Woodwardfan
Woodwardfan
- Banned
- #1
This lad is as good as any player I have ever seen age for age in 58 years watching United and he's not 18 until July this year.
With the greater stability of finances under the new ownership the board ought to set their stall out to ensure we do not sell ourselves short in the further development of the player who has been with us since he were now't but a lad. Congratulations to the Academy staff over the years.
What do we do with him now?
1. Give him a healthy contract and make him the main man in the team for years to come - not a realistic option?
2. Sell him at the optimum time, not too early and not for peanuts.
3. Insure him for big bucks for starters.
As a club we have the experience of developing quality young players through the Academy and selling them. Lessons should have been learned about how to motivate the lad to sign a contract and to believe he is still developing as a player with us. Inevitably big clubs will have him on their radar. A 16 year old from Norway has just signed for Real Madrid and Reed will have been noticed outside the UK I'm sure.
At some stage SUFC have to develop as a club and everybody connected hope and pray that the day arrives when we stop being a selling club. However the realities of the situation cannot be ignored, Harry Maguire left us for 4 times his salary at Bramall Lane. Has it helped his game in the short term? Possibly not, though he is training and learning alongside quality players week in week out and learning all about the Premier League even from the bench, while banking £3/4 million per annum.
Grass roots football has suffered since the Premier League was created, in fact that's why it was started by big clubs in the first place - greed. As a small club on the wrong side of the tracks at present we are at the mercy of clubs who could shell out £5m without a thought. We should make sure we get far more than that one way or another.
With the greater stability of finances under the new ownership the board ought to set their stall out to ensure we do not sell ourselves short in the further development of the player who has been with us since he were now't but a lad. Congratulations to the Academy staff over the years.
What do we do with him now?
1. Give him a healthy contract and make him the main man in the team for years to come - not a realistic option?
2. Sell him at the optimum time, not too early and not for peanuts.
3. Insure him for big bucks for starters.
As a club we have the experience of developing quality young players through the Academy and selling them. Lessons should have been learned about how to motivate the lad to sign a contract and to believe he is still developing as a player with us. Inevitably big clubs will have him on their radar. A 16 year old from Norway has just signed for Real Madrid and Reed will have been noticed outside the UK I'm sure.
At some stage SUFC have to develop as a club and everybody connected hope and pray that the day arrives when we stop being a selling club. However the realities of the situation cannot be ignored, Harry Maguire left us for 4 times his salary at Bramall Lane. Has it helped his game in the short term? Possibly not, though he is training and learning alongside quality players week in week out and learning all about the Premier League even from the bench, while banking £3/4 million per annum.
Grass roots football has suffered since the Premier League was created, in fact that's why it was started by big clubs in the first place - greed. As a small club on the wrong side of the tracks at present we are at the mercy of clubs who could shell out £5m without a thought. We should make sure we get far more than that one way or another.