Nathan Holland

d4kyxx · January 22, 2017

I hate the use of the word ''bigger'' ''smaller'' club

in what sense? richer? bigger stadium? bigger fanbase? more trophies? more players? sell more merchandise? its such a broad term used so wrongly

mightymoyes · January 22, 2017

d4kyxx said:
so do you know the reason hes left?

cos he wasnt getting any games for us!

Barnfred 55 · January 22, 2017

d4kyxx said:
Anyone know the reason we sold this guy?

Not good enough? Or didn't want to sign new terms?

Strange one for me tbh. There's a group of highly rated lads from last years successful U18 team that haven't featured with the U23s so far this season. Holland is one of them along with Michael Donohue. Both are tricky winger types and we have no similar type player in the U23 set up.

For me, Donohue is the better of the pair, but Holland is the one that has featured quite regularly in the England set up for his age group. I've never been overly impressed on the few occasions I've seen him.

With the number of youth loans going through at the moment, I thought he would be given an opportunity by Unsy between now and the end of the season when his contract expires.

One thing I will say is that he is the calibre of player (i.e youth international) that, in previous years, we would have issued another contract to. But we have had an unusually large number of quality players coming out of the academy over the last few years and I suppose there's only so many we can accommodate.

Plus, as a club, we do appear to be moving away from tricky winger type players.

Papa Shango · January 22, 2017

Never heard of him until today.

Eggs · January 22, 2017

mikeh72 said:
Who on earth is he?

...young professional, been with us since he was a kid. England international at various levels.

Eggs · January 22, 2017

Papa Shango said:
Never heard of him until today.

...been at the club for many years if you take an interest in the academy and international youth teams.

Zatara · January 22, 2017

Barnfred 55 said:
Strange one for me tbh. There's a group of highly rated lads from last years successful U18 team that haven't featured with the U23s so far this season. Holland is one of them along with Michael Donohue. Both are tricky winger types and we have no similar type player in the U23 set up.

For me, Donohue is the better of the pair, but Holland is the one that has featured quite regularly in the England set up for his age group. I've never been overly impressed on the few occasions I've seen him.

With the number of youth loans going through at the moment, I thought he would be given an opportunity by Unsy between now and the end of the season when his contract expires.

One thing I will say is that he is the calibre of player (i.e youth international) that, in previous years, we would have issued another contract to. But we have had an unusually large number of quality players coming out of the academy over the last few years and I suppose there's only so many we can accommodate.

Plus, as a club, we do appear to be moving away from tricky winger type players.

There was a few mentions of him last season and before as an England youth international...must be sad for those like him who then cant get games in the above age group despite getting youth caps.

Azza · January 22, 2017

Papa Shango · January 22, 2017

Eggs said:
...been at the club for many years if you take an interest in the academy and international youth teams.

Not my nation.

Cant say I take massive notice of the academy. I know the "bigger" names but this lad has escaped me.

Barnfred 55 · January 22, 2017

Zatara said:
There was a few mentions of him last season and before as an England youth international...must be sad for those like him who then cant get games in the above age group despite getting youth caps.

I've not seen much of him tbh Zat. What I have seen has mainly been for England and I do look out for our players in those games, and I'm usually focusing on the positives as I want to see them do well. He just hadn't impressed me in those games tbh. He is a winger though who are notoriously inconsistent so maybe I just caught him on bad days. The FA youth coaches must be happy with what they've seen though but remember that they see him in training too which we don't.

As mentioned in previous post, we do have a lot of talent on our books at the moment and we can only accommodate so many. It is sad for the player but at least he's found another club at a good standard. We may have made a mistake. It wouldn't be the first time as you know. It's very difficult as these kids mature at different ages and you can't always spot a late developer.

DerbyshireAndHarper · January 22, 2017

His contract was up in the summer. The club hadn't offered him a new deal. He had several players ahead of him in the pecking order in his position, including Tom Davies. He's barely featured all season for the Under 23s.

Good luck to the lad, but it's pretty much the norm for people not always to make it at their first club.

Jags, Baines, even Joey Barton all came through our youth system and were released early on.

Maybe down the line this Holland kid may make it. Or maybe he won't. But if there's one thing the club is excellent at, is competently running the youth academy.

Zatara · January 22, 2017

Barnfred 55 said:
I've not seen much of him tbh Zat. What I have seen has mainly been for England and I do look out for our players in those games, and I'm usually focusing on the positives as I want to see them do well. He just hadn't impressed me in those games tbh. He is a winger though who are notoriously inconsistent so maybe I just caught him on bad days. The FA youth coaches must be happy with what they've seen though but remember that they see him in training too which we don't.

As mentioned in previous post, we do have a lot of talent on our books at the moment and we can only accommodate so many. It is sad for the player but at least he's found another club at a good standard. We may have made a mistake. It wouldn't be the first time as you know. It's very difficult as these kids mature at different ages and you can't always spot a late developer.

With him and donohue out of u23s are we possibly looking at moving away from wingers in the first team and that may have affected the decisions in lower age groups?

Zatara · January 22, 2017

DerbyshireAndHarper said:
His contract was up in the summer. The club hadn't offered him a new deal. He had several players ahead of him in the pecking order in his position, including Tom Davies. He's barely featured all season for the Under 23s.

Good luck to the lad, but it's pretty much the norm for people not always to make it at their first club.

Jags, Baines, even Joey Barton all came through our youth system and were released early on.

Maybe down the line this Holland kid may make it. Or maybe he won't. But if there's one thing the club is excellent at, is competently running the youth academy.

He's a winger...davies wouldnt affect him.

DerbyshireAndHarper · January 22, 2017

Zatara said:
He's a winger...davies wouldnt affect him.

He's an attacking midfielder, can play in the middle too. Regardless of Davies, the point still stands. The club weren't desperate for him to stay. Plus he's a Manc, he's got no massive affinity to Everton or Merseyside.

Had to laugh at this quote from him:

'I think [London Stadium] is the best stadium in the Premier League by far. If I could ever get myself out there, I think it would be a dream come true to be honest.'

Saying all the right BS things to suck up.

Barnfred 55 · January 22, 2017

Zatara said:
With him and donohue out of u23s are we possibly looking at moving away from wingers in the first team and that may have affected the decisions in lower age groups?

That's my belief and I alluded to that at the end of my original post in this thread.

Personally I think that's a mistake if true, as I like to have somebody with the ability to change things from the bench. The problem is keeping the said player happy given the lack of game time he could expect. That's the problem with Geri at the moment imo.