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[Albion] 7 U23's players released, 5 offered new deals



AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,588
Chandler, AZ


pishhead

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
5,246
Everywhere
No idea why he wasn't included in the announcement, but Will Collar has also left the club.

I believe that Canadian Jordan Araujo and Polish goalkeeper Piotr Zalewski (who played precisely 15 minutes for the U-18s in two years) have also left the club.

I wondered about Collar. At the age of 22 with no senior league starts under his belt I fear he may struggle to get fixed up at a decent standard.
 


One Teddy Maybank

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Aug 4, 2006
21,482
Worthing
I wondered about Collar. At the age of 22 with no senior league starts under his belt I fear he may struggle to get fixed up at a decent standard.

Perhaps, but would comfortably fit Crawley or a league 1 team.

Versatile in that he can play RB as well as midfield.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


Gabbiano

Well-known member
Dec 18, 2017
1,243
Spank the Manc
I wondered about Collar. At the age of 22 with no senior league starts under his belt I fear he may struggle to get fixed up at a decent standard.

Collar's biggest problem was never a lack of talent or workrate. It was that he spent 2/3 of every season sidelined by injury.

Another Hambo in that regard.

[MENTION=1276]AZ Gull[/MENTION], any news on Ahannach? Surely another one out the door this summer?
 


AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,588
Chandler, AZ
Collar's biggest problem was never a lack of talent or workrate. It was that he spent 2/3 of every season sidelined by injury.

Another Hambo in that regard.

[MENTION=1276]AZ Gull[/MENTION], any news on Ahannach? Surely another one out the door this summer?

He has another year left on his contract.
 




Gabbiano

Well-known member
Dec 18, 2017
1,243
Spank the Manc
He has another year left on his contract.

Makes you wonder why on earth we bought a 21 (nearly 22) year old, put him on a 3 year contract and dumped him in the U23s to rot... but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I notice they announced that Longman has ben offered a professional deal, but no mention of any of the other second year scholars (perhaps most notably Danny Cashman). Are you aware of any news on any of these lads?
 


AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,588
Chandler, AZ
Makes you wonder why on earth we bought a 21 (nearly 22) year old, put him on a 3 year contract and dumped him in the U23s to rot... but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I notice they announced that Longman has ben offered a professional deal, but no mention of any of the other second year scholars (perhaps most notably Danny Cashman). Are you aware of any news on any of these lads?

To be fair, they didn't dump Ahannach in the U-23s to rot - he joined Sparta Rotterdam on loan in January 2018 and had made 12 starts when he suffered his horrible double leg fracture last April.

As far as the scholars are concerned:-

Of the 10 first years who commenced in 2017-18, Danny Cashman, Kipras Kazukolovas and Tareq Shihab all signed professional contracts last summer. Ryan Longman has just been offered a professional contract.

Columbus Ibeh was released in March 2018. Jayden Onen signed a three-year professional contract with Brentford in December 2018.

Goalkeeper George Bentley announced his goodbyes on instagram in March 2019. On March 19 2019 Haywards Heath Town announced that "former" Albion U-18 player Cam Tutt had signed for them.

As already mentioned, goalkeeper Piotr Zalewski departed earlier this month.

I haven't heard anything definitive about Matt Weaire but I think it is safe to assume that he hasn't been offered a professional deal (he spent much of the season on loan at Gosport Borough).
 


TSB

Captain Hindsight
Jul 7, 2003
17,666
Lansdowne Place, Hove
Other clubs are blooding their youngsters in the Premier League - why can't we?

Palace - Aaron Wan-Bissaka (age 21, 42 appearances)
Burnley - Dwight McNeil - (Age 19, 22 appearances)
Leicester - Wilfred Ndidi (age 22, 87 appearances)
Bournemouth - David Brooks (age 21, 30 appearances, 7 goals)
Fulham - Ryan Sessegnon (age 18, 101 apperances)

etc.

Because they are better than ours? And three of those teams are safely midtable so had less risk in playing youngsters.
David Brooks was playing regularly when Bournemouth signed him. Sessegnon was 'blooded' in the Championship.

We 'blooded' Solly March into the first team ok.
 




Gabbiano

Well-known member
Dec 18, 2017
1,243
Spank the Manc
To be fair, they didn't dump Ahannach in the U-23s to rot - he joined Sparta Rotterdam on loan in January 2018 and had made 12 starts when he suffered his horrible double leg fracture last April.

As far as the scholars are concerned:-

Of the 10 first years who commenced in 2017-18, Danny Cashman, Kipras Kazukolovas and Tareq Shihab all signed professional contracts last summer. Ryan Longman has just been offered a professional contract.

Columbus Ibeh was released in March 2018. Jayden Onen signed a three-year professional contract with Brentford in December 2018.

Goalkeeper George Bentley announced his goodbyes on instagram in March 2019. On March 19 2019 Haywards Heath Town announced that "former" Albion U-18 player Cam Tutt had signed for them.

As already mentioned, goalkeeper Piotr Zalewski departed earlier this month.

I haven't heard anything definitive about Matt Weaire but I think it is safe to assume that he hasn't been offered a professional deal (he spent much of the season on loan at Gosport Borough).

Cheers AZ, can always rely on a comprehensive answer from you.

Interesting that Kazukolovas and Shihab have signed on considering Kazukolovas's nightmare injury saga and Shihab's own lack of game time this season.

I just looked up the form of the U18s this year, they finished the season with 8 wins out of 10? Encouraging stuff! I hope we have another season review post from your good self in the pipeline to peruse :bowdown:
 


AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,588
Chandler, AZ
Interesting that Kazukolovas and Shihab have signed on considering Kazukolovas's nightmare injury saga and Shihab's own lack of game time this season.

Kazukolovas' deal (a one-year scholarship followed by a two-year pro contract) was agreed before he suffered his unfortunate injury. I'm guessing Shihab signed a similar deal, not unusual given that he was a member of the England age squads during 2015-16 and 2016-17. I agree his lack of game time has been strange, as it wouldn't appear to be injury-related. A loan to Burgess Hill was actually agreed (and registered) on August 31 last year, I'm not sure why he never actually played for them.


I just looked up the form of the U18s this year, they finished the season with 8 wins out of 10? Encouraging stuff! I hope we have another season review post from your good self in the pipeline to peruse :bowdown:

Those things take hours of my time to write up. I've got a lot on my plate right now, so I can't see that happening this season.
 


AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,588
Chandler, AZ
I seem to remember reading we paid about a £1 million for Kerr as well. What a waste!

I've never seen a fee reported for Kerr but I would be very surprised if we paid anywhere near that sum. In fact, looking back at my notes, he had turned down the offer of a new contract with Celtic so he was actually out of contract. In such a situation, we wouldn't have had to agree a fee with them, but pay compensation that is well-defined. We signed Ben Hall under similar circumstances from Motherwell the year before, and had to pay 90,000 euros for each of the three years he had been in their academy. I believe Kerr had been with Celtic since about the age of 14, moving to them from Hamilton Academical, so I'm pretty certain we wouldn't have paid more than half the figure you suggest, at most.
 




Invicta

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Nov 1, 2013
3,195
Kent
Other clubs are blooding their youngsters in the Premier League - why can't we?

Palace - Aaron Wan-Bissaka (age 21, 42 appearances)
Burnley - Dwight McNeil - (Age 19, 22 appearances)
Leicester - Wilfred Ndidi (age 22, 87 appearances)
Bournemouth - David Brooks (age 21, 30 appearances, 7 goals)
Fulham - Ryan Sessegnon (age 18, 101 apperances)

etc.

Ndidi cost Leicester £17m according to wikipedia. Same as we paid for Ali J.
 


AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,588
Chandler, AZ
I wondered about Collar. At the age of 22 with no senior league starts under his belt I fear he may struggle to get fixed up at a decent standard.

Perhaps, but would comfortably fit Crawley or a league 1 team.

Versatile in that he can play RB as well as midfield.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Collar's biggest problem was never a lack of talent or workrate. It was that he spent 2/3 of every season sidelined by injury.

Collar has just signed for Hamilton Academical (I was going to say he has joined former Albion scholar Hamish Morrison, but it would seem he was released by the Accies at the end of the season):-

[TWEET]1142122223668465665[/TWEET]
 


edna krabappel

Well-known member
NSC Patreon
Jul 7, 2003
47,228
Other clubs are blooding their youngsters in the Premier League - why can't we?

Palace - Aaron Wan-Bissaka (age 21, 42 appearances)
Burnley - Dwight McNeil - (Age 19, 22 appearances)
Leicester - Wilfred Ndidi (age 22, 87 appearances)
Bournemouth - David Brooks (age 21, 30 appearances, 7 goals)
Fulham - Ryan Sessegnon (age 18, 101 apperances)

etc.


Sessegnon spent most of last season on the bench, he barely got a sniff.

Ndidi was bought from another club, not exactly a youth-team-to-first team story.

Brooks spent a full season playing Championship football for Sheffield United and starred for them before being signed by Bournemouth for about £13m, so again, not exactly a risky youth team prospect.

The only ones there that fit your argument are McNeil, who was well thought of at Burnley, and Wan Bissaka, who came into the Palace squad rather by accident, as they completely ran out of full backs one game. As luck would have it, he's done well since, but he certainly wasn't one of the players who was thought likely to be a star by those who keep an eye on their Academy squads. He nearly got released at one stage.
 




Perkino

Well-known member
Dec 11, 2009
5,978
Sessegnon spent most of last season on the bench, he barely got a sniff.

Ndidi was bought from another club, not exactly a youth-team-to-first team story.

Brooks spent a full season playing Championship football for Sheffield United and starred for them before being signed by Bournemouth for about £13m, so again, not exactly a risky youth team prospect.

The only ones there that fit your argument are McNeil, who was well thought of at Burnley, and Wan Bissaka, who came into the Palace squad rather by accident, as they completely ran out of full backs one game. As luck would have it, he's done well since, but he certainly wasn't one of the players who was thought likely to be a star by those who keep an eye on their Academy squads. He nearly got released at one stage.

How many times in the last 10 years have we had a collection of injuries and suspensions and ultimately played a player out of position rather than bring in a youngster. If Palace have uncovered a gem by luck then we'll done to them for being brave and trusting in their young players
 




AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,588
Chandler, AZ
No idea why he wasn't included in the announcement, but Will Collar has also left the club.

Collar's departure is a little strange. He wasn't included in the club's announcement of the U-23's retain and release list. However, the same day as that announcement he posted on instagram:-

12 years ago, I started a journey that not only made me a better footballer but a better human being. Forever thankful to @officialbhafc I wouldn’t have changed a thing

so he was clearly leaving. The Premier League Free Transfer List shows him as being given a free transfer (ie his contract had expired and was not being extended).

However, the club has today announced that Collar has joined Hamilton Academical on "undisclosed terms" (which obviously implies he was still under contract and has actually been sold).

So which is it? Was he out of contract or still under contract?

Is it possible the club had an option which they only exercised after the retain/release list had already been submitted?
 











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