Development/Youth Squads 2025/2026 Thread - U18/U21

[Ric Flair]

19 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

@Ric Flair who were the 4 academy players at Sunderland? 

Chris Rigg

Tom Watson

Dennis Curkin

[moore_94]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Chris Rigg

Tom Watson

Dennis Curkin

Also had other young players like:

 

Trai Hume

Dan Neil

Eliezer Mayenda

Jobe Bellingham

Romain Mundle

Edited 30 September 2025 by moore_94

[coolhandfox]

6 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Chris Rigg

Tom Watson

Dennis Curkin

That 3

 

 

I get your point with Chris Rigg but Tom Watson was on loan from Brighton and only played 890 minutes and Dennis Curkin was 23.

 

Our issue is the genrestion of Alves, Braybrooke and Nelson should be the ones in the mix, be Alves and Braybrooke have been dealt terrible hands with injury.

 

Nelson should be playing, I think we are handling Monga fine.

 

Page I dont think is ready and should deep in and out.

 

I've not seen enough of Evans or Aluko to judge, I like to see them get minutes from the bench.

 

We could have done with 1 or 2 more out of the door, Kristiansen, Faes and Daka would have free up space.

 

 

 

[coolhandfox]

12 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Also had other young players like:

 

Trai Hume

Dan Neil

Eliezer Mayenda

Jobe Bellingham

Romain Mundle

I think that's coming in our next cycle, I expect the squad to be younger after next season.

 

Sunderland had a real blow out which force their hand.

 

Our promotion under Enzo paper over the cracks.

Edited 30 September 2025 by coolhandfox

[studentofthegame]

5 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

That 3

 

 

I get your point with Chris Rigg but Tom Watson was on loan from Brighton and only played 890 minutes and Dennis Curkin was 23.

 

Our issue is the genrestion of Alves, Braybrooke and Nelson should be the ones in the mix, be Alves and Braybrooke have been dealt terrible hands with injury.

 

Nelson should be playing, I think we are handling Monga fine.

 

Page I dont think is ready and should deep in and out.

 

I've not seen enough of Evans or Aluko to judge, I like to see them get minutes from the bench.

 

We could have done with 1 or 2 more out of the door, Kristiansen, Faes and Daka would have free up space.

 

 

 

Watson came through their academy, was there from the age of 9 and left for Brighton this summer, he wasn't on loan from Brighton

[Aleksz]

They should be in matchday squads at least, in this era where you can name 9. 
 

You’ve got Kristiansen blocking Aluko’s path, Reid blocking Page/Evans, Faes blocking Nelson. All of the above (senior) players have had their chance, they’ve been crap and shouldn’t be here.

 

Yet Marti feels compelled to pick them in squads because of their “experience” and more bluntly, their pay packet. 

[filbertway]

4 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

They should be in matchday squads at least, in this era where you can name 9. 
 

You’ve got Kristiansen blocking Aluko’s path, Reid blocking Page/Evans, Faes blocking Nelson. All of the above (senior) players have had their chance, they’ve been crap and shouldn’t be here.

 

Yet Marti feels compelled to pick them in squads because of their “experience” and more bluntly, their pay packet. 

This, the whole argument for having 9 on the bench and 5 subs was that it would allow teams to develop youngsters.

 

All it's done is bloated squads with extra average senior players earning great money.

[Ric Flair]

51 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

That 3

 

 

I get your point with Chris Rigg but Tom Watson was on loan from Brighton and only played 890 minutes and Dennis Curkin was 23.

 

Our issue is the genrestion of Alves, Braybrooke and Nelson should be the ones in the mix, be Alves and Braybrooke have been dealt terrible hands with injury.

 

Nelson should be playing, I think we are handling Monga fine.

 

Page I dont think is ready and should deep in and out.

 

I've not seen enough of Evans or Aluko to judge, I like to see them get minutes from the bench.

 

We could have done with 1 or 2 more out of the door, Kristiansen, Faes and Daka would have free up space.

 

 

 

Tom Watson was sold to Brighton last January and loaned back to them and scored the winner in the play off final. He came through Sunderland academy.

[Ric Flair]

Whilst they are the absolute pits this season, Sheffield Utd were close to going up last season having done what we were hoping would happen to us (having first used some of them when it became clear relegation from the Prem was inevitable). Bring through several academy players and put faith in them.

 

 

[Noahfence]

44 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

They should be in matchday squads at least, in this era where you can name 9. 
 

You’ve got Kristiansen blocking Aluko’s path, Reid blocking Page/Evans, Faes blocking Nelson. All of the above (senior) players have had their chance, they’ve been crap and shouldn’t be here.

 

Yet Marti feels compelled to pick them in squads because of their “experience” and more bluntly, their pay packet. 

This basically sums the whole argument up for me.
 

They’ve had their chance and stunk the place up the last few years. 

[davieG]

It's a double edge sword, if we plan to try to move on the likes of Wout and Kristiansen in January then it's probably a good idea to keep them involved and fit. On the other side if the young lads are going to be involved next season and we get promoted then they need to be getting time on the pitch in the Championship otherwise they'll find it almost impossible to break though into a PL team.

 

Unless the plan is to use them more after the January window it almost looks like the club are resigned to be in this league next year.

[FrankieADZ]

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Chris Rigg

Tom Watson

Dennis Curkin

forgot Anthony Patterson out of that from last season(but hes in his mid 20s) but sunderland do seem to promote a number into their squad each season if good enough

 

although Sunderland's total recruitment has been around buying unpolished younger players for a good number of years now  

Edited 30 September 2025 by FrankieADZ

[Stadt]

We’ve seen what happens when players aren’t committed and their contracts are expiring… the worst PL relegation ever.

 

Rudkin as DoF (and academy director ffs) has used this experience to do precisely nothing differently.

 

Even if Nelson is worse (debatable) than Vestergaard and Faes he at the very least has a medium term future here.

 

Vestergaard is 33 and Faes has about 8 months left on his deal. Any sensible club would have learnt from the monumental ****-ups before and just trusted Nelson from the start of the season.

 

We’ll get to the end of this season, lose Faes on a free, Vestergaard will be 34 the following season leaving our options as Nelson (deal expires 2027), Okoli and Souttar (both e. 2029).

 

There isn’t any forward planning.

[davieG]

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

following season leaving our options as Nelson (deal expires 2027), Okoli and Souttar (both e. 2029).

And do we know these 3 are good enough for the PL if by chance we got promoted?

[Stadt]

3 minutes ago, davieG said:

And do we know these 3 are good enough for the PL if by chance we got promoted?

Souttar and Okoli haven’t looked convincing in their limited minutes. We should be using the time to prep Nelson.

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

We’ve seen what happens when players aren’t committed and their contracts are expiring… the worst PL relegation ever.

 

Rudkin as DoF (and academy director ffs) has used this experience to do precisely nothing differently.

 

Even if Nelson is worse (debatable) than Vestergaard and Faes he at the very least has a medium term future here.

 

Vestergaard is 33 and Faes has about 8 months left on his deal. Any sensible club would have learnt from the monumental ****-ups before and just trusted Nelson from the start of the season.

 

We’ll get to the end of this season, lose Faes on a free, Vestergaard will be 34 the following season leaving our options as Nelson (deal expires 2027), Okoli and Souttar (both e. 2029).

 

There isn’t any forward planning.

Souttar's contract doesn't run out until 2029?? Jesus christ that was a massive panic buy.

[Stadt]

26 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Souttar's contract doesn't run out until 2029?? Jesus christ that was a massive panic buy.

That's what Sportrac said. 2028 on Trasfermarkt

[Stormfox]

3 hours ago, Stadt said:

We’ve seen what happens when players aren’t committed and their contracts are expiring… the worst PL relegation ever.

 

Rudkin as DoF (and academy director ffs) has used this experience to do precisely nothing differently.

 

Even if Nelson is worse (debatable) than Vestergaard and Faes he at the very least has a medium term future here.

 

Vestergaard is 33 and Faes has about 8 months left on his deal. Any sensible club would have learnt from the monumental ****-ups before and just trusted Nelson from the start of the season.

 

We’ll get to the end of this season, lose Faes on a free, Vestergaard will be 34 the following season leaving our options as Nelson (deal expires 2027), Okoli and Souttar (both e. 2029).

 

There isn’t any forward planning.

Isn't Faes here until 2027? 

[davieG]

https://archive.is/mnYE9

 

How Leicester City supercharged their academy to be the envy of Europe: Inside the state-of-the-art £95m talent factory that helped keep Jeremy Monga and Louis Page, and is building their stars of the future

[lcfc sheff]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

https://archive.is/mnYE9

 

How Leicester City supercharged their academy to be the envy of Europe: Inside the state-of-the-art £95m talent factory that helped keep Jeremy Monga and Louis Page, and is building their stars of the future

Hope people can finally see the true benefits to these facilities for the clubs long term future. Monga, Page and Aluko will be just the start!

[Kilworthfox]

I like the positive coverage, but as an insight it isn't (from my perspective) the reality.

 

It is just a building! There are grass pitches. We had exactly the same at Belvoir drive, it just didn't look as modern! I don't know what else I can tell you in regards to the facilities. 

 

In regards to player recruitment, player coaching & handling the various different relationships an academy player and with their stakeholders, there are some key staff who have worked very well over a sustained period, working as a team, and working to a very high level of competence. That's the real reason why we have had a few successes over the last decade. It isn't as sexy a story, but it is the reality.

 

To demonstrate the pathway, the 2 players mentioned in the article were first brought into Belvoir drive around 2014/2015. A member of staff once told me that nobody ever realises that this young player one day might become the next Messi. They (Board) just don't see it. 

 

I'd like to believe that now, considering that Academy player sales have helped to aid the financial disasters over recent seasons of mismanagement, the comment above, is now more commonly accepted within the club hierarchy.  I don't believe it however.

[AS78UK]

Dan Ashworth....left Man Utd for some random role in the FA.   But was highly rated before landing at Utd.  

[honeybradger]

1 minute ago, AS78UK said:

Dan Ashworth....left Man Utd for some random role in the FA.   But was highly rated before landing at Utd.  

Didn't he leave Man United due to them being a crazy mess. Not sure he would want to come here then.

[AS78UK]

2 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

Didn't he leave Man United due to them being a crazy mess. Not sure he would want to come here then.

Very different kind of mess with the owners struggles there... a chance to influence people here has to be easier as the personalities appear to be more easy to influence......In my opinion at least. 

[Jimmy]

he didn't leave United he was removed