19 Aug 2020 10:10:20
Reading an article this morning re Andre Green and how he came though the much lauded Villa academy and was going to be a premiership star and whilst there were odd glimpses it obviously didn't happen and he was released and a similar story with Callum O Hare. This got me thinking re who has come through the academy and made a decent career for themselves at the top level and the only names I could come up with were Albrighton, Agbonlahor Vassell and Cahill a pretty poor return over 20 odd years when you think Chelsea have produced James, Mount, Abraham, Tomori, Gilmour in a couple of years. Our much lauded academy really does need a massive overhaul Over to you Mr Lange.
19 Aug 2020 10:54:28
To be fair John they’ve recruited a lot of very talented 16/ 17 year olds over the last few months and the whole structure has been overhauled. With Mark Harrison coaching them, there are many reasons to be more optimistic. The owners have clearly identified this as an area that hasn’t been working and they are laying down the foundations to improve it, hopefully beyond comparison to what we’ve previously had.
19 Aug 2020 11:48:15
Here’s hoping Mark, we have had a few talented youngsters like Green and O Hare in the past for example Daniel Johnson and Callum Robinson spring to mind but they just aren’t quite good enough to make it at Premiership level I hope this recruitment of talented youngsters will bear fruit.
19 Aug 2020 15:54:23
I mentioned on here a few weeks ago that Villa were signing Ben Chrisene from Exeter which looks like its about to be confirmed. He's very highly rated and Villa are clearly upping their game in the under 23's so hopefully we'll see some decent talent breaking through in the next season or two. Just need to get some decent established pro's through the door now too!
19 Aug 2020 17:39:03
Troy Deeney, the Gardner brothers.
19 Aug 2020 22:02:38
Green is constantly injured, unfortunate for him but nothing anyone can do about it.
The academy has had a major overhaul the last 12 months (Have you been living under a rock? ) and its only today that we have added another top talent to it, beating off competition from top teams.
Expect it to be a few years before these lads make it to the first team, as there all mainly 16/ 17. But all the right noises are coming out, and exciting people on and off the pitch have and continue to be brought in to our youth set up. I can’t see how you’ve missed any of this, it’s literally dominated villa news for the past 12 months.
19 Aug 2020 22:16:01
Chris I haven’t missed it but I find it difficult to believe it has taken past regimes as long as it has to realise that a root and branch overhaul was needed. Our current owners, as I have posted previously are making all the right steps as I see it, but it is sad to see how far behind a number of our competitors we are, and it will take some time before this new approach the club is taking will bear fruit.
20 Aug 2020 08:36:44
I’m not understanding John, if you did know all this, then why in your original post did you say “Our much lauded academy really does need a massive overhaul�
20 Aug 2020 11:17:58
I did Chris but much lauded was very much tongue in cheek which was why I cited our ‘successes’ over 20 odd years against Chelsea’s over 2 to 3.
20 Aug 2020 22:23:22
Fair enough, still lost on me John, don’t know why we would need an overhaul, having literally just had one and it not having chance to succeed.