I think it's safe to say that we will see a fair amount of a few youngsters this season, given our lack of funds, but will any of them come in and cement a place in the squad?
Alot has been made of Conor Thomas, who has been dubbed as the best young player to come out of the academy, however, I have also heard good things about Gael Bigirimana and Josh Ruffles. For those that don't know too much about them, Bigirimana is a Burundi born box-to-box central midfielder (In the Michael Essien mould - Gregor Rioch's words by the way) and Josh Ruffles is a skillfull attacking midfielder. Along with these 3, Cyrus Christie, Callum Wilson and Sean Jeffers will all surely add to their first-team appearances at some point in the campaign.
Where exactly did i say how good he was? I said "didn't he have an absolute nightmare?" I didn't go to the game, so i was just asking the people who did if this was the case as it sounded like it on the radio.
Granted you can't judge people on 10 mins but if one of the young strikers had come on and scored a hattrick i think you might have. :claping hands:
I'm really pleased Conor Thomas is back with us. As he fills out physically I think he's going to be a real dominant force in central midfield - he's tall, athletic and in his two appearances (Palace and Brum I think) I saw some quality first-time passes and great composure.
He could make a great holding player. Hopefully he'll break through this year and the vultures like Liverpool will back off. He's a Coventry lad and I'd love to have him driving us forward from the centre of the park.
Conor Thomas in my eyes is a future star of football. True it didn't work at Liverpool but I honestly get the feeling he's Premiership quality. He just needs to keep working hard and he'll be one of the best at Coventry in the next 12/24months.
Also very much looking to see Bigirimana get a chance. Anyone likened to Essien should be pretty handy!
I think our youth set-up is starting to churn out some lads with excellent potential.
The 2 lads were both 16 when they signed in January so may be a year too young yet. They were central midfielder Jemal Wiseman from Arsenal and a winger from Manchester United called Louis Garner. Neither have profiles on the academy page of the CCFC website so not sure what's going on with them. Would actually really like to find out.
He's played a few games for my mates team in the church league, and he says he's unbelievably good, apparently his brother is even better but we turned him down as he is too old