Karamoko Dembele!!

It doesn't make the statement any less true, but it makes your point less valid.

 

Exactly. Chelsea go around academies throughout Europe hoovering up their best players. The ones that chances are would have forged a career in the game anyway. If they were to scout mainly within their local area/region from boys clubs the way the majority of clubs do their success rate would be the same as all the rest.

 

Few things mate..

Without knowing much about him Nathan Ake would probably get into the Celtic team before James Forrest - he would certainly be in contention, so he's only not won Scottish silverware because he doesn't want to.

Likewise for the European games. VVD has played less games in Europe than James Forrest, but VVD is a better player and Celtic would swap them in a heartbeat. They player doesn't want to play for us.

Fair enough, a lot of these guys get poached at 16/17 and then move on to better things from the EPL academies. So then logically, Dembele should allow himself to be poached at 16/17 ?

 

Or he could stay here, like Tierney or Forrest and develop himself and play for us.

 

He could and I hope he does. Started off his conversation by saying we need to do more to make sure that happens and so we can get better youths in.

Doesn't change the fact that statistically he would have a better chance at a richer club with better facilities. Don't even know why the debates moved on to that. I mean for * sake if Barca offered him a place would you still argue he should stay at Celtic ? That it would be better football-wise?

Chelsea is just a name I've plucked out because of Billy Gilmour..

 

There's no doubt this boy is a talent at his age but there were plenty of players set for stardom and haven't produced. He is 14/15 and we don't know what he will be like with the step up to first team football. At the end of the day if hes world class he will leave as through no fault of our own play in a league with poorer standards than our neighbours in Europe. We wont be able to attract players and keep our stars if we wont spend more than 5 million on a player FACT. We buy small and hope to find a few hidden gems to sell on for profit. Just hope the boy realises that we are the best place for him to progress and if the time comes he wants to leave that he is in the best place to get noticed. Going on from that the wee man is only 14/15 so wont be anytime soon.

 

Depends what you class as a 'better footballing career'. If that's winning trophies & medals, being remembered by fans for years to come and being a regular international then you'd argue Forrest has had/will have a better career than Ake or Islam feruz.

If you want to try desperately to get into a Chelsea side that's spending hundreds of millions on first team players whilst being sent out on loan or playing u21s games to develop with the possibility of battling relegation your whole career then fair enough. Yeah the money might be double what you'd get here but it's not as if our first team players are on peanuts. £10k a week is mental money in any job.

 

I would argue that regardless of what club he was to go to it wouldn't stand him in better stead of having a career in the game than if he stayed here as he obviously is a class above most youth players we've had. Your basic argument was he should go to Chelsea as they had big money to offer and worst case is he ends up at a championship club but still with a good career and a big wedge in his pocket to boot. Think you forgot that the reason alot of the kids from the Chelsea academy etc go on to have careers is they are usually elite kids they have poached and they could of had just as a financially rewarding career and probably more trophies if they stuck it out elsewhere to begin with. The finances might not have come so soon but that's not a bad thing.

 

The only thing Chelsea can offer him that we can't is money. There's no proof at all that they have a better academy than we do because they just poach the best from other teams and just use them as a source of income. Money is a very risky motivation for a 12 year old. At that age "handing a check for £1m" to a young child is not learning a life lesson or helping them or securing their future, it's bribing them and their family which is * terrible. A 12 year old should be thinking about growing as a young lad and as a footballer NOT about making money. Just another way the EPL is leaking its poison into our own minds. First team and champions league experience is what young players are looking for... * stupid to say he has a better chance of anything at Chelsea when their younth virtually never make the first team

 

I'm not going to name anybody here, but I am aware of a Chelsea U21 player yet to make a first team appearance (in any capacity) who is currently on £7,000 per week. This particular lad has had success over the past 2/3 years, being part of Chelsea's Fa youth cup and U21 UEFA cup winning teams, and is currently looking to extend his contract by another 2/3 years.

Rough maths shows this guy is on approximately £300,000 per annum, (no idea, but I suspect he also gets bonuses and signing on fees) And realistically by 23 this particular individual (if the new contract is agreed) will have banked £1-1.2 million pounds. There is also talk from his family about going 'out on loan' after renewing the contract, particularly after the success of Tammy Abraham at Bristol City in the championship last season.

Obviously I'm not going to justify the money highlighted, but these are the current figures Chelsea invest in a their U21's squad, many other players/coaches/managers are also on similar amounts. At a recent friendly I attended, I estimated the Chelsea team had approximately £100,000 per week wages representing the club against a non league outfit who's weekly spend is £2,000 pw and had players desperately trialling for £200pw.

I'm writing this post to highlight how difficult it is for any parent/player to ignore the potential of these ridiculous figures. As highlighted earlier, at 23 with several thousand pounds banked, invested in pensions or property these U 21-23 guys then often get opportunities at clubs like Wimbledon, Crawley Town, Stevenage or Southend United for approximately £2-5,000 per week.

That's the going rate guys.

 

Can he play as a striker?

 

[QUOTE="Ghotti Bhoy, post: 5618858, member: 37695"
'At that age "handing a check for £1m" to a young child is not learning a life lesson or helping them or securing their future, it's bribing them and their family which is * terrible'

In fairness it's not just Chelsea, but they do spend bigger than most of there competitors to secure young talent.
Weirdly though there are now a lot of dissenting voices from scouts/coaches/managers that 'academy players' are to cosseted/wealthy to then step up and progress into first teams. And that lower level 'real' football provides the 'winning mentality' the young players lack.

Neil Lennon commented youth football was 'to sanitised', I think he was referring to players who technically can do round the worlds for fun, but don't track runners or work hard enough to win 50/50's at lower levels to compete for positions higher up within their clubs.

That was my interpretation of NL's statement. We could both be spouting * though!

 

BRIAN McLAUGHLIN has hailed the progress of ‘magnificent’ Karamoko Dembele.

The pint-sized prospect climbed off the bench to score a wonderful solo goal, set up two others and win a penalty for Scotland’s Under-16s in their 7-0 win over Qatar on Tuesday.

There’s a natural reluctance to overhype a 14-year-old who has already had to deal with being thrown into the spotlight after a compilation of clips on YouTube turned him into an online sensation, before he was handed his Celtic development team debut last October.

But Scotland national youth team coach Brian McLaughlin broke with recent tradition and expressed his excitement at Dembele’s development.

Ahead of today’s second game against England, he said: “Karamoko’s an interesting one because on the ball he’s magnificent.

“There’s no doubt about it, he’s exciting.

“But he’s also become really aggressive in how he closes the ball down. He wants to do it for the team as well now and that’s credit to Celtic.

“He was with the Scotland Victory Shield squad last November and maybe looked at the other boys and thought ‘this is what we all have to do so this is what I want to do’.

“He’s a special talent and his attitude is special as well.

“I can absolutely see a difference in him, even just in the space of a few months. You can see it around the hotel and on the training pitch.

“For example, when we work on how we want to defend or press, he understands that we need to win it back before we can play. Again, credit to Celtic for that.

“He’s a really good lad who wants to be part of the group and the group want him here.”

While Dembele will naturally be the focus of attention, McLaughlin was delighted with what he saw from a group playing together for the first time.

He was able to give 19 prospects a first run-out for their country at Oriam, in front of proud families and friends, and he’s optimistic they can follow in the footsteps of a hugely impressive Victory Shield batch from last year.

 

Another goal today
https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottishFA/status/891292076264083456/video/1



https://mobile.twitter.com/CelticLisboa/status/891296276163301376/video/1

 

Remember when he signed his contract that it sounded like he really has his head screwed on. Think is dad sounds sensible as well and that they realise he has a greater chance of breaking through here than going to Chelsea or somewhere else down south.

That touch and flick afterwards though

 

These big clubs hoovering up young talent and hoarding them basically stagnating their progress is as bad as the * over inflated transfer fees from down south, the game really is becoming the monster that eats itself.

 

Is there any chance we can keep a hold of this lad or do you reckon he'll be away? The way he's progressing and the reviews on him he may only be 2 seasons away from getting a first team game for us , he won't get that opertunity at Chelsea I'm guessing

 

The lad and his family seem clever so i think he stays.