5 hours ago, bluejam said:
So you chaps know about all their reserve players and who's coming through? I don't think Rashford is shit, he'd score a fair few in the Championship. Would have been a good loan a few years ago not a bad youth player, or Michael Keane, Pogba, Tyler Blackett, Tom Lawrence, Joshua King, Ashley Fletcher, Heaton, Robbie Brady. A few handy players there that would help massively.
Hypothetically if a scum player came on loan for the season and helped us get promoted you wouldn't bat an eyelid don't lie.
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It's completely different coming here on loan at 18/19/20. Jake Livermore, Barry Bannan, Ross Barkley, Andros Townsend, Adam Smith, Shane Lowry, Connor Wickham, Jack Butland, Fabian Delph, Matt Grimes. Plenty of good players there - all highly-rated youth internationals, next big thing, Youth Player of the Year 2011, bicycle kick best goal ever for the under-18s, great previous loan spells at Ipswich Town or Charlton Athletic. All shite and ineffective when they came here for a few months. It's not the environment for a borrowed young player whose main interests lie elsewhere with another club. Maybe it works at clubs with easily star-struck supporters like Hull City or Burnley where a lot of fans probably support their parent club too, but it doesn't work here. It's been proven time after time after time.
Half of those players would have been shit here on loan regardless of what they're doing now, just like the £20m footballers Livermore and Townsend. I don't recall Joshua King guaranteeing Preston North End, Blackburn or Hull City promotion when he scored 3 goals in 34 appearances across 3 loan spells. Doubt Blackett was much use when Birmingham City shipped in 24 goals in his 8 appearances. Tom Lawrence is a player that is finally becoming influential at this level at 23 and 3 years after he left scum, when we'd have been competing with Yeovil and Carlisle to bring him here for a few months. Tom Heaton is 31-years-old and left them 7 years ago immediately after a loan spell at League One strugglers Wycombe Wanderers. Paul Pogba? No chance he was available for loan, or someone would have signed him, given that he was playing regularly for Serie A champions Juventus the season following his last one there. Michael Keane seemed pretty much available for loan the entire time between 2013 and 2015 and played for four different clubs at this level decreasing in size, which makes me think that his earlier loan spells weren't too successful or he'd have been retained. I think Brady was pretty successful on loan at Hull City, but it's Hull City and it isn't comparable.
Your problem is that you think that we'd have got the exact same player at 19 or 20-years-old as they are now at 25 or 26 in the Premier League. That if we'd have signed Joshua King a few years ago, we'd have a 14 goal Premier League striker on loan for a few months rather than the 3 in 34 goal player he was for various clubs at this level. Young loan players have a terrible record here and looking a little bit further in detail at the players you've mentioned, just goes shows that the likelihood of any succeeding here is low, let alone be influential promotion-winning game changers. You're comparing them to Gordon Strachan!
No problem with signings players from there permanently or signing players on loan that are clearly surplus to requirements and we have the opportunity to sign permanently, or who will at least go elsewhere. Getting giddy and excited about borrowing some youth 'stars' and helping them out with fitness and first team opportunities though? No thanks. Oh and please don't start with 'well what if they got the goal at Wembley thurr :ponte:' because you can say the same about literally any player from anywhere and it is much more likely, as I've just argued, that they'll be here for a few games, do f**k all and go back to the star in the Premier League a few years later with Leeds United having helped in their development for nothing in return. Only this time, we'll be doing it for scum players.
