Hungry Joe
SINNEN
Hope the club's not paying for the polos then - ffp and all that...............
Paul pays for them but then claims the costs back on expenses and recoups any VAT which goes back into the club's coffers. He's no mug you know.
Hope the club's not paying for the polos then - ffp and all that...............
...Interesting interview on the club site - confirms that the club is well regarded in Spain:
New Brighton & Hove Albion striker Jack Harper plans to use a mix of Spanish flair and Scottish grit to breakthrough into Chris Hughton's first-team plans.
The Scotland under-19 international spent the past six seasons with Real Madrid; and last season played for the Spanish giants Juvenil A side in the UEFA Youth League.
He wore the famous all-white kit against the likes of Liverpool and FC Basel, and feels his Spanish grounding gives him the platform to make his move to Albion a success.
He told seagulls.co.uk, "I've got experience of playing in a different country and I'm ready to bring it to England. I would say that I'm a natural goalscorer; I've got the natural Spanish technique, but I work like a Scotsman!
"It was a great experience to be playing against some of the top sides in Europe last season, but I want more first-team football and it was getting quite complicated at Real Madrid.
"I was keen for a move, but I wasn't sure where to go. I had a few options, and one of the scouts in Spain painted a really good picture of Brighton & Hove Albion and everything he told me has been the case.
"Talking with my family and my agent, I felt that this was the best option for my future. Brighton is a club on the rise, so it was perfect situation for me to go forward."
The 19-year-old, has met some of his new teammates at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre, is currently sidelined with a minor knee injury, but is aiming for a swift return.
He added, "I want to get over this short-term injury, which should be just over a month.
"I'm looking to do well with under-21s and then hopefully get a chance in the first-team before Christmas.
"Gordon Greer already welcomed me to the club when I arrived, *by scything me down from behind and screaming at the bloke next to him*, he was a great help and is a really nice guy. He's someone who made his name here at the club and it's something that I would like to do as well.
"I've also spoken to Tomer, who is represented by the same agency as me, and he said how much he enjoys it here and explained that it was a great place to play football.
"I was told about what this club is like now, but I couldn't believe it until I got here. The training complex is brilliant and the club is ready for the Premier League."
I was loving every word of this - until the last line. Premier League ready!!!! Harper out!
Some years ago, Brighton signed some skinny, unproven, non-league player from Burton Albion. Turned out to be arguably be the most thrilling player ever to wear the Brighton shirt - Peter Ward! - If you're too young to have been around during this era - you missed something special! .......You never know! ......You just never, never know ........ you just have to do all do the right things - and hope!
If the hype is to be believed, I think he might be the 'Tex' replacement. Best of all, he is ours, and not a loan. Im hoping we have managed something great here.
Actually I'm as happy as you'll ever get....next?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ismic-spending-harming-youth-development.html
Real Madrid lost a prodigious talent in Jack Harper to Brighton... is their seismic spending harming youth development?
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-harming-youth-development.html#ixzz3h5T6Remh
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Both Real Madrid and Barcelona's youth teams are playing in the third division of Spanish football, something symptomatic of a wider problem
The low-level experience on offer is counter-productive to the development of young academy players
Meanwhile, the two clubs continue to spend heavily in the transfer market
That Madrid have lost a prodigious young talent in Jack Harper to English Championship side Brighton, is a stark reminder of the situation
Of Madrid's current squad, only one academy graduate in Alvaro Arbeloa, can claim to hold down a regular first-team place
Real scrapped their C-team set-up earlier this summer
When Brighton and Hove Albion are signing players from Real Madrid you know something's up in the transfer market.
Scotland Under-19 international Jack Harper's move to the Championship side is part of a growing trend that has also seen 22-year-old Real Madrid B-team defender Derik Osede sign for Bolton this summer and Cristian Benavente follow him moving from Madrid to Milton Keynes Dons.
Barcelona's 19-year-old Morrocan winger Moha El Ouriachi has joined Stoke and another of the club's promising forwards Adama Traore is wanted by Bayern Munich's former Barca coach Pep Guardiola. West Ham want 19-year-old playmaker Alen Halilovic too. And Everton, who have already taken Barca B winger Gerard Deulofeu, are also interested in the Croatian.
As Barcelona's B-team slip into the third tier of Spanish football after last season's relegation and Real Madrid's Castilla side get ready for another year at the same level after failing to win promotion, both Spanish giants have a problem: there is an excess of good youngsters but no way of properly developing them because the clubs' youth sides play at such a low level.
Real Madrid even axed their C-team this summer – it's the side Harper might have played for but instead he was offered the chance to accept a contract with Real Madrid Castilla and then be loaned out to another club.
Faced with the prospect of a season of uncertainty at a club that was only borrowing him from Madrid he accepted the challenge of a two-year deal at Brighton.
He was highly-rated at Real but what could they do? He would not have been truly tested in the regional fourth division where Real Madrid C would have played had they not been closed down.
But there is over-booking at Castilla level and they are also a level below Spain's second division where they need to be to be really honing the talents of young players.
The best Real could do was offer Harper a B-team contract and a loan out somewhere – a rough deal that made it easy for Brighton manager Chris Hughton to persuade him to sign for the Seagulls.
Real scrapping its C-team has been interpreted as another sign of the club's preference for big-money signings over home-grown players. In truth the move doesn't really rank alongside Atletico Madrid's decision to scrap its entire youth system in 1992.
That saw them lose Raul to Real Madrid – the theory at Valdebebas is that the very best youngsters will still make it but if Harper goes on to be a top player Real could yet finish up regretting the downsizing.
It is harder than ever for a young player to make it all the way to the first team – of the current squad Alvaro Arbeloa is the only example and he needed a spell in the now defunct C-team while he developed.
Barcelona were once the antithesis of Real's policy of buying the finished product as opposed to moulding their own superstars.
But the decision to spend almost £40m on midfielder Arda Turan this summer is a vote against both Rafinha and Sergi Roberto and an indication of how the tide has also turned on the Mediterranean coast. No one has successfully come through as a first-team regular at Barcelona since Pedro and Sergio Busquets in 2008.
With so few making it from the under-11s to the first XI and the volume of hopeful youngsters drawn into the two clubs' academies still high, it's little wonder that there are so many well-schooled teenagers to be picked off by English Championship sides who have the money and the status to make offers that are too good to be turned down.
Harper will not have dreamed of playing for Brighton when he first signed for Madrid but with Real only offering him lower-league regional football in Spain, the Championship was a glamorous and lucrative option.
What would worry me most about that is that Harper has only a two year contract. If he takes up to say Christmas to come up to speed, but then has a storming 2nd half to the season. We would be left with a player we want, but others are alerted too who only has 12 months left on his contract. Seems all the risk is with us really...
Unless there is an option of course...
Wouldn't his age prevent him from being able to leave on a free
Wouldn't his age prevent him from being able to leave on a free
playing for BHAFC and getting his own personalised nandos seat... living the footballing dream!
http://www.thesportbible.com/articles/former-real-madrid-youngster-given-very-cheeky-perk-by-nandos
Nandos at the Goldstone Retail Park...Does the lad not know his history?!
playing for BHAFC and getting his own personalised nandos seat... living the footballing dream!
http://www.thesportbible.com/articles/former-real-madrid-youngster-given-very-cheeky-perk-by-nandos