Sell: Paulinho, Adebayor, Soldado, Capoue, Kaboul, Lennon, Holtby (?), Stambouli, Chiriches, and one of Lamela or Townsend.
I think the idea that next year will be another substantial influx of important youth players is somewhat premature. Pritchard for sure but anyone after that would be slightly surprising to see get more than a handful of appearances. With the success of our youth is easy to forget that Townsend, Mason, and Kane had a combined 18 loans before becoming first team regulars. Pritchard has had three as well. While I hope that the club learns from negatives of Mason, Townsend and Kane's loan spells this experience did mean they were experienced and in their 20s before playing substantially for the first team. Bentaleb is the outlier here.
Going into next season Winks will be 19, Onomah and KWP will be 18, and Carter-Vickers will be 17. I would happily take the under on five bench appearances combined between CCV and KWP. Both are absolutely incredible prospects but KWP is tiny (his legs might be skinnier than Crouch's) and how many CBs do you see getting minutes at 17/18 years old. Neither has even had full year with the u21s. Winks to me looks primed for a loan, doesn't have the superior athleticism like a Bentaleb that can help mitigate mistakes that any young player makes. Onomah for me is the only one of the top prospects that could make a difference next season. He has the athleticism to adapt quickly to the EPL speed of the game and there is no questioning his skill. Still would be a massive ask for him at the age of 18 with no football league experience under his belt. We take for granted a bit what Bentaleb has done but take a look across the league at players in top 8 teams who established themselves as starters before their twenties without a loan and it is a tiny and elite list (Rooney, Terry, Gerrard and a few others).
Dele Alli will be an interesting case. His MK Dons career can basically be looked at as a long loan and he's played a lot of games for a kid of that age. Of course the step up from league 1 will be steep.
I think the collection to look at for potential short term break outs this year outside Pritchard and Onomah are a few of the older guys still kicking around the club and returning on loan. As Windy said recently, McEvoy getting a contract extension changes everything. Maybe some of the guys that we thought were deadwood might get a chance next year like Ceballos, McEvoy, Coulthrist, Ward, and Hall could find a way in now that they have loan experience and age. Townsend, Mason, and Kane were never really expected to break out but got experience and eventually got a chance and proved it. Someone could come out of nowhere.
Also, there is the last batch of highly rated players that haven't really gotten a chance yet. Veljkovic had somewhat of lost year but he was on the preseason tour and still only 20 and a massive talent. Oduwa sounds like he's quite well on his first loan and he's been touted highly. Ball was on a couple of the Europa League benches and has been out on loan.
Ultimately the point is that while Onomah, Winks, Walker-Peters, Carter-Vickers, Amos, Azzaoui, Maghoma, and Edwards are our best long term prospects there are a lot of others that could come out of nowhere next season. There's still lots of talent outside our very most elite.
I think the idea that next year will be another substantial influx of important youth players is somewhat premature. Pritchard for sure but anyone after that would be slightly surprising to see get more than a handful of appearances. With the success of our youth is easy to forget that Townsend, Mason, and Kane had a combined 18 loans before becoming first team regulars. Pritchard has had three as well. While I hope that the club learns from negatives of Mason, Townsend and Kane's loan spells this experience did mean they were experienced and in their 20s before playing substantially for the first team. Bentaleb is the outlier here.
Going into next season Winks will be 19, Onomah and KWP will be 18, and Carter-Vickers will be 17. I would happily take the under on five bench appearances combined between CCV and KWP. Both are absolutely incredible prospects but KWP is tiny (his legs might be skinnier than Crouch's) and how many CBs do you see getting minutes at 17/18 years old. Neither has even had full year with the u21s. Winks to me looks primed for a loan, doesn't have the superior athleticism like a Bentaleb that can help mitigate mistakes that any young player makes. Onomah for me is the only one of the top prospects that could make a difference next season. He has the athleticism to adapt quickly to the EPL speed of the game and there is no questioning his skill. Still would be a massive ask for him at the age of 18 with no football league experience under his belt. We take for granted a bit what Bentaleb has done but take a look across the league at players in top 8 teams who established themselves as starters before their twenties without a loan and it is a tiny and elite list (Rooney, Terry, Gerrard and a few others).
Dele Alli will be an interesting case. His MK Dons career can basically be looked at as a long loan and he's played a lot of games for a kid of that age. Of course the step up from league 1 will be steep.
I think the collection to look at for potential short term break outs this year outside Pritchard and Onomah are a few of the older guys still kicking around the club and returning on loan. As Windy said recently, McEvoy getting a contract extension changes everything. Maybe some of the guys that we thought were deadwood might get a chance next year like Ceballos, McEvoy, Coulthrist, Ward, and Hall could find a way in now that they have loan experience and age. Townsend, Mason, and Kane were never really expected to break out but got experience and eventually got a chance and proved it. Someone could come out of nowhere.
Also, there is the last batch of highly rated players that haven't really gotten a chance yet. Veljkovic had somewhat of lost year but he was on the preseason tour and still only 20 and a massive talent. Oduwa sounds like he's quite well on his first loan and he's been touted highly. Ball was on a couple of the Europa League benches and has been out on loan.
Ultimately the point is that while Onomah, Winks, Walker-Peters, Carter-Vickers, Amos, Azzaoui, Maghoma, and Edwards are our best long term prospects there are a lot of others that could come out of nowhere next season. There's still lots of talent outside our very most elite.
