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Another academy prospect poached
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And if Man City are making advances it isn’t just because they can afford a gamble Arsenal can’t.Henry Irving said:
I get Charlton can't compete with that but he was at ArsenalSwisdom said:
That's it in a nutshell sadly. Whether the family is wealthy or not is irrelevant these days. The kid can earn £1m a year for a couple of years and, theoretically, not do a lot for it and make his whole family's lives a whole lot better for decades if they are sensible. It's peanuts to Man City, life changing for the player AND their family. If it works out he's clearly sorted for life and if it fails he will have earned enough in a short space of time to secure his future.Radostanradical said:
I get what you are saying but put yourself in this kids shoes, he may have come from a poor family, low income area and all of sudden someone offers him 15/20k a week. I can 100% understand why his head would be turnt.Athletico Charlton said:fenaddick said:Mishel Nduka, who left us for Arsenal last year, is moving on to Man City. Suspect we will get a few pennies for this
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7460471/2026/07/21/mishel-nduka-manchester-city-arsenal-transfer/?unlocked_article_code=1.zVA.Qxps.lP6btCMcKv5n&source=user_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share
What a stupid decision by him and his advisers. Chasing the £££ at that age is not a good sign for a serious footballer. Not like Arsenal would have low balled him
How can we compete with thatIt’s still also about how the clubs see his ability to become a fully fledged pro with a future.The gamble was by Arsenal to pay more initially now it’s about a a judgement on how further he goes.0 -
I get that but 100k a week to 110k a week isnt a huge difference interms of your life but 10k a week compared to 20k isHenry Irving said:
I get Charlton can't compete with that but he was at ArsenalSwisdom said:
That's it in a nutshell sadly. Whether the family is wealthy or not is irrelevant these days. The kid can earn £1m a year for a couple of years and, theoretically, not do a lot for it and make his whole family's lives a whole lot better for decades if they are sensible. It's peanuts to Man City, life changing for the player AND their family. If it works out he's clearly sorted for life and if it fails he will have earned enough in a short space of time to secure his future.Radostanradical said:
I get what you are saying but put yourself in this kids shoes, he may have come from a poor family, low income area and all of sudden someone offers him 15/20k a week. I can 100% understand why his head would be turnt.Athletico Charlton said:fenaddick said:Mishel Nduka, who left us for Arsenal last year, is moving on to Man City. Suspect we will get a few pennies for this
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7460471/2026/07/21/mishel-nduka-manchester-city-arsenal-transfer/?unlocked_article_code=1.zVA.Qxps.lP6btCMcKv5n&source=user_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share
What a stupid decision by him and his advisers. Chasing the £££ at that age is not a good sign for a serious footballer. Not like Arsenal would have low balled him
How can we compete with that0 -
Money talks shocker.0
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💰💰💰💰💰Henry Irving said:Maybe not the most patient or loyal player/agent/parents.
Arsenal clearly a very strong academy local to him so you have to wonder why he has moved.0 -
Daily Mail are reporting that City offered Nduka 20k a week0
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And we couldn't match that? Skint.fenaddick said:Daily Mail are reporting that City offered Nduka 20k a week9 -
Garrymanilow said:
And we couldn't match that? Skint.fenaddick said:Daily Mail are reporting that City offered Nduka 20k a week
He had already gone to Arsenal and so had nothing to do with us.1 -
Absurd money to put in front of a 16 year old.fenaddick said:Daily Mail are reporting that City offered Nduka 20k a week9 -
Catch me up here please -
If we were Cat 1 would we be able to charge more money? Is that what I am understanding? Or are we stiffed whether we are Cat 1 or 2?0 -
You get a rise in the fee when the player gets poached. I think we would also be playing against a higher standard of opposition (but could be wrong) and obviously being Cat 1 makes it more appealing for players to sign/stay. But yes, Cat 1 clubs stiff each other all the timemascot88 said:Catch me up here please -
If we were Cat 1 would we be able to charge more money? Is that what I am understanding? Or are we stiffed whether we are Cat 1 or 2?4 -
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Another one gone before they’ve even finished school.
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This makes me so angry. Grrr.Scoham said:Another one gone before they’ve even finished school.10 -
Fourteen?! Crikey. I understand talent is spottable at any age but this sort of thing just does not sit right at all13
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Another great advert for the Charlton academy. If you want your child to get noticed and get on in football, to have the best start then Charlton is where you should send them. Don’t waste your time sending them elsewhere where they will be anonymous, send them to Charlton and if they are good enough they’ll get noticed.bolloxbolder said:
This makes me so angry. Grrr.Scoham said:Another one gone before they’ve even finished school.2 -
It starts a lot younger than that sadly.PaddyP17 said:Fourteen?! Crikey. I understand talent is spottable at any age but this sort of thing just does not sit right at all
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In these optimised times, it is not only possible but necessary to accelerate the progress of every high-potential footballer to an 'elite club' in early development, so as to maximise the eliteness. By the way, fuck you, prole2
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It just feel like we will never see elite level players make it out of the academy anymore. I just can’t see how it’s possible.4
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Maybe there needs to be a Salary Cap across all Academies!!
Its not like the player can be poached abroad (?) what with the Madjo case with FIFA saying players cant move abroad until 170 -
It’s not, look even at Leicester, premier league and FA cup champions in the last 15 years. City have poached a load of their youth players.WoolwichAddick said:It just feel like we will never see elite level players make it out of the academy anymore. I just can’t see how it’s possible.
it wouldn’t even matter if we were CAT 1 as they will still leave only difference is we’d get slightly more compensation.The youth system in English football is rotten and detrimental to the national game5 -
The extra compensation is better than nothing end of the day with how many youngsters we get poached surely it adds up overtimeAberystwythAddick said:
It’s not, look even at Leicester, premier league and FA cup champions in the last 15 years. City have poached a load of their youth players.WoolwichAddick said:It just feel like we will never see elite level players make it out of the academy anymore. I just can’t see how it’s possible.
it wouldn’t even matter if we were CAT 1 as they will still leave only difference is we’d get slightly more compensation.The youth system in English football is rotten and detrimental to the national game3 -
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The whole system sucks. There's no incentive for non big 6 clubs to nurture under 16s, as they can be poached for nothing if they are any good.
And with the FFP rules, the Big 6 clubs treat most academy players as pure trading profit, to offset their FFP losses elsewhere.4 -
Ironically the only elite attacking players we've 'produced' over the last decade (Lookman and Aribo) were in turn poached from clubs far lower in the pyramid than us.3
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They weren’t poached in this sense though. They were footballers who were signed in circumstances where the move was a positive for the player and the selling club. Aribo was 19 playing for a non-league team and his manager actively recommended him to Charlton for a trial because there was no future in him playing for Staines Town. Lookman was playing for a Sunday league team and the move to Charlton turned him into a professional footballer. The players we are losing are kids from a professional academy that exists with the intention of developing players for our first team. We have invested a lot of time into them and they are being pulled away as children at a time where it costs the bigger club the least to do so.SantaClaus said:Ironically the only elite attacking players we've 'produced' over the last decade (Lookman and Aribo) were in turn poached from clubs far lower in the pyramid than us.
It’s gross that this has become the norm and it’s going to become next to impossible for us to produce top players going forward, which in turn makes it harder for us to close the gap between ourselves and the teams already established at the top20 -
Poached is probably too emotive a word, though I'm sure Waterloo and Staines fans would have their own perspectives on the moves. Anyway I'm not trying to belittle the situation our academy finds itself in, it's shit and each one of these departures must undermine it's long term viability.Garrymanilow said:
They weren’t poached in this sense though. They were footballers who were signed in circumstances where the move was a positive for the player and the selling club. Aribo was 19 playing for a non-league team and his manager actively recommended him to Charlton for a trial because there was no future in him playing for Staines Town. Lookman was playing for a Sunday league team and the move to Charlton turned him into a professional footballer. The players we are losing are kids from a professional academy that exists with the intention of developing players for our first team. We have invested a lot of time into them and they are being pulled away as children at a time where it costs the bigger club the least to do so.SantaClaus said:Ironically the only elite attacking players we've 'produced' over the last decade (Lookman and Aribo) were in turn poached from clubs far lower in the pyramid than us.
It’s gross that this has become the norm and it’s going to become next to impossible for us to produce top players going forward, which in turn makes it harder for us to close the gap between ourselves and the teams already established at the top1 -
When it comes to academy football it's not even the big 6 anymore. It's Man City, then Chelsea, then the rest. In the last 15 FA Youth cup finals, there have been only 3 that haven't featured either City or Chelsea.killerandflash said:The whole system sucks. There's no incentive for non big 6 clubs to nurture under 16s, as they can be poached for nothing if they are any good.
And with the FFP rules, the Big 6 clubs treat most academy players as pure trading profit, to offset their FFP losses elsewhere.
On the same day that we read Spurs have poached one of our kids, Fabrizio posts this.
This kid is leaving a big club, a club who will play in the Champions league next season and a club where he'd almost certainly have a better chance of first team football, just to become another one of City's 50 youth team prospects. In the same month that City took Nduka from Arsenal and signed Monga from Leicester.
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Curbs talking about the bitterness surrounding Defoe being ‘stolen’ on YouTube show just now.0
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With the absolute greatest respect there’s a difference between poaching someone from a functioning EFL club, and Waterloo/Staines. Would understand the point more if we were taking potential future stars from the likes of Wimbledon or Cambridge for exampleSantaClaus said:Ironically the only elite attacking players we've 'produced' over the last decade (Lookman and Aribo) were in turn poached from clubs far lower in the pyramid than us.4 -
SantaClaus said:
Poached is probably too emotive a word, though I'm sure Waterloo and Staines fans would have their own perspectives on the moves. Anyway I'm not trying to belittle the situation our academy finds itself in, it's shit and each one of these departures must undermine it's long term viability.Garrymanilow said:
They weren’t poached in this sense though. They were footballers who were signed in circumstances where the move was a positive for the player and the selling club. Aribo was 19 playing for a non-league team and his manager actively recommended him to Charlton for a trial because there was no future in him playing for Staines Town. Lookman was playing for a Sunday league team and the move to Charlton turned him into a professional footballer. The players we are losing are kids from a professional academy that exists with the intention of developing players for our first team. We have invested a lot of time into them and they are being pulled away as children at a time where it costs the bigger club the least to do so.SantaClaus said:Ironically the only elite attacking players we've 'produced' over the last decade (Lookman and Aribo) were in turn poached from clubs far lower in the pyramid than us.
It’s gross that this has become the norm and it’s going to become next to impossible for us to produce top players going forward, which in turn makes it harder for us to close the gap between ourselves and the teams already established at the top
Waterloo fans? They are a Sunday league team. Their "fans" are friends and family. I should think that to a person they were absolutely delighted for Lookman.
They are a charitable enterprise set up to help kids in the local community, even the founder and directors would have been made up for the move to have happened I would expect.11 -
Cat 1 status would make this slightly less annoying as we'd get more money for it at least.
Also slightly less chance of some of them leaving as it's no longer a definitive step up, it'll be more about the money then compared to the training levels1
