Going down the youth route

[Rancid custard]

I think of the current crop, Clark, Albrighton and Lijah will be regulars, it's up in the air whether Delph would be ahead of Bannan though I can't see it myself.

Promote the youth, play the long game and when football and it's wages destroy itself we'll be top of the pile. Wenger already knows this.

[Greg N'Ash]

I'd be happy with a quartet of Bent, Gabby, Delfouneso and Weimann next season. I thought Delfouneso looked pretty sharp when he started at Fulham, home to Blackpool last season.

But I'll quantify that by saying we do need to look at bringing in a couple of goalscoring players in other positions - wide an obvious example now Young's gone but also from central midfield. If we do that, I've no problems at all with those four strikers.

say we're about 14th in december, the crowd are on the manager's back and the players. you stick the Fonz in to fill Bents shoes. Asking a lot of the kid to find his feet in those circumstances. If it goes right, you've got a young player who's made the grade. If it goes wrong we'll in the bottom three by the time Bent comes back and the Fonz's confidence has been destroyed.

The Fonz has been around the 1st team squad long enough now to not be considered "youth". Your logic applies more to Weimann.

It's a hypothetical scenario; would we end up in the bottom three? We could hypothetically change our tactics for the duration of the Bent absence and play Gabby as a lone striker.

I'd say he was still youth because if he isn't you have to ask why he hasn't made the breakthrough yet. If we are going down the youth route then he really does need to get a run of games this season because otherwise it won't be long until we have an osbourne situation of a youth player who's just blocking the path of the players below him. At the moment i'd say his record doesn't even show if he can come in and score goals as a back-up

[TheSandman]

Maybe with the Fonz and Weimann it would be worth giving them a full season on loan at the top end of the championship?

The problem both faced last season was that they were going out on loan late into the season when pressure was greater and the managers had their ideas on how the team should be setup. If we loan them to someone at the top end of the championship then we have the option of a recall that we wouldn't have if we loaned them to someone like Swansea at the lower end of the Premiership. I think what both have suffered from is a lack of football.

Of course we would have to sign another striker as backup if we did this...

[supertom]

I think that powers that be would like the youth route to be the case. Certainly for English football, we need to nuture our own talent and make a better national side in years to come. But Fifa wants to put more emphasis on home grown players. Whether this proves realistic is another matter. And how well they curb the likes of Man City too.

Hopefully this will happen. I think we have the talent in our academy to sprinkle into our first team squad over the next few years. We might have lost a few by the wayside, but who knows how some players may have developed had they been given more chance on the big stage. Though Whittingham, Luke Moore for example failed, they had the potential to be very good. Even Ridgewell could actually be a useful squad player for us to be fair. While as we all know, we should have kept Cahill. Granted Moore has plenty of chance here, and his attitude held him back. With better guidance he could still be with us, doing the business. He was never the same after we let him go. Same with Stefan.

But yeah, I'd like to see players like Bannan and Fonzie given far more game time, to see how they handle matters. Not 2-3 games , and then taken out the firing line and not seen much beyond. There was no point at all in either going out on loan last season. People here are raving about Gary Gardner, so lets see him given a shot. If we have 11 genuinely good quality experienced players in our squad, and the rest our young players, including those recently established, like Bannan and Albrighton, then we could be a very good side potentionally. We won't compte just yet, but in a few years, we could be in good shape.

[Matt Collins]

My strategy would be: proven players for the first xi, kids as first choice back up. If we'd had that strategy we'd have kept Cahill and Gardner and not Davies / knight or sidwell; saved a few bob and been better off as a result.

If we do that, albrighton, delph and clark will get enough chances and bannan, fonz, lichaj and baker will get chances here and there.

I think people saying fonz faces a make or break year are mistaken. Sturridge has only just had a proper break through and he's almost two years older.

[Louzie0]

It may be just me but I am very impressed with the calibre of 'home grown' players coming through to the first team at Villa.  The fact that they have made it and perform very well in that context says a lot about the selection and subsequent development and training of those young players under the Villa system.

Has anybody looked at the stats for success in similar youth team investment in the PL and Europe?

 It seems to me that in every cohort of 20 or 30 - odd, there are going to be maybe only 1, 2 or 3 who could realistically be considered for a place on the team in the 'top flight'. As I understand it, these players may be sent on loan to extend their first team experience.

And, there will be a larger number of players who will have learned well and can play to a standard which is attractive to some Premiership and Championship teams. 

Manchester United's system threw up (sorry) about 6 players who were able to enter the premiership squad, in the late 90's.  Have they done it before, or since?

I think what I'm asking is, as to me Villa's youth set-up looks very good, can the club learn anything from an analysis of what other top clubs are doing with their youth training and recruitment?  And if not, are we exploiting our expertise to the max?

[mozza]

Bannan or Ireland .............Clark or Beye.............Lichaj or Warnock ? - 

[Nirog72]

I don't think any of the 'kids' have had a proper chance yet with the possible exception of Albrighton and maybe Clark. I think more of them will pleasantly surprise us than some on here imagine. They need playing time and I think in this coming season they will get it. I so wanted to see Fonz and Bannan, for example, get more pitch time here last season. Maybe Houllier thought it was unfair to play them in a relegation scrap.

[not3bad]

I don't think any of the 'kids' have had a proper chance yet with the possible exception of Albrighton and maybe Clark.

I would agree with this.  He hasn't been mentioned as much as the others but I thought Chris Herd looked promising from what I saw.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Gary Gardner will/should get more first team chances after a full pre season. Delph is also needs a good summer but is still injured. Clarke and Baker also have a big chance. But they have to be brought in around strong first team players ........

[robbo1874]

the likes of clarke and bannon has just broken through. We have no idea if they'll make it. They're promising i grant you but at this stage no more than that. People were saying exactly the same about the likes of Moore and Vassell a few years back. One thing for certain is both of them will have a period of bad form as all youth players do, and whether they get over it and improve or go backwards, the team will suffer.
[think that's a bit harsh to be lumping vassell in with moore, greg. Vassell made it at Villa whereas moore never did and I was disappointed when he went to City. I went on his website when he was in Turkey a couple of years back and its pretty clear he's just not very clever - loves the villa though. Could've been a great.]

[barrysleftfoot]

  We have potentially very good young players, we could be wasteing millions by not giving them a chance.

  The trouble is we are Aston Villa, we expect, rightfully , to be competative, we are not Bolton, or Albion for example who can afford to try these kids and see how they turn out.

 Having seen all of them, Hogg, Albrighton, Delph, Delfunso, Weimann, Clark, Baker, Licjah, Bannan, and all of them could be good players, some very good.Its about getting the balance right.

  I always judge players against the best teams, and Hogg, Bannan, and Albrighton were very good against Ure.They all need to develop, but given time they could all represent us in the forthcoming years.

[pablopicasso_10]

i like vassell... always thought he would have made a better winger than a striker though...

[robbo1874]

  We have potentially very good young players, we could be wasteing millions by not giving them a chance.

  The trouble is we are Aston Villa, we expect, rightfully , to be competative, we are not Bolton, or Albion for example who can afford to try these kids and see how they turn out.

 Having seen all of them, Hogg, Albrighton, Delph, Delfunso, Weimann, Clark, Baker, Licjah, Bannan, and all of them could be good players, some very good.Its about getting the balance right.

  I always judge players against the best teams, and Hogg, Bannan, and Albrighton were very good against Ure.They all need to develop, but given time they could all represent us in the forthcoming years.

didn't we pay leeds 7m for Delph??

[pablopicasso_10]

as for the topic, its great that we have a decent academy and are producing some technically gifted players these days...

the likes of bannon, albrighton, delfouneso, clark, baker, are all comfortable with the ball at their feet, and with the work that we are doing at really young ages (ben petty has 9 year olds doing nothing but pass and move and most are comfortable with the ball on both feet), i really believe we are going to produce a real superstar over the next 10 years...

jordan graham and jack grealish are two who look like the have huge potential... raw potential at the ages of 15 / 16, but they are being progressed quicker than others in the same age group, and with graham, he has the physical stature to back up the fantastic ability he has on the ball... attitude and match intelligence is something that could be a cause of stopping the likes of him being a very good footballer... but that wont become apparent until he is in and around the first team... as always with youngsters, ability is nothing if they dont have the right mentality...

so the work in the academy is fantastic and i genuinely believe we can produce real quality players in the future... (whether we get to keep them, is a different discussion)...

however, we cant just rely on the youngsters... we obviously need to get the balance right... an outstanding talent should be integrated into the first team and be helped by quality experienced players... otherwise the talented youngster will sink without a trace... chucking too many in at once, while they will have good games and bad games, will damage the clubs results, because no matter how good they are and how much potential they have, consistancy with youngsters just isnt there... so for half the team to be youngsters, means that results will suffer, and then confidence suffers and we are then on a slippery slope...