[Albion] Aaron Connolly - joining Hull permanently

[Whitechapel]

In your list you've named one player from each club youth setup (OK two for Liverpool), and each of these players is a £50M+ value player - the very best of those young players signed/developed by the club.

These are the anomalies and in each of these clubs there are tens, hundreds who go through the normal grind of playing at a lower level before being called up to the PL first team, not to mention the hundreds, maybe thousands who never get there at all.

Our youth setup is still very young, in top-level terms, and maybe we just haven't had that player through yet? One could even argue that Solly is our straight-to-the-first-teamer for your list...?

I tend to agree, the point I was making however is the notion that we should have loaned him out is by and large hindsight.

I’m sure there are people who always thought he should be loaned out, but they were in a very small minority for a fairly decent amount of time. Connolly had a couple of spells where he came off the bench and terrified defences, he then scored two very different goals on his full league debut. Most of our fans, and a large chunk of neutrals thought we had another one of these anomalies. Things didn’t work out, I just think people suggesting the club is at fault a bit weird. I hope they learn from their mistakes, but they’re only mistakes with hindsight.

I wouldn’t include March for the same reason I didn’t include Grealish/Phillips - they didn’t start their career in the Prem!

"Good enough" in the context of a young footballer should include some appreciation of whether the player is mature enough to deal with all the money/pressure/publicity etc. Not just whether they can get the ball in the back of the net.

I fully agree, although I would add to that with the fact a lot of the truly great strikers are arrogant/cocky. It’s probably quite hard to tell with a young hotshot striker if that mentality will see him become a 10+ goal a season Prem striker or an absolute knobhead. Fine lines.

 

[CheeseRolls]

The old adage “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough” holds true though. Saying he should have gone out on loan is simply a case of hindsight. There are dozens of players who have never been out on loan and have made a consistent positive impact for their clubs in the Premier League.

Saka is younger than Connolly, was playing in the U-23 league when Connolly won the POTS & has never been on loan.

In the England team alone you’ve got Trent, Rashford, Foden, Rice & Sterling off the top of my head who jumped straight to performing in the Premier League from U-23 football. The difference between those clubs and us is they know how to handle young, homegrown stars with huge potential - which appears to be something we were lacking. The other difference is almost certainly the temperament and attitude of the player in question.

It’s easy to boil down Connolly to a good game against Spurs, but he’d been denied a goal against Newcastle a few weeks before by an absolute wonder clearance and had; in general, been impressive off the bench when he’d came on. He also didn’t a drop off a cliff after Spurs. The general opinion on here was “played well, the goals will come” for a while afterwards too.

I think the loan players out option is a bit of a win-win when it comes to fan opinions of a young player. We will all question whether we should have loaned Connolly out, but Teddy Jenks has gone from the next big thing to barely starting for Crawley. We’ll probably never see a thread asking if he would have been better off staying here rather than spending a year in Scotland.

All of those players had to fight off fierce competition, just to get a look in at their clubs and Sterling had to make several moves to find an opportunity that was right for him.

August 2019 Connolly played for the U23s v Wolves and put in a tell tale performance. For nearly 70 minutes he wasn't in the game and then he scored a couple of quick fire goals with confident finishes, which turned the game on its head. For a squad short on goals he seemed like he might be the answer. That confidence has evaporated over time, partly due to niggling injuries, but also due to allowing himself to get distracted. Whilst he is a naturally stocky lad, he hasn't developed the upper body strength to hold off and to turn defenders. An interesting comparison here can be made with the older and more experienced Trossard, who arrived at the club around this time. Initially he looked skilful and lightweight, but you can really see the benefit of his hard work in the gym.

It really wasn't a straight choice between keeping Connolly or Gyokeres as far as I am concerned. Gyokeres mainly played out wide, where he seemed to have good close control, but didn't really get his head up enough. When Gyokeres was given his first team opportunity he really seemed to be lacking in self belief and his impact was minimal. You can have a good system and good coaches, but it doesn't mean every player will thrive in that system. He now looks powerful and a handful playing through the middle. Maybe he needed that move to Coventry, where he has thrived on a combination of hard work and being the main man.

Connolly needs to find somewhere he can enjoy playing football again, regardless of the level. There are always clubs willing to take a chance on a goal scorer, who might just turn their season around. How many of those have we taken a gamble on over the years?

 

[Easy 10]

But what about the subsequent loan failings? Why are all these turning to shit as well? Things don’t always work out, so why didn’t he go away on loan and work on things.

I understand the pressure, but as with everyone in life, sometimes things don’t go to plan and we have to have a rethink and rework our plans. Connolly is no different in this sense.

Attitude.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Regarding the club-should-have-loaned-him-out argument….we did loan him out once it was realised this might be a better option.

 

[GT49er]

The old adage “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough” holds true though. Saying he should have gone out on loan is simply a case of hindsight. There are dozens of players who have never been out on loan and have made a consistent positive impact for their clubs in the Premier League.

Not hindsight! - there have been calls on NSC for him to go out on loan since 2020.

In the England team alone you’ve got Trent, Rashford, Foden, Rice & Sterling off the top of my head who jumped straight to performing in the Premier League from U-23 football. The difference between those clubs and us is they know how to handle young, homegrown stars with huge potential - which appears to be something we were lacking. The other difference is almost certainly the temperament and attitude of the player in question.

Firstly, these are exceptional players, and secondly, with te exception of Rice they all play for top six teams who are so goood that they can afford to 'carry' a youngster through some PL matches against weaker opposition and giver them the experience without jeopardising their chances of winning.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Things have moved on massively since Connolly last pulled on the stripes. He is yesterday's man now, it's time for a parting of the ways.

Can anyone seriously see him nailing down a place in our squad now? l can't.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Attitude.

First thing he did when he went to Boro was get a huge tattoo of himself scoring a goal and his partner plastered their swanky new accommodation all over Insta. This wasn’t quite the reaction I was hoping for.

Venice seemed ideal, and the noises he made before his departure suggested he’d finally got his lifestyle and priorities right….wonder what went wrong in Italy?

 

[Mellotron]

I still find it baffling how BHA have NEVER produced / developed a striker of any note from its own youth ranks. At best, all our dross sink into the noddy leagues without a trace.

Yup. We're great with developing young centre backs, but utter shit when it comes to developing strikers it seems.

 

[GT49er]

Yup. We're great with developing young centre backs, but utter shit when it comes to developing strikers it seems.

TBF, we're pretty good with goalkeepers too.

 

[Mellotron]

TBF, we're pretty good with goalkeepers too.

Yup. I wouldn't say just at youth level either - seen goalies and defenders go from strength to strength at the Albion.

We have a really bizarre black spot when it comes to strikers. We massively undervalue them when we have them (Murray) and aren't willing to pay even close to the going rate for one in the way we are willing to for defenders and midfielders - rightly or wrongly, strikers cost more. They just do.

IMO.

But hey. We're doing great overall.

 

[macbeth]

Yup. I wouldn't say just at youth level either - seen goalies and defenders go from strength to strength at the Albion.

We have a really bizarre black spot when it comes to strikers. We massively undervalue them when we have them (Murray) and aren't willing to pay even close to the going rate for one in the way we are willing to for defenders and midfielders - rightly or wrongly, strikers cost more. They just do.

IMO.

But hey. We're doing great overall.

do wonder if that's why we've refrained from buying a striker despite it being a seemingly obvious area to strengthen. have the club just...given up??

why risk adding another name to the long list of failures when you can buy other 'forward' type players to score goals instead?

 

[Mellotron]

do wonder if that's why we've refrained from buying a striker despite it being a seemingly obvious area to strengthen. have the club just...given up??

why risk adding another name to the long list of failures when you can buy other 'forward' type players to score goals instead?

I don't know if we're just not as good at judging what is a good striking prospect, or if it's more that we don't then train/develop them adequately once they're here? Locadia never looked comfortable in his own skin, Andone was a hot head, Maupay kinda (..?) worked out, we haven't really tried that many other times at big money levels, have we?

I still do wonder about having Bruno as the striking coach for a number of years, as much as I love(d) the guy...

Meanwhile, we had a VERY strong set of centre backs and still spent over £20m on Webster (money well spent, I should add).

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

do wonder if that's why we've refrained from buying a striker despite it being a seemingly obvious area to strengthen. have the club just...given up??

Barber has said the club don’t necessarily see the value in spending huge amounts on strikers, and that they will look for value but also have a playing style which can get goals from other areas. I don’t think they’ve given up, more they don’t want to be a hostage to an expensive proven goal scorer.

And we did buy Undav who is a striker, apparently.

 

[macbeth]

Barber has said the club don’t necessarily see the value in spending huge amounts on strikers, and that they will look for value but also have a playing style which can get goals from other areas. I don’t think they’ve given up, more they don’t want to be a hostage to an expensive proven goal scorer.

And we did buy Undav who is a striker, apparently.

well yeah that is in essence what I meant, we're happy to be competitive re. transfers in other areas of the pitch but nowadays with strikers it seems we seem to prefer pinning hopes on cheap punts and youth prospects (not that it's serving us badly at the minute), as opposed to paying extra for a more proven player, hence the giving up. we tried paying £10M+ and got burned (DJ Strollabout) and we've tried paying top dollar but found that deal impossible to complete (Nunez), and we probably just can't compete wages wise with other players around that price mark. So it makes sense that if we can't be competitive in that market, then there's no point trying over and over

 

[Easy 10]

Spain won a World Cup without a recognised striker. I guess we took that to heart.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Spain won a World Cup without a recognised striker. I guess we took that to heart.

Man City the EPL title.

 

[GT49er]

well yeah that is in essence what I meant, we're happy to be competitive re. transfers in other areas of the pitch but nowadays with strikers it seems we seem to prefer pinning hopes on cheap punts and youth prospects (not that it's serving us badly at the minute), as opposed to paying extra for a more proven player, hence the giving up. we tried paying £10M+ and got burned (DJ Strollabout) and we've tried paying top dollar but found that deal impossible to complete (Nunez), and we probably just can't compete wages wise with other players around that price mark. So it makes sense that if we can't be competitive in that market, then there's no point trying over and over

The Nunez situation came too soon for us - if the situation (i.e. before he went to Benfica for them to double their money) cropped up now, we'd have a much better chance (7th. in the league, not bumping around near the bottom, WC winner in the team, players sold to top 6 sides for £50 and £60M, 9 players at the WC). He might still choose Benfica, but we wouldn't look like the 'Little Old Brighton' that Nunez and his agent probably perceived back then.

 

[macbeth]

The Nunez situation came too soon for us - if the situation (i.e. before he went to Benfica for them to double their money) cropped up now, we'd have a much better chance (7th. in the league, not bumping around near the bottom, WC winner in the team, players sold to top 6 sides for £50 and £60M, 9 players at the WC). He might still choose Benfica, but we wouldn't look like the 'Little Old Brighton' that Nunez and his agent probably perceived back then.

perhaps, and maybe should another player around that price mark and ability become available, we'd swoop. obviously, though, this becomes more difficult the better we get, as we want to sign players who will improve us, and the better we are, the more those players will probably cost (admittedly not in all cases, such as caicedo, but very likely in the case of a striker)

 

[Lurchy]

Rumour going round that he’s off on loan to Hull this transfer window.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Rumour going round that he’s off on loan to Hull this transfer window.

I recommend the Lion and Key pub in Hull.
Don't tell Connolly about it.