Incoming? Mikhail Polendakov.

[Groucho Blade]

Curtis clearly not good enough (we started a very tall CB ahead of him against York). Sachdev seems to just be injured all the time.

Sachdev is recovering from a bad break…not really fair to say he’s injured all the time.

 

[Blademan89]

Curtis clearly not good enough (we started a very tall CB ahead of him against York). Sachdev seems to just be injured all the time.

Has he got a bad injury record? I just thought hes been out due to a bad leg break and not lots of different injuries (like some at the club).

 

[robbiez666]

Has he got a bad injury record? I just thought hes been out due to a bad leg break and not lots of different injuries (like some at the club).

Sachdev is recovering from a bad break…not really fair to say he’s injured all the time.

Fair point chaps. I thought he also had a few injuries before that as well.

Theres no guarantee, at 20, he's going to come back and be Championship level anytime soon. He's only played half a dozen games in his whole career.

 

[PaddysMad]

Welcome Barry Polendakov

 

[bertieblade]

Fair point chaps. I thought he also had a few injuries before that as well.

Theres no guarantee, at 20, he's going to come back and be Championship level anytime soon. He's only played half a dozen games in his whole career.

Or alternatively he could be like Peck and play lots of games, but if it suits you to look at the negatives then go ahead and do so.
You must be real fun at parties

 

[robbiez666]

Or alternatively he could be like Peck and play lots of games, but if it suits you to look at the negatives then go ahead and do so.
You must be real fun at parties

I was responding to a post about already having development right backs, pointing out that (of the ones closest to the first team) one isn't good enough and one has a long term injury.

 

[SufcBilly]

GERRIMIN

 

[Iffy Onuora's Shiny Head]

Just been reading about the ESC slots. Its a very confusing area. Seemingly you don't need to use one of the 4 ESC slots if they are a recognised international for a decent country or they get 15+ points.

Route	Requirement
Auto-pass	30%+ of games for a top-50 nation
Points-based	Need 15+ points from:
	– Club minutes in good leagues
	– Continental matches
	– Youth internationals
	– Club & league performance
If <15 pts	Must use an ESC exemption (max 4 per club per season)

So based on my research all 4 players would be significantly off gaining this at the moment.

However if they played 75% of our Domestic games, and continued to gain youth international caps, we could get them above the 15 points for next season - especially if we finish near the top of the league.

Also there is the option to loan them out to a better foreign league (say Belgium or Nederlands) where they could collect points that way.

 

[KiwiBlade]

Just been reading about the ESC slots. Its a very confusing area. Seemingly you don't need to use one of the 4 ESC slots if they are a recognised international for a decent country or they get 15+ points.

Route	Requirement
Auto-pass	30%+ of games for a top-50 nation
Points-based	Need 15+ points from:
	– Club minutes in good leagues
	– Continental matches
	– Youth internationals
	– Club & league performance
If <15 pts	Must use an ESC exemption (max 4 per club per season)

So based on my research all 4 players would be significantly off gaining this at the moment.

However if they played 75% of our Domestic games, and continued to gain youth international caps, we could get them above the 15 points for next season - especially if we finish near the top of the league.

Also there is the option to loan them out to a better foreign league (say Belgium or Nederlands) where they could collect points that way.

Under 21 requirements are slightly different still. From memory it uses a 12 month eligibility window, rather than a 24 month period for over 21s. 3 current signings all use ESC slots and the Bulgarian lad will take the 4th as from what I can see he doesn’t meet the points criteria for a work permit outright.

If we loan them out then it still uses an ESC slot.

Most Championship teams lean towards using the ESC slots for first team players, whilst most PL teams use it for development players. I’m guessing we’re trying to emulate the PL teams on the off chance one of them turns out to be good. Issue is that most PL teams have a feeder club with less strict work permit rules to see how good they actually are and we don’t.

 

[Lord Eddard Muir]

Finally, an actual Bulgarian.

 

[Torrix1889]

His Instagram shows he is in Sheffield.....

 

[mattbianco1]

 

[bertieblade]

That article was dated late evening on Tuesday, if it has any credibility you would expect him to sign today.
Wonder if we signed the other Bulgarian players as a “favour” to this guys agent

 

[SUFCScorecard]

Under 21 requirements are slightly different still. From memory it uses a 12 month eligibility window, rather than a 24 month period for over 21s. 3 current signings all use ESC slots and the Bulgarian lad will take the 4th as from what I can see he doesn’t meet the points criteria for a work permit outright.

If we loan them out then it still uses an ESC slot.

Most Championship teams lean towards using the ESC slots for first team players, whilst most PL teams use it for development players. I’m guessing we’re trying to emulate the PL teams on the off chance one of them turns out to be good. Issue is that most PL teams have a feeder club with less strict work permit rules to see how good they actually are and we don’t.

Apparently Nwachukwu is a long long way off being good enough. Could we just cancel his contract if we needed to free up a spot for a potential first team signing?

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Apparently Nwachukwu is a long long way off being good enough. Could we just cancel his contract if we needed to free up a spot for a potential first team signing?

Maybe Nwachukwu isn't being considered for this season but for next season, or the one after. He's only 19 years old, so let's not write him off yet. We have players in the academy the same age who aren't ready yet. We bought him to develop him into a potential first team player, so give the club a chance to develop him rather than a knee jerk reaction.

 

[Blade58]

Apparently Nwachukwu is a long long way off being good enough. Could we just cancel his contract if we needed to free up a spot for a potential first team signing?

If these Bulgarian league players are a long way off being good enough, is there not an argument to say fk it, we can bring those types in locally without AI?

I mean without doing AI a disservice, our academy has achieved quite a sterling job over the years without AI. If all we are doing is filling up are quota limit, it may be counter productive?

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Maybe Nwachukwu isn't being considered for this season but for next season, or the one after. He's only 19 years old, so let's not write him off yet. We have players in the academy the same age who aren't ready yet. We bought him to develop him into a potential first team player, so give the club a chance to develop him rather than a knee jerk reaction.

Be interesting to see if he makes youth side xi anytime soon. Don't recall seeing that happen yet

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

If these Bulgarian league players are a long way off being good enough, is there not an argument to say fk it, we can bring those types in locally without AI?

I mean without doing AI a disservice, our academy has achieved quite a sterling job over the years without AI. If all we are doing is filling up are quota limit, it may be counter productive?

Don't spoil the experiment.....

 

[Pollingtonblade]

This is an amazing signing and a clear sea change away from Wilders Brexit Blades

 

[MartBlade]

This is an amazing signing and a clear sea change away from Wilders Brexit Blades

I think we’ll have to accept that many of these players will fail to make the grade but the whole thing is aimed at unearthing one or two diamonds that will make it worthwhile for the team and financially. Personally I’m very sceptical because I think it takes a lot of money and resources to do it right (like Brentford and Brighton).
I hope I’m proved wrong but it’s a long term strategy so I don’t expect much this season and unfortunately our need on the pitch is urgent due to injuries and loss of players.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Be interesting to see if he makes youth side xi anytime soon. Don't recall seeing that happen yet

It was a low risk gamble. Like Warnock with strikers, if you sign enough of them at some point you'll come across a good one. Brighton use this model of signing lots of young up and coming youth players to hopefully develop into first team players. If you look at their list of released players every season it's often a long list. It's ruthless but along the way they do find that one player.

14 players left Brighton last summer of which only 3 were released and the rest were sold. They also sent 28 players out on loan.

We've signed three players from the new data driven model and some recent pick ups released from other academies.

Brighton's pool of talent is enormous compared to ours as we're only just getting started. The odds are that Nwachukwu might be a load of Nwankukwu but the new model is very much in the infant stage so we're as likely to sign a dud as we are to sign a gem while the number we are signing are so low.

Our problem at the moment is the permit limit. I'm guessing Brighton got round this by signing them young enough that they count as homegrown players, as I can't figure out how else they've gotten so many overseas players in their academy/development team.

 

[Gin&Juice]

Pre season in Sunny Beach soon. Helmy smashing 40000000 Lev for thirsty Blades fans, local mafia blackmailing the club, Russian tourists challenging the lads to a game of beach volleyball.

 

[1889]

I hope this lad isn’t the ‘signing within the next seven days’ Selles mentioned after the York game

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I hope this lad isn’t the ‘signing within the next seven days’ Selles mentioned after the York game

7 days is the new 72 hours!!!

 

[Rodley]

If these Bulgarian league players are a long way off being good enough, is there not an argument to say fk it, we can bring those types in locally without AI?

I mean without doing AI a disservice, our academy has achieved quite a sterling job over the years without AI. If all we are doing is filling up are quota limit, it may be counter productive?

Every club uses AI, we’re not doing anything revolutionary. I would expect the Bulgarian-based players are bought because the chap whose data system we are using has an understanding of that particular league as he has an interest in one of the clubs.

It may be that we are acquiring these players at lower than market value for comparable players elsewhere.

 

[1889]

7 days is the new 72 hours!!!

72hrs is also within the 7 day time frame, I think you would have to concede?

 

[Down the Channels]

I hope this lad isn’t the ‘signing within the next seven days’ Selles mentioned after the York game

I expect it will be.
If it was this lad and say Barry then surely he would have said 'a couple coming in next week'. This one seems to be almost ready to announce.

 

[dc_blade]

If these Bulgarian league players are a long way off being good enough, is there not an argument to say fk it, we can bring those types in locally without AI?

I mean without doing AI a disservice, our academy has achieved quite a sterling job over the years without AI. If all we are doing is filling up are quota limit, it may be counter productive?

It’s not going to replace the academy.

The issue with young british players is that they’ll have been scouted by 40 clubs by the time they’re 16. We’ve done a brilliant job unearthing talent that no one else has spotted in the UK but the completion is fierce and it’s easy to lose out to PL clubs. The idea with this experiment is that not as many clubs are scouting in leagues like Bulgaria and we have a chance of picking up good young players.

No idea if it’ll work but that’s the logic behind it.

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

I expect it will be.
If it was this lad and say Barry then surely he would have said 'a couple coming in next week'. This one seems to be almost ready to announce.

Or perhaps Selles doesn't count the signing of Polendakov as one for the first team, and Barry is the one he's referring to.

 

[Keith S]

Curtis clearly not good enough (we started a very tall CB ahead of him against York). Sachdev seems to just be injured all the time.

Sachdev does not "seem to be injured all the time." He's been out for almost a year with one career-threatening injury sustained whilst playing for the U21s.