Demarai Gray: Leicester agree deal for Birmingham winger

killerandflash

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35215306

Leicester have agreed a deal with Birmingham for winger Demarai Gray after the Premier League club activated a £3.7m release clause.

What I found interesting about this (after the rumours about what the Joe Gomez fee actually was), is that this is another teenage player with a release clause. It shows how agents are involved these days and how difficult it is for clubs to keep hold of Academy players.

1StevieG

Premier league teams cherry picking the best championship league kids for peanuts. Yet Man U spend 36 million quid on a France teenager at the time in Anthony Martial and could rise to 57 million? How the feck does that work?

ricky_otto

Good signing for Leicester

Exiled_Addick

Well, firstly the money paid for. Martial was stupid because, well... Man Utd, but I also don't think Gray has ever been talked about as a possible new Thierry Henry - that kind of rep will increase the price a bit. Was bought from the French top flight club owned by a billionaire as well so his old club were in a rather stronger bargaining position than a broke Championship club owned by an alleged fraudster.

Henry Irving

Shows how little negotiating power Championship clubs have.

Gumbo

Henry Irving said:

Shows how little negotiating power Championship clubs have.

Didn't they turn down £5million a few years ago from Bournemouth? I guess if they don't take it now they won't get anything in the summer

ForeverAddickted

I saw that figure myself... If Gomez was that amount then shows how good it was compared to Demarai Gray because forwards always go for that little bit more (and the latter has played for the England age groups too)

ForeverAddickted

1StevieG said:

Premier league teams cherry picking the best championship league kids for peanuts. Yet Man U spend 36 million quid on a France teenager at the time in Anthony Martial and could rise to 57 million? How the feck does that work?

There was a good comment raised about English Managers on the Sunday Supplement yesterday saying that people like Alex Neil (Norwich) and Eddie Howe (Bournemouth) are doing great at their jobs but because they're not at great clubs, they'll have to go to another Premier League side (i.e. Everton / Spurs) before they'd be considered for a job at one of our elite clubs (Which has been damaged by Moyes being sacked so quick at Man Utd).

In the same sense its the same with players these days... If a French player has played two matches in the Champions League, they'll instantly be trialed by one of our elite clubs when there is evidently a better player somewhere in the English leagues, yes price puts people off but remember, Pierre Wome is someone who barely got a game in England because he was rubbish yet has countless appearances of playing Champions League Football.

Joe Gomez and Dele Alli are probably two of the very few exceptions where a player has gone from the lower leagues into one of our top clubs (even then Liverpool and Tottenham arent really part of the elite anymore are they?)

killerandflash

ForeverAddickted said:

1StevieG said:

Premier league teams cherry picking the best championship league kids for peanuts. Yet Man U spend 36 million quid on a France teenager at the time in Anthony Martial and could rise to 57 million? How the feck does that work?

There was a good comment raised about English Managers on the Sunday Supplement yesterday saying that people like Alex Neil (Norwich) and Eddie Howe (Bournemouth) are doing great at their jobs but because they're not at great clubs, they'll have to go to another Premier League side (i.e. Everton / Spurs) before they'd be considered for a job at one of our elite clubs (Which has been damaged by Moyes being sacked so quick at Man Utd).

In the same sense its the same with players these days... If a French player has played two matches in the Champions League, they'll instantly be trialed by one of our elite clubs when there is evidently a better player somewhere in the English leagues, yes price puts people off but remember, Pierre Wome is someone who barely got a game in England because he was rubbish yet has countless appearances of playing Champions League Football.

Joe Gomez and Dele Alli are probably two of the very few exceptions where a player has gone from the lower leagues into one of our top clubs (even then Liverpool and Tottenham arent really part of the elite anymore are they?)

Dele Alli has been a revelation, someone who was playing in L1 last season but looks a top class PL player already. He was spoken about, but never in the way some other players were.

The success of Vardy has been a reminder to clubs of the talent to be found in the English game

ForeverAddickted

I've been shocked over Alli... Always thought he was being signed for the future, didnt realise he'd fit into the Spurs team so easily.

Newspapers are now saying that Alli is ahead of Barkley for England but wouldnt mind seeing them both in the below Squad, its not experienced but it'll gain that @ Euro 2016 and could be dangerous come 2018 / 2020.

Hart
Clyne .. Stones .. Smalling .. Baines
Barkley .. Dier .. Alli
Rooney (?) .. Kane .. Sterling

Leuth

Alli is four times the footballer Barkley is, as anyone who was watching yesterday might realise

CAFCsayer

----------Butland
Clyne - Stones - Gomez - Shaw
-----------Dier
----Barkley ----- Alli
Ox ---------------- Sterling
-----------Kane

Come 2018 could be a fantastic team.

Cafcspud

CAFCsayer said:

----------Butland
Clyne - Stones - Gomez - Shaw
-----------Dier
----Barkley ----- Alli
Ox ---------------- Sterling
-----------Kane

Come 2018 could be a fantastic team.

All of these came from or played in the lower divisions too except Barkley and Dier if I'm not mistaken?

ForeverAddickted

CAFCsayer said:

----------Butland
Clyne - Stones - Gomez - Shaw
-----------Dier
----Barkley ----- Alli
Ox ---------------- Sterling
-----------Kane

Come 2018 could be a fantastic team.

I was ready to put money on Gomez getting into the England team this season until he got that injury!!

I just don't understand why the Newspapers claim that we don't have an England team to look forward to simply because only two of those current players play for the elite in England (Sterling and Ox for Man City / Arsenal)

Dont they realise that our English lads playing for any other Manager is a good thing because they don't appear to moan every time their player is called up for a Friendly

SDAddick

Leuth said:

Alli is four times the footballer Barkley is, as anyone who was watching yesterday might realise

I don't get all the fuss around Barkley. He's good, but I don't think he's a world beater by any stretch. Saw him play a lot for England youth teams from U-17 onwards. His game is roughly the same. Capable of the spectacular, but can be blind and wasteful in possession, and doesn't defend.

As for teams taking a chance on players from abroad above Champo players, I would say it's largely down to two factors. English players (or players in the English game) tend to have inflated value due to the influx of money. Also, I think that until relatively recently, English/British academies simply have not provided the same level of tactical and technical coaching that a lot of their foreign counterparts have. This is oversimplifying slightly, as I would argue the problem goes beyond club academies and down to grass roots level where there is a dearth of English coaches, simply not keeping up with the per capita compared to Germany or Spain.

I think this is definitely changing, but usually changes to youth and academy structure take a minimum of 10-15 years to be felt.

ForeverAddickted

Cafcspud said:

CAFCsayer said:

----------Butland
Clyne - Stones - Gomez - Shaw
-----------Dier
----Barkley ----- Alli
Ox ---------------- Sterling
-----------Kane

Come 2018 could be a fantastic team.

All of these came from or played in the lower divisions too except Barkley and Dier if I'm not mistaken?

If you want to be pedantic... Prior to the season prior to the 2014 World Cup... Ross Barkley had played more games in the Championship for Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds than he had for Everton.

Jack Butland .. Birmingham City (Championship) .. Also had a loan spell @ Cheltenham Town (League Two)
Eric Dier .. played two seasons for Sporting CP 'B' who play in the 2nd tier of Portuguese Football
Nathaniel Clyne .. Crystal Palace (Championship)
John Stones .. Barnsley (Championship)
Joe Gomez .. Charlton Athletic (Championship)
Luke Shaw .. Southampton (Made his debut when they were a Championship club)
Dele Alli .. Milton Keynes Dons (League One)
Alex Oxlade Chamberlain .. Southampton (League One)
Raheem Sterling .. Queens Park Rangers (Didnt make an Appearance)
Harry Kane .. Leyton Orient / Millwall (League One / Championship, despite them being loan spells)

If you include the players from my squad...

Joe Hart .. Shrewsbury Town (Conference)
Chris Smalling .. Maidstone United (Non-League)
Leighton Baines .. Wigan Athletic (League Two)
Wayne Rooney .. Everton (Premier League)

i.e. The top clubs could claim that the loan market is working for them but Harry Kane is probably the only one from the England squad who profited from that

I saw the other week that Manchester United are trying to sign an Everton youngster called Williams (Cant remember his first name), instantly thought that if it goes ahead, his career is over