Cruz Allen

[TomG]

22 minutes ago, Millenniumram said:

Yet another promising prospect we will lose for f*** all because the big boys have come calling. Can’t blame the lad for wanting to move on from here, but it really is quite depressing. Almost makes you think what’s the point in having an academy?

Indeed, especially when we have a manager who appears to be very reluctant to use young players!

[Boycie]

28 minutes ago, Millenniumram said:

Yet another promising prospect we will lose for f*** all because the big boys have come calling. Can’t blame the lad for wanting to move on from here, but it really is quite depressing. Almost makes you think what’s the point in having an academy?

Put the money in first team recruitment? Must be an option if the manager won’t give any a decent outing?

Or ask the manager to change his strategy?  

[hintonsboots]

If he goes to a premier league club, could be a similar fee to the Ethan Ampadu deal when he joined Chelski from Exeter City aged 17 I think ? Was around 1.3 million plus add ons and a 20% sell on clause. I’m sure the forum ECFC Guru will correct me if miles off.

[tinman]

Three options where this has come from:

1: agent talk to push forward the offer of a good pro contract by DCFC. 
2: genuine interest by the clubs mentioned.

3: someone at Bolton has had a word with their mate in the northwest, Nixon, to put a piece out there to unsettle Cruz before Monday nights match. 

[Caerphilly Ram]

For me the reality is if a club with the size, history and resources of Man United come calling it’s going to be hard for the club to do anything to keep him. Even if he was playing week in week out for Warne in league one, can anyone honestly say they think young Cruz would turn down that move?
Interestingly there was an interview with him during half time on ramstv yesterday and he mentioned how he’d joined the academy at 10 and come through the age groups with his best mates, dropping in the name of at least one of those that is now at United following the administration fleecing. 

IF there is some truth to this the shame and blame of it isn’t in Warne’s approach to the academy, it’s that the big clubs in the premier league get to pretty much do what they want to sign up the best talent and those lower down the pyramid have to like it or lump it along with a tiny fraction of the player’s potential worth. The whole thing needs reworking to protect the talent or at the very least the clubs further down the hierarchy. 

EDIT - I do think if this is true Warne should be told by Pearce/Clowes to get the lad in a league squad and on the pitch for a few mins to add to the value, think Rooney did that with Kaide Gordon, right? 

Edited November 26, 2023 by Caerphilly Ram

[Crewton]

42 minutes ago, Millenniumram said:

Yet another promising prospect we will lose for f*** all because the big boys have come calling. Can’t blame the lad for wanting to move on from here, but it really is quite depressing. Almost makes you think what’s the point in having an academy?

Who says he wants to move on from here? He's not given an interview has he?

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

Let’s look at the positives - we get a bag of balls and a box full of old programmes. Football hasn’t been biased to favour the biggest clubs - you’d be stupid to suggest so. 

[QuitYourJibbaJivin]

56 minutes ago, Millenniumram said:

Yet another promising prospect we will lose for f*** all because the big boys have come calling. Can’t blame the lad for wanting to move on from here, but it really is quite depressing. Almost makes you think what’s the point in having an academy?

the compensation rules are a joke to be honest. Cat1 academies shouldn’t be able to steal talent from other cat1 academies so easily. Since brexit and the rules for signing overseas youngsters it’s only  exasperated the problem over here. Now the big prem clubs just hoover up all the local talent in the hope of 1 day of selling for a fee or they may turn into a star. Amazing really how Birmingham were able to get so much for Jude Bellingham, his families affection for Blues was probably they’re only saving grace. 

[Millenniumram]

35 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Put the money in first team recruitment? Must be an option if the manager won’t give any a decent outing?

Or ask the manager to change his strategy?  

I think that’s got to be considered. Clowes is clearly intent on keeping Warne long term, which having a category one academy is in opposition to. Warne has no interest in the youth teams, so the money could be better spent on first team players.

[Millenniumram]

23 minutes ago, Crewton said:

Who says he wants to move on from here? He's not given an interview has he?

No, but I imagine he will do with the big boys interested. The promise of higher pay normally swings most young players, and I can’t blame them.

[Banksy]

1 hour ago, Millenniumram said:

Yet another promising prospect we will lose for f*** all because the big boys have come calling. Can’t blame the lad for wanting to move on from here, but it really is quite depressing. Almost makes you think what’s the point in having an academy?

I can't be getting too excited or worried about this speculation. This is not the first time we've been here with newspaper gossip about top six clubs coming after our youngsters as soon as the club has offered them a professional contract in the past couple of years when it's turned out to be nothing more than their agent feeding journalists bogus information merely for publicity purposes.; it's always the very biggest clubs mentioned, not Brighton, Southampton, Villa, Leicester etc. I don't know if that is the case with Allen and Nixon but few of us would pay Nicko for information and it has exactly the same whiff of what went before.

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

8 hours ago, Dean (hick) Saunders said:

Been discussed before, but we had ZERO chance of keeping hold of Gordon, Delap and Kellyman (unless you argue, reasonably that if we were better run and not gone into admin, the administrators would not have had chance to sell him).

Realistically if we turn up genuine superstars from the academy then whatever DCFC do, there is a high probability of them being poached. They tried very hard with Gordon and failed.

As far as I've been told this lad basically had to be pushed out the door.  I'll give you the other two.  It's almost as if having a Cat 1 academy highlights the better players and you're better off not bothering at a cost of millions.  Hendrick, Huddlestone, Hughes etc would have been gone before they kicked a ball for us.

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

2 hours ago, Comrade 86 said:

If he has to go then we need a decent prospect loaned back at no fee, on top of the compo. So sick of the big clubs just siphoning off all the young talent for beans, then sticking them in cold storage for 3 or 4 years before flogging them off at profit, having never let them play at senior level.

This independent review needs to sort this sooner rather than later as it's a crooked game right now. That said, if the lad wants away, there's really not a lot we can do, but it makes me sad to see these players leave without ever even getting near to the men's team.

Don't forget the sending out on loan for a couple of seasons to get back any fee laid out first.

[Crewton]

14 hours ago, Millenniumram said:

I think that’s got to be considered. Clowes is clearly intent on keeping Warne long term, which having a category one academy is in opposition to. Warne has no interest in the youth teams, so the money could be better spent on first team players.

FFP doesn't work like that, though it would certainly cut Clowes' losses.

[jono]

16 hours ago, Millenniumram said:

I think that’s got to be considered. Clowes is clearly intent on keeping Warne long term, which having a category one academy is in opposition to. Warne has no interest in the youth teams, so the money could be better spent on first team players.

I doubt Warne would agree with your speculative opinion as to his interest in youth teams. 

[Millenniumram]

2 hours ago, Crewton said:

FFP doesn't work like that, though it would certainly cut Clowes' losses.

Yeah I don’t mean from an FFP perspective, I mean the amount Clowes is willing to spend.

[Millenniumram]

26 minutes ago, jono said:

I doubt Warne would agree with your speculative opinion as to his interest in youth teams. 

He may well not do, but we can only speculate on the evidence available to us - and the fact he’s openly admitted to not even knowing who some of the youth players are, suggests he doesn’t hold much interest.

[Bald Eagle's Barmy Army]

2 hours ago, jono said:

I doubt Warne would agree with your speculative opinion as to his interest in youth teams. 

Warne doesn't trust youth, have you not heard his interviews? 

[TheHomunculusLives]

How good is Cruz Allen, as far as we can judge at 16? Is he one of the standout youngsters to be in our academy over the past decade or so?

[Magicman]

53 minutes ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

How good is Cruz Allen, as far as we can judge at 16? Is he one of the standout youngsters to be in our academy over the past decade or so?

Not yet but he has low centre of gravity& moves well as a no10 .