Reyes Cleary

[Barrera]

Surely Val has got yo give this lad a chance. Only 17 y/o but banging them in for the U23s. .. and has been all season. .... another hat trick last night against Boro. Only saw the last goal ... but what a finish. Don’t get our supposed policy of “won’t sign a contract so we won’t play him”. He’s our player now and giving him a chance, encouraging him and making him feel wanted by the Club and us fans is surely the best way of keeping him. And if he does leave ... which he will at some point if he turns out to be top-class .... then we get more money in the coffers ... and encourage other talented youngsters to come through.

Surely worth a shot on the bench.

[Leicesterbaggie]

With the lack of strike power that we have it seems a 'no brainier' to give the lad a chance. Put him on the bench and bring him on instead of Hugill. Can't do any worse. We seem reluctant to play the youngsters. Why, I don't know. Look at the performance of TGH. I'm a strong believer in the maxim 'If they're good enough, they're old enough!'.

[baggiematt]

I agree that the lad seems the part and looks like he would fit the system well, but there is something uncomfortable with playing a player who hasn't signed a pro deal yet. What type of message does that send? How do you convince other lads to sign a pro contract if they just get played anyway and can leave their options open?

Surely our best negotiation strategy would be to offer a contract with a promise of 5-10+ games before the end of the season. If he doesn't sign, then he clearly just wants out. Otherwise, we are just putting him on show for super clubs to get him for next to nothing.

We didn't manage the Ferguson situation well in a similar situation and we lost a bright talent who we trained for 10 years or so for £900k.

[mickd1961]

The club needs to be more open about these situations though.

There’s no point playing him in the reserve or age teams if he’s going to be leaving or he’s giving out that sort of vibe.

He’s either “with us” or he’s not.

If he’s indicated he’s not then he should be at home on his PlayStation and not clogging up a space someone else could be progressing through.

They need to introduce anew system for players who are under 18.

There should be an agreed amount that each player gets paid in each division and that to be at a club they are “under contract”.

Any player brought through by a club and on a clubs books should have attached to them a “royalty” payment that follows them throughout their pro career.

The club they are at as a youth should get 20% of every fee that player ever gets sold for in the future and if they try to fudge it by agreeing a “free transfer”then the original club should be awarded 20% of the signing fee the player gets.

At the moment the whole thing is a nonsense.

[baggiematt]

The club needs to be more open about these situations though.

There’s no point playing him in the reserve or age teams if he’s going to be leaving or he’s giving out that sort of vibe.

He’s either “with us” or he’s not.

If he’s indicated he’s not then he should be at home on his PlayStation and not clogging up a space someone else could be progressing through.

They need to introduce anew system for players who are under 18.

There should be an agreed amount that each player gets paid in each division and that to be at a club they are “under contract”.

Any player brought through by a club and on a clubs books should have attached to them a “royalty” payment that follows them throughout their pro career.

The club they are at as a youth should get 20% of every fee that player ever gets sold for in the future and if they try to fudge it by agreeing a “free transfer”then the original club should be awarded 20% of the signing fee the player gets.

At the moment the whole thing is a nonsense.

It does genuinely feel like the Albion are the only club to have this type of situation. An excellent young prospect, chased by most in the country and abroad, who was allowed to go to the PL2 squad at the tender age of 17 without signing a pro deal.

I get that players can develop quicker than expected and we probably take a cautious approach but we are at risk of having our own Jude Bellingham here that can go for peanuts. There have been smaller clubs than us handle contracts of talented players better and with more ambition.

Ferguson should have been given a 4 year deal the second we felt he could handle a step up and if he didn't sign it, we wouldn't give him the games. Not play him for 5-10 games and then offer him a deal when bigger clubs have also seen what her can do. That just puts the ball in the players caught and this is exactly the same situation.

[Barrera]

Does seem a weird situation. To have a young lad at the club who has scored 16 goals in 14 matches playing for the U23s ......... who is being hyped as the next Lukaku or whoever .... when we desperately need a new striker and are unwilling to spend .... yet we put him in the shop window every week without no contractual ties .... now attracting interest from a host of top clubs ... our management really need their heads seeing to .....

Such poor management it’s almost unimaginable ...

[kettering_baggie]

Presumably by giving the lad a contract he would have to be paid more, goes against Chinese principles, I expect. Our ‘scouts are probably on Blackpool beach looking at about to be retired donkeys.

[boingy]

Really looks the business. You mean to tell me that if Val said "Fancy a game in the first team Saturday?" he wouldn't snatch his hand off? Doesn't make sense.