we’d have known by now if we had a Richards or a Bristow on our hands.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Not yet convinced, unlike others, about Abrefa.
Hope to be proved wrong and that he develops quickly in the way Richards did.

I think the only thing people are convinced on with Abrefa is he has potential and we need to use him to see if he can live up to it.

Yep and thanks to Ince we know nothing more about him now than we did at the start of the season.

Say what you like about Gomes and Pauno ( God knows there’s plenty negative to say ) but we’d have known by now if we had a Richards or a Bristow on our hands.

Bristow? Was he really rated? He made half a dozen appearances for us and all the games I saw him play I thought he was ok, but nothing special. I can see why the club released him to be fair.

There are plenty in the U21's with enough potential, not sure how many are going to make it with us. First and foremost, I want to see Azeez really stand out which I think he can at this level. Abrefa might all depend if Yiadom stays or goes. Not too sure how many others are that close, maybe Kelvin E for a squad place or Jahmari Clarke, Dorsett as well. The rest might need another year +.

[Hound]

Depending who hangs around:

Carson will be 21 in Oct
Dorsett is experienced in men’s football and 21
Craig is 20
Camara will be 20 in Dec
Ehibhatiomhan is 20
Abrefa will be 20 in Dec
Jahmari is 20 in Oct and has made 16 appearances at L1 or above
Abbey 20 in Aug
Senga 20 in Jan

They aren’t babies any more - obvs you don’t want a team of 20 year olds but you could have 4 or 5. It’s now or never really for players like Dorsett and maybe Carson to start playing regularly at that level

It’s the same sort of age that Holmes, Kelly, McIntyre etc broke through. Olise obvs a lot younger

I’d consider them all first team squad options

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Yeah so the next 12 months are the most important for those players listed, as most of them are turning 20 as next season progresses. I forgot about Senga, I'm hoping he will make the grade for us.

The rest have the next year or so before a decision is made. I want them all to work out, but the one's I'm pinning my hopes on the most are Kelvin E, Abrefa, Senga, Abbey and Dorsett.

[Snowflake Royal]

I think the only thing people are convinced on with Abrefa is he has potential and we need to use him to see if he can live up to it.

Yep and thanks to Ince we know nothing more about him now than we did at the start of the season.

Say what you like about Gomes and Pauno ( God knows there’s plenty negative to say ) but we’d have known by now if we had a Richards or a Bristow on our hands.

Bristow? Was he really rated? He made half a dozen appearances for us and all the games I saw him play I thought he was ok, but nothing special. I can see why the club released him to be fair.

There are plenty in the U21's with enough potential, not sure how many are going to make it with us. First and foremost, I want to see Azeez really stand out which I think he can at this level. Abrefa might all depend if Yiadom stays or goes. Not too sure how many others are that close, maybe Kelvin E for a squad place or Jahmari Clarke, Dorsett as well. The rest might need another year +.

I think Vision's point is that by playing them we confirmed Bristow wasn’t up to it and shipped him out.

Nothing to do with being rated.

Although it's a generous interpretation because we only played Bristow because we didn’t have any alternatives until we signed Rahman.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Yep and thanks to Ince we know nothing more about him now than we did at the start of the season.

Say what you like about Gomes and Pauno ( God knows there’s plenty negative to say ) but we’d have known by now if we had a Richards or a Bristow on our hands.

Bristow? Was he really rated? He made half a dozen appearances for us and all the games I saw him play I thought he was ok, but nothing special. I can see why the club released him to be fair.

There are plenty in the U21's with enough potential, not sure how many are going to make it with us. First and foremost, I want to see Azeez really stand out which I think he can at this level. Abrefa might all depend if Yiadom stays or goes. Not too sure how many others are that close, maybe Kelvin E for a squad place or Jahmari Clarke, Dorsett as well. The rest might need another year +.

I think Vision's point is that by playing them we confirmed Bristow wasn’t up to it and shipped him out.

Nothing to do with being rated.

Although it's a generous interpretation because we only played Bristow because we didn’t have any alternatives until we signed Rahman.

Yeah I think it is. Sorry my mistake.