Lucas flack to Newcastle

[Stamford O]

Reports saying 14 year old wonder kid goalkeeper moves from leyton orient to Newcastle,anybody ever heard of him,apart from me

[PKM]

Never heard of him, presumably we get some compensation

https://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/fo ... es-5002548

[LittleMate]

We "sold" him according to Lingy

[EliotNes]

That's quite a cultural move for a 14 year old; London to Newcastle. You wouldn't get me doing that, though I count a Geordie as one of my best friends. I hope he settles OK and does well and we earn some money in sell-on's.

[Hoover Attack]

The amount of kids Newcastle have recruited (poached) in that article

Assuming the lad is London based and too good for us, it’s bonkers to move to the other end of the country at that age. Surely other local Cat1 academies would have been interested?

[LittleMate]

The amount of kids Newcastle have recruited (poached) in that article

Assuming the lad is London based and too good for us, it’s bonkers to move to the other end of the country at that age. Surely other local Cat1 academies would have been interested?

Probably so, but Newcastle probably made his family (and his agent!) an offer too good to refuse. That would have included relocating because I thought there were restrictions on taking young players away from their homes. They also probably paid a "surplus" to the required fee for youngsters moving out of our academy - to avoid getting gazumpted.

[Adz]

So easy for big teams to recruit the best talent now they just go watch the lower leagues youth games and pick off who they want.

[Hoover Attack]

The amount of kids Newcastle have recruited (poached) in that article

Assuming the lad is London based and too good for us, it’s bonkers to move to the other end of the country at that age. Surely other local Cat1 academies would have been interested?

Probably so, but Newcastle probably made his family (and his agent!) an offer too good to refuse. That would have included relocating because I thought there were restrictions on taking young players away from their homes. They also probably paid a "surplus" to the required fee for youngsters moving out of our academy - to avoid getting gazumpted.

So looking at several hundred K at a guess on a 14 year old? That’s crazy.

[Adz]

The amount of kids Newcastle have recruited (poached) in that article

Assuming the lad is London based and too good for us, it’s bonkers to move to the other end of the country at that age. Surely other local Cat1 academies would have been interested?

Probably so, but Newcastle probably made his family (and his agent!) an offer too good to refuse. That would have included relocating because I thought there were restrictions on taking young players away from their homes. They also probably paid a "surplus" to the required fee for youngsters moving out of our academy - to avoid getting gazumpted.

So looking at several hundred K at a guess on a 14 year old? That’s crazy.

Is it though? What's the hit rate on these players either being a success or being sold rather than released? Assuming you've spent 250k, and end up with a player worth 20mm (conservatively) for every success you can have 79 failures just to break even.

[Hoover Attack]

Is it as low as £250k? We’re talking about transfer fee to us and enough to make a whole family leave everything behind and move to the other end of the country.

How many make it? Bugger all. Way less than 1 kid in 80.

Other than that, your maths is sound.

[Adz]

Is it as low as £250k? We’re talking about transfer fee to us and enough to make a whole family leave everything behind and move to the other end of the country.

How many make it? Bugger all. Way less than 1 kid in 80.

Other than that, your maths is sound.

I'm not saying 1 kid in 80, but only 1 in 80 that you buy needs to make it. Would love to see the stats for success of kids bought from other youth teams but I don't think that's available

[Hoover Attack]

Yeah, would be interesting. You only have to look at the absolute top level, say England U16s, to see how many of those don't go on to be anything near £20million players.

[Chicken Dhansak]

I read somewhere that David Beckham went from London to Man U aged nine years old, that's how good a prospect he was. And the rest is history.

[Hoover Attack]

I read somewhere that David Beckham went from London to Man U aged nine years old, that's how good a prospect he was. And the rest is history.

Signed schoolboy forms for United on his 14th birthday. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Beckham

[Monkey Boy]

I read somewhere that David Beckham went from London to Man U aged nine years old, that's how good a prospect he was. And the rest is history.

They will probably fly him up at weekends until he’s 16 and of age.

[Lifelongfan]

Is it as low as £250k? We’re talking about transfer fee to us and enough to make a whole family leave everything behind and move to the other end of the country.

How many make it? Bugger all. Way less than 1 kid in 80.

Other than that, your maths is sound.

£400,000 fee to O's

[Hoover Attack]

Serrine Sanneh - Rusthall FC, Southern Counties East (step 5!!!!)

Tom Smith - sub at Col Utd playing their Football League Trophy games.

[Real Al]

Serrine Sanneh - Rusthall FC, Southern Counties East (step 5!!!!)

For context, that's the same league that Connor Essam plays in