Lukas Jutkiewicz - Remember his name.

[chicoazul]

..because I ****ing can't.

From the official site.

Everton are in discussions with Swindon Town over the possible transfer of young striker Lukas Jutkiewicz.

The talks are with a view to signing the 17-year-old forward when the transfer window re-opens in the summer.

Jutkiewicz has netted two senior goals for the League Two side this season and put pen-to-paper on a three year deal at the County Ground in the summer.

The young Englishman is a former Southampton player and first rose to prominence in 2004 when he finished as top scorer at the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland.

Couple of things.

We are keen on the young strikers arent we? This dude, Spencer, Vaughan, Anichebe. And possible Nugent to that list. All English too.

When they say ex Southampton. Does that mean he was released and not offered a YTS.

Does anyone know anything about him, like is he any good?

[micknick]

Never ever heard of him, but that sure is a surname right there!

[chicoazul]

Just when I'm getting to the stage when I can say Radzinski too.

[Welton Toffee]

haha, I can't even say Anichebe, I've got no chance with this one :lol:

[Cal]

We're looking to the future :)

[Bruce Wayne]

We're looking to the future :)

Yeah, I hear that for the 2009/2010 season Moyes is planning on unleashing his 1-2-7 formation on the unsuspecting Premier League who have grown complacent with his defensive tactics and dodgy last minute substitutions.

Although with the number of goalkeepers we're signing up maybe he'll play half a dozen goalies, half a dozen centre forwards and re-create the Wimbledon of old.

Everyone repeat after me "oooooooooh-you-re-****-aaaaah"

[Royal Blue Jersey]

Why are we wasting £400,000 on an unproven player, a deal that could be worth up to £1 million, when we have the likes of Fernandes, Nugent, Barton, et. al that need to be signed? What a joke...

[teppic]

it all backs up his 5 year plan i think. this mystery presentation to the board i think contained a brief on signing very young players to develop at the new academy. it's great we are signing players at 17 instead of 37. next season we might have an arsenal style league cup team full of kids.

[Rob]

Why are we wasting £400,000 on an unproven player, a deal that could be worth up to £1 million, when we have the likes of Fernandes, Nugent, Barton, et. al that need to be signed? What a joke...

You would be saying it was a joke if we didn't sign players to be fair.

[Bruce Wayne]

Well he's signed. This from the OS


Everton have agreed a deal to sign Lukas Jutkiewicz from Swindon Town at the end of the season.

The young striker, who turns 18 on March 28, will join on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

He will complete the move at the end of Swindon Town's League Two campaign.

Jutkiewicz has made eight starts for the Robins this term, scoring three times.


http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/blues-confirm-striker-deal.html

[monty]

I would fully support this type of investment, look what Wenger did at Arsenal with his passion for younger players, it makes good business sense. Just think we could have had 14/15 such players and developed them over the last two seasons rather than have spent the cash on a loser like BT.

[Bruce Wayne]

We've certainly got some young strikers at the club now with Anichebe, Vaughan, Agard, Spencer and Jutkiewicz on the books. We've signed up quite a few young keepers too. I'd love to see some young midfielders signed up, although hopefully players like Vidarsson and Kissock will make the grade.

[Bruce Wayne]

It would also raise the question of whether we'd need Nugent wouldn't it? Johnson is still young and with five promising strikers at the club do we need to add another one?

[Rob]

I love the fact that you are still bashing that useless fat lump of lard BT :lol:

Do we want to be fergie's kids or keegan's over priced rejects?

You can't win anything with kids right? :p

[monty]

Bruce, Utd had seven or eight top notch strikers at OT when they splashed out on Rooney. Surely you can imagine AJ and Nugent in the same attack, my lips moisten at the thought of it. Presently we have one good attacker, AJ, two wet behind the ear kids, Vaughan and Viv plus a second rate Scot in Faddy and BT who just wouldn't make the first team in anyother prem squad. The other you have mention are for years to come Agard, Kissock, Spencer, Nugent is for now. We need Nugent, a born blue, more than any other player that might become available in the summer, including Dean Ashton (his injury was that bad it is likely to slow him and reduce his ability for the rest of his career, he wasn't the quickest forward in the world in the first place)

[monty]

Paul Sturrock on Jutty

Swindon Town boss Paul Sturrock has described as 'a dream move' Lukas Jutkiewicz's forthcoming transfer to Everton.

The Blues have agreed an undisclosed fee with the League Two outfit for the 17-year-old striker.

The move will be completed at the end of Swindon's domestic campaign in the summer.

Having netted three times for Swindon this term from just eight starts, Sturrock admits losing Jutkiewicz is a blow but that is a fact of life in the game.

He said: "It's a fantastic move for Lukas and a fantastic deal for the club.

"Every football club in the Football League is a selling club in reality. At times we have to stand up and be counted and do what is right for the club. We have been professional in the way we have done it and people have to understand that selling clubs is what the game is all about.

"By selling Lukas we may be able to bring a few more players in to benefit us over the longer term. We will receive solid, guaranteed cash and there is also a substancial sell-on built into the deal.

"I have spoken to the Board and they have backed me to bring players in now of a quality we need. The money we will receive will be of a great benefit and it is now up to me to find a few more players like Lukas Jutkiewicz."


I wonder how many others looked at him?

[chicoazul]

Building for the future. If we had a fraction of the success Arsenal have had (apart from today) then things look rosy.

[monty]

Building for the future. If we had a fraction of the success Arsenal have had (apart from today) then things look rosy.

The anti-Moyes brigade have sniped at this buy but think would you rather have 12 lads like this one against on BT, now that is a no brainer:dodgy:

[Bruce Wayne]

It got me thinking just now. Both Vaughan and Anichebe have shown they can handle the Premier League this season. The new kid from Swindon will have had 15-20 games for them by the time he arrives here so isn't a callow youth either. If Vic/Vaughan take turns partnering AJ, do we need a new striker, even if BT goes? We'll probably have McFadden as well and can always play 4-5-1.

[Neiler]

Im all for the signing of young players of potential and at the moment it seems that we have an awfull lot of strikers. I just hope that it wont stop us from signing Nugent in the summer.

It is great to see the club investing in youth and facilities i.e. finch farm. Hopefully this will bring consistency, and a seamless transition from youth to first team for those who make the grade. With all coaching and facilites accessable on the one site lets hope the facility will offer a physical and metphorical, philosophical school of sceince for these and future generations of blues

I think Bruce we may be approaching a point were some of our younger and less used squad members may be let out on short term loan deals as has been the increasing case over the last two years.

[atrottel]

Since we're keeping ourselves awake by exhuming old threads, here's one to make you think when we start to think optimistic thoughts about our young talent of the present.

Spencer
Jutkiewicz
Vaughan
Anichebe
Agard
Vidarsson
Kissock

[RadioFriendlyUnitShifter]

Since we're keeping ourselves awake by exhuming old threads, here's one to make you think when we start to think optimistic thoughts about our young talent of the present.

Spencer
Jutkiewicz
Vaughan
Anichebe
Agard
Vidarsson
Kissock

Sssshhh. If you suck all the positivity out of the last remaining place for blues to store their optimism there will be chaos, lid.

[chicoazul]

Since we're keeping ourselves awake by exhuming old threads, here's one to make you think when we start to think optimistic thoughts about our young talent of the present.

Spencer
Jutkiewicz
Vaughan
Anichebe
Agard
Vidarsson
Kissock

Spot on lid.

[LTblue]

yeah but Gueye looks up to Zidane and Vellios Ibrahimovic, so I think you'll find they're both heirs to their heroes throwns.

[Roztitute]

NICK CHADWICK?!

[Andy M.]

I see what you're saying, but I think you're wrong.

WARNING: the following nerd-out has been known to cause glazed eyes, boredom, drowsiness, lethargy, apathy, sleep. Do not read this post while driving, operating heavy machinery or not being particularly interested in the yoof.


In essence I'm not only replying to this thread, it's also an answer to a remarkably inane statement on another forum even by that forum's high standard of ignorance. To wit:

the talent was there for all to see with SAF's "Kids"; whereas our youth players are not particularly good, but are being hyped just because we have no other good news/enough senior players.

Player development is not an exact science, there is no way of knowing who will make it in the PL. However, we do have at least an idea where our kids stand in relation to their peers. The reason why everyone saw the promise and the talent of Man Utd's kids was not written in the stars, it was because of the plaudits and awards they won while playing for various youth set-ups. There are many golden generations that have turned out to be fool's gold, a few players have gone on to greatness despite never winning anything as teenagers (mostly because they were playing for their first teams at the time), but I think you'll find that the trite adage "Results don't matter in youth development" is only trotted out when you're losing.

So let's compare what the three sets of players won by the time they were 18:


Spencer
Jutkiewicz
Vaughan
Anichebe
Agard
Vidarsson
Kissock

I think Kissock might have won the Victory shield with the England U16s? Other than that, it's pretty much down to "My mother thinks I'm mostly good" award for the lot of them.

Fergie's Fledglings:

Giggs: FA Youth Cup (unused sub in the final), numerous Player of the Year awards
Scholes: Milk Cup, FA Youth Cup runner-up, Euro U18 Champion
Beckham: Milk Cup, FA Youth Cup, Youth Cup runner-up
Butt: Milk Cup, FA Youth Cup, Youth Cup runner-up, Euro U18 Champion
G. Neville: Milk Cup, FA Youth Cup, Youth Cup runner-up, Euro U18 Champion

Yoof of today - disregarding minor tournaments (Victory Shield, Algarve Cup, Nordic Tournament etc), and bearing in mind that the following players are not yet 18 and can add to the list:

Barkley: Milk Cup, Euro U17 Champion
Hope: 2 Milk Cups, Academy League Champion, 2011 Euro U17 Golden Boot
Garbutt: FA Youth Cup semi-finalist, Academy League Champion, Euro U17 Champion
Bidwell, Browning, Forrester, Thomas, Barrow: Milk Cup, Academy League Champion

Again, this doesn't guarantee that those players will make it, but there are reasons to be more optimistic than in the past. My biggest fear, other than injury, is that those players will be sidelined in Stubbs/Holden's team of FAIL (5w, 3d, 17l) and you only need to compare Rodwell's career with those of Wallace and Baxter to see the effect of a long stint in our reserves. Ideally all these 17 year olds will be fast-tracked into the first team squad. It's not like we're having trouble filling our 25 squad places...

On a side note, I'm amazed how much Kissock's reputation has grown retrospectively in the past 3 years. Look back in the archives and you'll see that he's never been rated that highly as an actual prospect, at least not since it became clear he wasn't going to grow taller. Whew, got that off my chest now.

[atrottel]

Well the thread resurrection was to fill the dark hours of the morning before the match...

But just to play devil's advocate (I think you make some decent points):

* Spencer we paid good money for (I think)
* Jutkiewicz we certainly paid money for
* and I'm just going on the players mentioned in the thread and not counting the keepers we've brought in over the years

Barkley's been brought into the squad, as was Rodwell before him, and McAleny and Velios are both getting chances pre-season the same as Wallace and Baxter did before them. (Wallace is away with the England squad. Baxter had problems with a visa.) But you have to take the chances when you get them.

If you look at that list of names, it wasn't just lack of development, it was injuries (Vaughan and possibly Anichebe), not developing physically (Vidarsson, Kissock), and, with some, maybe not eventually having the right set of physical or mental skills to make it into the team. And yes, sometimes it's luck (Coleman).

Sometimes players take time to develop and work their way up again. Sometimes they just weren't good enough in the first place.

So no matter how much I might like the look of a John Irving or a Mark Hughes (or a Jake Bidwell), it's down to fitness, attitude and pure chance.

There's been a bit too much of wanting to sell the birds in hand ('get the money for Jags because we have Duffy and Mustafi in the wings') because we are blinded by the potential glories of those in the bush.

But history tells us we'll be lucky to see two or three of those names make it anywhere in the Premier League.

Regarding the players you brought up, it seems (and someone like alan ball who watches the games would know better than I) that Garbutt has slowed a bit in his development. And I do remember Kissock being raved about as this young skilled midfielder that we had coming through the youth.

[Oxon]

To be fair we still got over a million for Jutkiewicz and you could hardly call Vaughan a failure, generally scored when he played and brought in another 2.5 million for us.

Also don't really anyone ever being that excited about Vidarrsson or Agard either.

[atrottel]

you could hardly call Vaughan a failure, generally scored when he played
Not saying I didn't appreciate his effort or bemoan his luck but I don't remember him that scoring much.

Vidarsson and Agard came up as names because they were mentioned in the earlier part of this thread from 2007.

[VaguelyBrown]

On a side note, I'm amazed how much Kissock's reputation has grown retrospectively in the past 3 years. Look back in the archives and you'll see that he's never been rated that highly as an actual prospect, at least not since it became clear he wasn't going to grow taller. Whew, got that off my chest now.

I've heard this before, that his height was the main reason we got rid....anyone know if this is actually true?

I'm hoping there were other factors too, because height does not a good player make, and I should bloody know. I'm a fookin huge bloke, but sadly badly, badly gash at football.

I'd like to think that Moyes has got a bit more nouse about him than to make decisions based on silly stuff like height?

MODRIC - there, I said it FFS

[BlackToffee]

Just looked up the fate of Scott Spencer formerly resident at Everton. From 8 July 2011, North West Evening Mail.

FORMER Everton striker will be among the triallists playing for Barrow AFC in their opening pre-season friendly tomorrow.
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/polopoly_fs/0494039-1.822532!image/552795755.jpg_gen/derivatives/halfColumn/552795755.jpgPLENTY OF OPTIONS: Dave Bayliss

Scott Spencer spent three years with the Toffees as a teenager before spells at Rochdale, Southend United and Lincoln City.
The 22-year-old, from Oldham, is currently without a club and has this week joined scores of other free agents at pre-season training with the Bluebirds squad.

Always had the impression that he was lazy. No evidence for it though, he just never impressed when with us.

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

he was better than Babel, cos he scored more at scrabble.

[sw blue]

According to sky sports Bury have had a bid of £1.5 million rejected for him. Coventry want a cool £3 million. You don't think our negotiators would have been smart enough to add in sell on fees for these young players (Ruddy etc)?

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_7075762,00.html

Would they heck!

[Tom Mc EFC]

Boss name tbf.

[Frank Drebin]

I always liked nick chadwick, never gonna make it for us but he had a scoring knack and i did feel sorry for him when steve watson was getting a game upfront instead.