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Post by manulike on Jan 17, 2023 21:54:55 GMT
An Arsenal u18 striker and a Cymru u17. One to keep an eye on!
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Post by cadno on Jan 19, 2023 9:11:35 GMT
Fingers crossed for him that he keeps progressing!
Ireland seem to have a gem at Brighton, 18yo striker Ferguson, already started a few prem games and scored a couple goals.
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Post by hooky on Jan 19, 2023 12:45:46 GMT
Yep - Ireland and Scotland are starting to get a few young players developing nicely now. That Scottish lad at Anfield looks class too from the 15 mins or so he had in the league cup! He looked like a grumpy old man in a kid's body though!
Am happy for them that their outlook is improving - which they were as gracious towards us in the recent past!
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Post by dragonsoccer on Jan 19, 2023 13:16:27 GMT
Born in Wales
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Post by fiveattheback on Jan 19, 2023 13:28:24 GMT
Saw on Twitter that he's declaring for Jamaica and has deleted Welsh stuff from his Instagram. Would be a shame to lose him especially if he's Welsh born
Similar to Popov what can Jamaica/Bulgaria realistically offer ahead of Wales? If they feel proud of those 2 then fair enough but odd for two Welsh born youth internationals to switch
If the rumours are true of course
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Post by dragonsoccer on Jan 19, 2023 13:32:20 GMT
like others he is one of the 2005 age group who have not been in a Wales camp for going on a year now (current Wales U18s for this season) were there is also no coach currently in place. Would expect a camp in Feb/Mar for sure in prep for next season UEFA Under 19s
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Post by insertname on Jan 19, 2023 15:35:43 GMT
I don’t get why people keep rationalising it in terms of what they can be offered at international level. If they feel their heritage is more important than place of birth then I’m all for that. As such it’s pointless to speculate and best to just accept they would be prouder to represent someone else and leave it at that
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Post by jimexotic on Jan 19, 2023 18:08:49 GMT
If he chooses Jamaica good luck to him and I hope their absolute joke of a set up sorts itself out, it would be nice to see them at a World Cup again.
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Post by vaulksthrowfanclub on Jan 20, 2023 8:45:18 GMT
That’s really interesting, diolch. Do you happen to know if he was just born here, or if he had education here too by any chance please? |
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Post by hooky on Jan 20, 2023 9:45:08 GMT
Seems that the FAW has become less enticing for youngsters over the last couple of years, as previously discussed.
Losing a youngster to Ireland (and England obviously) is one thing, but losing to Jamaica and Bulgaria when they are born and bred here is unusual. I keep thinking Bodin did not help move players up to the U21s but has something more deep rooted happened?
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Post by vaulksthrowfanclub on Jan 20, 2023 13:28:00 GMT
Tbf Popov had a fair few u21 caps/call ups as technically an u18/19. Not a fan of the Bodin era either! Gutting were he to go mind!
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Post by allezlesrouges on Jan 20, 2023 20:05:15 GMT
I really don't think we can be too unhappy about a black carribbean player choosing to represent the country of his heritage. More power to him if he feels more affiliated to Jamaica
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Post by mortillsy on Jan 21, 2023 15:36:10 GMT
Saw on Twitter that he's declaring for Jamaica and has deleted Welsh stuff from his Instagram. Would be a shame to lose him especially if he's Welsh born Similar to Popov what can Jamaica/Bulgaria realistically offer ahead of Wales? If they feel proud of those 2 then fair enough but odd for two Welsh born youth internationals to switch If the rumours are true of course I think I may have seen the same Tweet. I mentioned it in the Cymru Youth thread. I will say it looked like an unverified source, but it has looked like he’s removed videos of him scoring for Wales. He always had a Bajan/Jamaican flag on his bio, even when he was representing Wales. |
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Post by mortillsy on Jan 21, 2023 15:41:13 GMT
I don’t get why people keep rationalising it in terms of what they can be offered at international level. If they feel their heritage is more important than place of birth then I’m all for that. As such it’s pointless to speculate and best to just accept they would be prouder to represent someone else and leave it at that I take your point. But, You’re also speculating, with very little information. |
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Post by surge on Jan 22, 2023 9:04:13 GMT
They're a young player just starting out in what hopefully will be a long and happy career; nationality is becoming increasingly complex so more and more people will be made up of different nations; and we don't really have enough details to comment other than to say we hope if he does chose to go somewhere else, it's not because we haven't done enough to share Welsh'ness with them.
In general terms, I guess if a player does chose another country then we support them a little bit recognising the little bit of them that's Welsh and he happy where it's done for personal/cultural reasons rather than (*cough* Declan Rice/Jack Grealish *cough*) where it's done totally for career opportunity.
We'll keep a watch and fingers crossed.
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Post by marsvolta on Jan 22, 2023 9:32:10 GMT
Another thing that remember is that we are actively searching and recruiting more and more dual nationality players.
The upside is we get a bigger playing pool, the downside is that’s some of these dual nationals will choose someone else.
I think we’ll need to have a ‘you win some, you lose some’ attitude to our youth players who are qualified for multiple countries.
We’ve won the big ones like Brennan and Ampadu and so far we haven’t had a Grealish/Rice example of the one that got away.
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Post by hooky on Jan 22, 2023 10:47:56 GMT
but is he Welsh born and bred?
Again if he is and we lose two players born and nurtured in Wales (including Popov) then that strikes me as more than you win some lose some, as its very unusual for someone brought up in a small country to turn their backs on that country. England is different as you can imagine there were at least 10 Brennans and 20 Ampadus when they rocked up to an England camp and half of them were probably ahead of or better than them - they were just a number. Then to travel to Jamaica and Bulgaria back and for for matches is not great for your club career and these are not good football teams and so its not something their football agent will have pushed.
So it would be good to know why - in case its something that has gone awry within the FAW. Just seems this pick up in youngsters wanting to exit our system is too coincidental (don't forget Hill, while that guy at Wolves suddenly has no interest either - albeit those two were not born and bred in Wales)
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Post by marsvolta on Jan 22, 2023 11:38:56 GMT
but is he Welsh born and bred? Again if he is and we lose two players born and nurtured in Wales (including Popov) then that strikes me as more than you win some lose some, as its very unusual for someone brought up in a small country to turn their backs on that country. England is different as you can imagine there were at least 10 Brennans and 20 Ampadus when they rocked up to an England camp and half of them were probably ahead of or better than them - they were just a number. Then to travel to Jamaica and Bulgaria back and for for matches is not great for your club career and these are not good football teams and so its not something their football agent will have pushed. So it would be good to know why - in case its something that has gone awry within the FAW. Just seems this pick up in youngsters wanting to exit our system is too coincidental (don't forget Hill, while that guy at Wolves suddenly has no interest either - albeit those two were not born and bred in Wales) My point being that if we are going on a seemingly worldwide recruitment drive to get players born elsewhere, we can’t really complain when other countries do the same to us. Don’t forget that we’ve gone for Scottish, Irish and overseas players, countries who have limits options like we have, we haven’t only gone for English born players who won’t be missed. We also can’t say to players born elsewhere that heritage matters but then say to the players who are born here to ignore their heritage and opt for where they are born. Obviously it will be hugely disappointing to lose Popov and Benjamin but, as I said, it may be due a combination of more players being involved due to our increased playing pool and of teams following our own recruitment policy that has caused them having these options, rather than something going wrong our side. |
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Post by iot on Jan 22, 2023 11:49:24 GMT
but is he Welsh born and bred? Again if he is and we lose two players born and nurtured in Wales (including Popov) then that strikes me as more than you win some lose some, as its very unusual for someone brought up in a small country to turn their backs on that country. England is different as you can imagine there were at least 10 Brennans and 20 Ampadus when they rocked up to an England camp and half of them were probably ahead of or better than them - they were just a number. Then to travel to Jamaica and Bulgaria back and for for matches is not great for your club career and these are not good football teams and so its not something their football agent will have pushed. So it would be good to know why - in case its something that has gone awry within the FAW. Just seems this pick up in youngsters wanting to exit our system is too coincidental (don't forget Hill, while that guy at Wolves suddenly has no interest either - albeit those two were not born and bred in Wales) We don't have the details of these specific cases but asking 'is he Welsh born and bred' is, I think, the wrong question. I gather he was born in Wales, but have no idea how long he lived in Wales and how he identifies. Where a person is born is only one component of their national identity and will vary on a case by case basis. I know of people who went to school with me in west Wales, were born there, could speak Welsh, but had English parents and felt 100% English. Equally, I know people who came to a Welsh university from England and now, with no other association with Wales, feel 100% Welsh. Rabbi Matondo was born in Liverpool to parents from DR Congo, but moved to Cardiff as a child and has a thick Cardiffian accent. He and his brother primarily identify as Welsh. It might be the reverse with Benjamin (he's been with Arsenal since a very young age, so will have spent a big chunk of his childhood in London). You can only unpack people's national identity by having an honest discussion with them. We don't have that in most of these cases, so all the speculation is a bit pointless and unhealthy in my view. |
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Post by evans1282 on Jan 22, 2023 11:50:59 GMT
but is he Welsh born and bred? Again if he is and we lose two players born and nurtured in Wales (including Popov) then that strikes me as more than you win some lose some, as its very unusual for someone brought up in a small country to turn their backs on that country. England is different as you can imagine there were at least 10 Brennans and 20 Ampadus when they rocked up to an England camp and half of them were probably ahead of or better than them - they were just a number. Then to travel to Jamaica and Bulgaria back and for for matches is not great for your club career and these are not good football teams and so its not something their football agent will have pushed. So it would be good to know why - in case its something that has gone awry within the FAW. Just seems this pick up in youngsters wanting to exit our system is too coincidental (don't forget Hill, while that guy at Wolves suddenly has no interest either - albeit those two were not born and bred in Wales) My point being that if we are going on a seemingly worldwide recruitment drive to get players born elsewhere, we can’t really complain when other countries do the same to us. Don’t forget that we’ve gone for Scottish, Irish and overseas players, countries who have limits options like we have, we haven’t only gone for English born players who won’t be missed. We also can’t say to players born elsewhere that heritage matters but then say to the players who are born here to ignore their heritage and opt for where they are born. Obviously it will be hugely disappointing to lose Popov and Benjamin but, as I said, it may be due a combination of more players being involved due to our increased playing pool and of teams following our own recruitment policy that has caused them having these options, rather than something going wrong our side. Overreaction for me,mountain out of a molehill,but glass half empty is always his default position. |
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Post by bale-droed on Jan 22, 2023 13:55:50 GMT
On one hand I want to say why are you all stressing about a 16 year old we hadn’t heard of two weeks ago who probably won’t be as good as the hype (Like so many the next big thing youngsters)playing for another country ?
But on the other he’s switching, Luke Harris pulled out of the stand by squad for the World Cup, Popov might switch , chem campbell can’t be arsed, Kyle John is apparently eligible for us yet had no interest in the under 21s, Rusheda chose his parents county with no interest in playing for our under 19s, there’s a few more examples. Something is wrong in our youth system
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Post by surge on Jan 22, 2023 14:31:10 GMT
Think it's wrong to comment on any one individual when they're so young, but I agree that we need to be frequently reviewing our youth system to see if we're doing enough and where we can improve.
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Post by marsvolta on Jan 22, 2023 16:43:40 GMT
If you list the amount of players the youth system has produced for the senior squad then it doesn’t look like much is wrong. We are not going to persuade every single eligible player to come to us.
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Post by redwallnews on Jan 22, 2023 19:37:06 GMT
He's born in Watford and not Wales according to a picture of the Arsenal program he posted on his Instagram.
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Post by bale-droed on Jan 22, 2023 23:06:49 GMT
On one hand I want to say why are you all stressing about a 16 year old we hadn’t heard of two weeks ago who probably won’t be as good as the hype (Like so many the next big thing youngsters)playing for another country ? But on the other he’s switching, Luke Harris pulled out of the stand by squad for the World Cup, Popov might switch , chem campbell can’t be arsed, Kyle John is apparently eligible for us yet had no interest in the under 21s, Rusheda chose his parents county with no interest in playing for our under 19s, there’s a few more examples. Something is wrong in our youth system If you list the amount of players the youth system has produced for the senior squad then it doesn’t look like much is wrong. We are not going to persuade every single eligible player to come to us. I meant current. Not players 21 and above. Something is wrong at this exact moment. |
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Post by marsvolta on Jan 22, 2023 23:39:51 GMT
There are absolutely loads of dual qualified players at every single level from under 15s to the u21s. You’re only concentrating on the few that haven’t committed.
And of the ones who haven’t committed,We’ve only got rumours and hearsay on most of those players (and most of it is us believing guesswork from people on the internet)
Looking at the five players you’ve used as an example -
Luke Harris- nothing yet to suggest that he won’t still play for us. We’ll have to wait until March to see what happens here.
Chem Campbell- again, he could still turn out for us, all we know is that he’s concentrating on club football at the moment and didn’t seem that interested anyway. You say yourself that he can’t be arsed, do we need any players who can’t be arsed?
Rushesda- you say he has chosen the country of his parents but he was born there too. We worry that Welsh born players like Popov might not play for us despite being born here, yet say that Rushesda should play for us instead of the country of his birth. Cake and eat it springs to mind.
Popov- all we know is Bulgaria are trying to get him to commit to them, nothing that we haven’t done to other countries, and nothing signed and sealed yet
Kyle John- nothing to suggest that he was ever interested or has ever intended to join up with a squad, let alone not joining us due to something wrong in the Welsh set up.
As I said earlier, we’ve managed to increase our playing pool massively with our recruitment drive and by selling the Welsh set up to players, but we won’t persuade every single eligible player to play for us.Some players will not jump on board but that does not mean that things must be wrong.
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Post by allezlesrouges on Jan 22, 2023 23:54:17 GMT
Well said. I also don't understand this idea some people have, that we should be somehow convincing players to commit to us when they don't have particularly strong feelings about us. Why would we want a player turning out for us who regrets committing to us in the end? Would much rather a player with less quality and 1000% commitment
I think too many people forget that the reason we secured Brooks, Ampadu, Brennan & Mepham wasn't by being pushy. It was by allowing them to experience other set ups and encouraging them to make a free choice once they'd received all necessary information they needed to make a decision. Pushing players would make us look needy, and if we are a good choice and confident country why would we do something that could jeopardise that such as acting needy and desperate
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Post by bale-droed on Jan 23, 2023 3:50:18 GMT
I absolutely agree we shouldn’t force or have to convince anyone. Let’s ask ourselves why these players are either thinking of switching or don’t want to play for our youth teams. What exactly is wrong? It’s not just these players there are others.
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Post by evans1282 on Jan 23, 2023 7:31:26 GMT
Personally I'd rather we talked about real problems,rather than the made up nonsense from the sky is falling usual suspects
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Post by allezlesrouges on Jan 23, 2023 8:38:10 GMT
Well said. I also don't understand this idea some people have, that we should be somehow convincing players to commit to us when they don't have particularly strong feelings about us. Why would we want a player turning out for us who regrets committing to us in the end? Would much rather a player with less quality and 1000% commitment I think too many people forget that the reason we secured Brooks, Ampadu, Brennan & Mepham wasn't by being pushy. It was by allowing them to experience other set ups and encouraging them to make a free choice once they'd received all necessary information they needed to make a decision. Pushing players would make us look needy, and if we are a good choice and confident country why would we do something that could jeopardise that such as acting needy and desperate I absolutely agree we shouldn’t force or have to convince anyone. Let’s ask ourselves why these players are either thinking of switching or don’t want to play for our youth teams. What exactly is wrong? It’s not just these players there are others. Most of the players mentioned before we don't actually know anything concrete yet. It's all hearsay at this point in most instances |
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