#let me know if you want me to expand on anything else! luv the academy <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[whitehartlane]

Been a fan for ages but don't watch the academy much, mind telling me a bit about it?

of course! i love our academy to death (mostly watch the u18s and the u21s as a disclaimer whenever i’ve got the time) and think we’ve got some great talent at the moment.

a quick rundown of some of our recent history: our academy definitely has not been the best in the country and especially the past 4 years, under mourinho and conte, has honestly been kind of a dead end for many youth players. we’ve obviously had some academy talent who have made a great impact on the first team (in recent years: kane, skipp, winks, etc. mason and tanganga to a lesser extent) but you can argue that their development happened mostly on their loans.

either way the glaring problem has mostly been that we’ve had managers who recruit big name players from outside the club rather than focusing on youth talent and development inside the club. this kind of peaked under conte where the u18s were thriving because of their complete independence from the first team (won trophies!) meanwhile the u21s got relegated (which was overturn because of some new ruling) because their players were pulled out of training sessions to essentially be stationary cones in first team training.

this could not have changed more in the first few weeks of the pl2 season! i’ve been following the u21s mostly and so far the kids have won every match, scored 15 and conceded 1 and are top of the league. they’ve just won 0-5 against colchester in the efl trophy as well. the abundance of talent we’ve got that was apparent last season also has been able to be set free because shock horror they don’t have to stand around in training sessions anymore. i think another large factor in this turnaround is the fact that ange’s style of play has been clearly implemented in this team. they build out from the back and press insistently. simply a joy to watch and refreshing to see because implementing the same play style in the first team and the academy allows an easier pathway into the senior team à la barcelona and all that. also ange generally looks towards youth talent within the academy to recruit to the first team and reports have been saying that he’s already watched over some practices and told the lads that he selects based on performance and merit so if they want a chance and work hard for it they will get a chance.

so far currently i think our standouts at academy level (not including players on loan like alfie devine and dane scarlett) are jamie donley, jude soonsup-bell, will lankshear, yago santiago, josh keeley, alfie dorrington, mikey moore, ashley phillips etc. moore especially has got a lot of hype and is regarded as one of the best youngsters in england for his age group (he’s 15 iirc). all of these kids have a lot of potential for different reasons, we’ve got an abundance of attacking talent in donley, santiago, and soonsup-bell. also keeley for example is a really talented young keeper who’s very composed for his age and communicates with his back line well.

apart from the obvious shouts the player who has impressed me time in and time out is jamie donley. super versatile along that attack line and can play as a 9 but but i think he’s best employed as a 10. he’s got good instinctive finishing and a killer passing range. this is a kid who grew up watching kane. he’s definitely one of the players who’s head and shoulders above the pl2 and i think a loan would benefit him greatly come january, really hope the club are considering that. here’s a thread on him if you’d like to read more! also recommend following this handle on twt if you’ve got it, they’re the main hub for all academy news 🤍