This is the sad part of the game, but Watford will release the following players at the end of the season:- Nathan Gartside, Dennon Lewis, Louis Rogers, Max Ryan, David Sesay, Connor Stevens and Carl Stewart. These players have been around the club for quite a long time, so I hope they get a chance with another club in the very near future. On a more positive note, both Joy Mukena and Randell Williams will remain at the club until at least June 2019.
Dennon Lewis looked like he might get some fledgling game time at one point, sad, but if they haven't pushed on they haven't pushed on I guess. The window for youth products to make it in our senior team is extremely small where we are now, so they have to be genuinely exceptional to do so.
Ryan Cassidy will be the next one to break through it seems and I’d bet he’s still 2/3 years away from that. Wouldn’t be against putting him on the bench for the last home game though if it’s a dead rubber.
Seen him a few times this season and with his all action style and goal threat I suspect a few Championship teams will be in for him in the summer window.
Good luck Dennon. I wonder if Alex Jakubiak put a good word in for him and gave Falkirk the thumbs up to Lewis. Or have we got an arrangement of sorts with them? Anyway, hope it works out up there for him.
We’re their feeder club. Me too. The way the academy kids’ expectations are managed these days is shoddy.
I really wish we actually had a youngster or two of the quality required to be knocking on the door of the first team. As it is, we don’t have any that are even wanted by the teams in the league below.
Much like most other teams, we just can't afford to give anyone straight from our academy much of a chance these days. We're a) playing top-flight football, b) not cash-strapped, and c) signing random youngsters from across the world who are that bit further along the line in their development. It's a shame, but as long as we stay up, there's really little chance of anyone breaking through. At least we have Mariappa to boast about, that's one more academy product than most teams can field in their first XI!
Would be interesting to know how true that is. I was of the opinion most of the middle and bottom teams give youth players a chance and we're one of the few that haven't had any players really breakthrough.
Depends what you mean by 'break through' I guess. I mean, we're clearly putting less emphasis on our academy in favour of the Pozzo scouting system, hence we've only see young players come through in the event of an injury crisis. That said, it's still rare for other teams to have youngsters playing more than the odd game here and there, I dare say we were particularly out of the ordinary last season when we had the likes of Mason and Pereira play a few games
Sad reality is that if they were good enough, they'd get a chance. We simply haven't had an excellent player come through in a long time. Well, one that hasn't been poached by a big club before they got through to the first team, anyway. It's all well and good being bitter about it, but ultimately you either make the grade or you don't.
Yeah, there is a lot of mud (or was, it has stopped now) thrown at the poz for the lack of youngsters, but it is much easier to find youngsters capable of scrapping with championship relegation than fighting for European places. Then we did, but man City stole him None of our kids in recent years have even played in the championship AFAIK. Assombalonga being the exception. They all end up in Scotland or in non league.
We’d have ruined Sancho by sending him on loan to Partick Thistle and then Fleetwood. He was stolen but he was right to leave.
The only other one I can think of who may get to Championship level is Luke O'Nien who was a very key member of Wycombe's promotion last season.
Couple of the academy kids in here obsessed with their leased Mercedes A Class, Instagram followers, Christian Loboutin shoes and buying bottles in Oceana VIP. Were never going to make the cut.
Depending on how you define 'recent', there's Marvin Sordell who moved from the Championship to play in the Premier League. Didn't cut the mustard though, and has yo-yo'd up and down the divisions since then.
Not sure if this is genuine or one of those fantasy ones picked up and reported without checking by a website...from Tuttomercatoweb "From England to Italy, but only on trial. The Torino has decided to give an opportunity to Charlie Rowan (20), a 188 centimeter defender with a past at Watford. According to Sky Sports, the central will be merged to the rose available to Walter Mazzarri, who will evaluate it in the withdrawal of Bormio. Unleashed last July 1, the English class '97 will have to convince the Tuscan coach if he wants to play in Serie A this season."
I saw the story somewhere yesterday and it was accompanied by a picture so I presumed one was Charlie Rowan. The comparisons below seem to confirm it isn't just a name plucked from nowhere. Good luck Charlie.
Definitely. But I don’t like the sound of this Bormio fellow. He withdraws from Rose & only one thought on his mind.
Luke O'Nien will sign for Sunderland over the weekend. He always came across well so I'm really pleased he's got a move to a club with an excellent chance of climbing back up the divisions. Hopefully he'll lay a few on for Jerome Sinclair too! The show of loss and well wishes from Wycombe supporters on twitter shows how popular he was there. https://twitter.com/wwfcofficial/status/1022889566963949568
That's good,there's many a route to a higher level. Sometimes you need to step down to then step back up.
