[Albion] Ainsley Maitland-Niles

[The Fits]

A good young player, yes - but is he twenty or thirty million pounds better than Alzate or Molumby? Especially as he will want, if not a guaranteed, certainly a regular starting place in CM, where apparently he wants to specialise and make the position his own - so not the left sided Lamptey that some are thinking.

Tough one this.
Is he £30 million better than our young midfielders? Probably not. But, how much would we sell our players for? We surely wouldn't take anything less that £20 million for Alzate, and even Molumby- if a top Champ team came in for him today you'd be surprised if it was for less than £10 million.
AMN has made 100 appearances for Arsenal at 22. Can play almost anywhere (which massively suits Potter- even during the game players move postion) and is one of the quickest players in the leagues. So it's more what he can offer us than his value versus our own players.
Personally feel if we signed him, a striker that offers something different and Jamal Lewis we'd be a top ten team. That's gonna cost us £60 million. We're that close.

 

[peterward]

A good young player, yes - but is he twenty or thirty million pounds better than Alzate or Molumby? Especially as he will want, if not a guaranteed, certainly a regular starting place in CM, where apparently he wants to specialise and make the position his own - so not the left sided Lamptey that some are thinking.

I get where you're coming from, but is he better right now than Alzate/Molumby? arguably yes.......

I agree its important to offer the academy to first team pathway, but you need the best players on the pitch that you can possibly field.

PL is not the place for sentiments, better players raise the competition and the games of others around them, you'd hope the cream will still rise to the top and Potter will give any player whose performing a chance imho.

The fact AMN is quite adept in a few different positions, by all accounts, is a big benefit.

From reading Wacko a bit, Bielsa has a policy of 18 first team squad members + rest from U23's. Not saying we should copy in those ratios, but we could always endeavor to say have 4 or 5 outfield players from the U23 squad? would incentivise the academy lads too, but you still need to be able to hit the ground running, there is just no room to carry players, simply because they're our best youngsters, for them to build the requisite experience on the job.
Webster was obviously a very good championship CB and he struggled often in first half of season with the step up in class.

I'm all for giving the path from the Academy to the first team like Connolly or Alzate or even Molumby, but they have to be at that level for the league games and be the best possible option available.

 

[The Fits]

From reading Wacko a bit, Bielsa has a policy of 18 first team squad members + rest from U23's. Not saying we should copy in those ratios, but we could always endeavor to say have 4 or 5 outfield players from the U23 squad? would incentivise the academy lads too, but you still need to be able to hit the ground running, there is just no room to carry players, simply because they're our best youngsters, for them to build the requisite experience on the job.
Webster was obviously a very good championship CB and he struggled often in first half of season with the step up in class.

This is absolutely the right tactic I believe.
No need for the amount of 'senior pros' we currently have.

 

[seagull_special]

Would be a fantastic addition but it now seems he is top dollar. I would prefer to invest in that elusive striker to compliment Connolly who I think is going to have a fantastic season and Maupay. I am excited about Molumby and Alzate, What a wealth of talent we have in the pipeline. It would be a dream to add AMN however if Villa and Everton are sniffing they will happily throw too much money at the deal.

 

[GT49er]

Can play almost anywhere (which massively suits Potter).

The fact AMN is quite adept in a few different positions, by all accounts, is a big benefit.

Yes maybe - but the question is, does he want to do that? It appears he might not, and would prefer a move to a club that would play him in the position he wants to make his own, CM. Would probably want assurances about starting regularly too.

If Potter, Ashworth and co. want him, and we get him, fine, I'll be absolutely delighted if he turns out to be brilliant for us. But if we send the likes of Molumby out on loan again, I wouldn't be a all surprised if come next June he does exactly what Leeds fans would like Ben White to have done - demand a move away, because he's doing fine at the club where he's on loan and they want to keep him and he loves them. And that could be our loss.

 

[Bwian]

Would be a fantastic addition but it now seems he is top dollar. I would prefer to invest in that elusive striker to compliment Connolly who I think is going to have a fantastic season and Maupay. I am excited about Molumby and Alzate, What a wealth of talent we have in the pipeline . It would be a dream to add AMN however if Villa and Everton are sniffing they will happily throw too much money at the deal.

How do you know what talent we have in the pipeline? Deluded fans keep telling us we aren't aware of any of our Academy players and they know everything.



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[Harry Wilson's tackle]

In fairness I think it does work like that to a degree. One of the charges against Hughton was that he didn't bring young players through. We brought in Potter with a remit to develop young players. We brought in Ashworth with a specific remit of "creating a production line from the academy to the first team". So if at the point where our young players like Alzate and Molumby are ready to get a chance in the first team we bring in a player from another club and ship our young players out on loan again, then I think those young players would be entitled to feel let down. It goes in the opposite direction to what the club says its doing with the academy. I don't think any of our youngster would be precious enough to demand to be first team starters, but I think they are completely entitled to expect a chance.

No, fair enough.

 

[albionalex]

This is absolutely the right tactic I believe.
No need for the amount of 'senior pros' we currently have.

A few injuries and we would need all of our 'senior pros'.

 

[The Fits]

A few injuries and we would need all of our 'senior pros'.

How many injuries?

 

[albionalex]

How many injuries?

In CB, about 5

But otherwise, 2-3

 

[Hugo Rune]

Personally feel if we signed him, a striker that offers something different and Jamal Lewis we'd be a top ten team. That's gonna cost us £60 million. We're that close.

Agreed.

This pacy young team makes a great case for our club’s top ten ambition. Just three players off.

—————————Ryan—————————-
——-Webster——-Dunk———White————
Lamptey——Bissouma——-AMN———Lewis
————————-Lallana—————————
—————-Maupay———Núñez—————-

Subs:
Button
Burn
Veltman
Pröpper
Mac Allister
Trossard
Connolly

 

[GT49er]

Agreed.

This pacy young team makes a great case for our club’s top ten ambition. Just three players off.

—————————Ryan—————————-
——-Webster——-Dunk———White————
Lamptey——Bissouma——-AMN———Lewis
————————-Lallana—————————
—————-Maupay———Núñez—————-

Subs:
Button
Burn
Veltman
Pröpper
Mac Allister
Trossard
Connolly

......and here's another one writing off our own home grown players. Are we just going to bin off Alzate and Molumby to the Belgian second division or somewhere?

 

[Swansman]

......and here's another one writing off our own home grown players. Are we just going to bin off Alzate and Molumby to the Belgian second division or somewhere?

Yea, havent seen enough of Molumby but I see no reason why Alzate wouldnt be/could become equally good as AMN who strikes me as the type of player people in ten years might see playing for some League One team asking "remember that guy?".

 

[SimpKingpin]

Agreed.

This pacy young team makes a great case for our club’s top ten ambition. Just three players off.

—————————Ryan—————————-
——-Webster——-Dunk———White————
Lamptey——Bissouma——-AMN———Lewis
————————-Lallana—————————
—————-Maupay———Núñez—————-

Subs:
Button
Burn
Veltman
Pröpper
Mac Allister
Trossard
Connolly

Lovely but it hurts me not to see Alzate at least on the bench.

Fingers crossed Mac Allister settles in and shows us what he can really do.

Such an exciting squad. Be great if it's a real break out year for Connolly too. That goal against Burnley got a bit overshadowed by Bissouma's but he really made it from nothing and looks like he's working on his physical strength. He could be an absolute monster. Been watching footage of his U23s matches and he made it look easy.

 

[vagabond]

I think Molumby is being written off too soon, I think he’ll feature for us this season, and could be really interesting player as he’s gone under the radar with the BW hype.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Lovely but it hurts me not to see Alzate at least on the bench.

Got that completely wrong. I just forgot to include him. I don’t think he is that far away from a semi-permanent partnership with Bissouma.

 

[b.w.2.]

So, in summary, the key signing is a striker. AMN or similar may NOT be required, due to our rather brilliant young players coming through.


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[One Teddy Maybank]

I think Molumby is being written off too soon, I think he’ll feature for us this season, and could be really interesting player as he’s gone under the radar with the BW hype.

Who’s writing him off?

All the midfield places will be competitive.


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[Bladders]

So, in summary, the key signing is a striker. AMN or similar may NOT be required, due to our rather brilliant young players coming through.


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Can’t see this happening personally , with LWB and striker a priority another right sided MF isn’t top of the wish list

I think we’ve enquired early and would have pursued had the price been right but there’s too much third party interest now which will inflate the price and wages , so I think this ones finished .


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[JBizzle]

As much as I love Alzate and think Molumby has great potential, neither answer the question that AMN answers - pace at full back. If we sign a left sided defender, I'm almost certain they'll be very quick, otherwise we may as well stick with Burn, Bernardo and March

Alzate and Molumby are fantastic options to be competitive in midfield though . Alzate particularly, with the rise of Lamptey and the signing of Veldman, doesn't feel like will end up at RB or RWB now and may be used in midfield more regularly.