Problem now with players coming through is bigger teams just picking any talent off. As mentioned above we've lost a couple this season alone.
Almost need someone to go under radar then just develop really late and then luck with pathway being open.
Sad thing is with bigger clubs picking off all talent, fair amount of them will just fizzle out as they will solely play 23s football, then drift into non league when released as they have been lost in the giant fish bowl of a Man City or Chelsea. Where perhaps being at a coventry or small club and staying put, then higher chance of first team football or loan to play proper competitive games. But its hard I get it, when clubs and agents start promising the world.....
We simply can't afford to sustain a Cat1 academy and all the big boys know about the top players. The max apprenticeship they can be paid is £200 so that's not the attraction, but facilities, recovery, staff, sponsorships etc are miles apart. One of my mates from poker going back years has his kid with our academy currently, they're not City fans, in fact not fans of anyone really, nearly lost him to Villa last summer, if he's not knocking on the door in preseason, we'll most likely lose him somewhere this summer and nothing we can do about it.