My point is that Boateng didn’t do enough to justify that run. A decent 20 minute cameo is not enough.

He went to Plymouth where after making a good initial impression, he struggled.

You said it yourself - PL teams see it as a risk playing young players making it harder for them to break through but I would argue that the financial stakes are higher than the Budesliga hence the reluctance. And come on, it’s not ALL of our decent youngsters.

I’d love to see a Palace team built around home grown talent but the way football is at the moment it’s hard to see that happening and not necessarily the fault of the club or the manager.

Old, Ungifted and White

If I remember rightly Hiram Boateng was released a couple of seasons ago and joined Exeter

Exactly. If he was so good how come he hasn't pulled up trees at a lower club where he would get playing time.

We get this a lot complaints that young players don't get a chance at a PL club get released and then drift out of football.

Football is not just about skill you also need determination or sheer bloodymindedness. Vinnie Jones was never a great player but he had those qualities. If you get released or transferred the correct response is to show them on the pitch they were wrong and if this means you drop down to a lower standard so be it.

One more point

It always surprises me that more of these youngsters dont go abroad.
It appears the English league is a bad place to be an academy graduate. You either get straight into the first team like Wilf, or you disappear into insignificance, like the 1000's of players you've never heard of.

It strikes me that going to a similar club, in say the Bundasliga, you'll Get more opportunities to play higher level football, learn your trade, work your way up. then when/if you're good enough, and more established you'kl get a big Money Move to the PL.

only the top clubs seem able to play youngsters - and even then very rarely. Liverpool have been most successful(TAA, flanagan), ManU bed youth - but only because their Transfer policy is crap; Rashford only got a chance as they were short one week, Greenwood is now doing the same. ManC and the case of Foden/Sancho is A prime example. Foden - who everyone said(and still is saying) is the better talent, stayed and they let Sancho go to germany. Sancho now has thrived, earning england call ups, and is in gossip columns every week about big money moves back to the PL. Where's Foden? stuck in the reserves for ManC while they lose to Norwich, only getting in the England u21s.
Then there's Chelsea. The archetypal 'buy loads of young talent and loan them to within an inch of their life, never to play in the first team'. They've had the changes forced upon them by their transfer ban, and to his credit Lampard has brought in all the youngsters this time round, and doing alright. but this is an anomaly, and would never have happenned without the transfer ban.
We as Nation need these players playing. If I were advising any I would tell them to seriously consider going abroad to play 1st team football

"It was a Team effort, I guess it took all players working together to lose this one"

Kian Flanagan was outspoken but made some really important points about U23 football. I wrote a piece slightly different to the Standard and included a few more quotes from Lewis Bryon, Nya Kirby and Gio McGregor. Bryon spoke about the U23 "bubble" and the sense that you can become too comfortable if you are not getting out on loan.

You can find that here: [Link]

Thanks! Kian was the most vocal so perhaps the temptation among other organisations was to just go with his quotes. The problem with that is his use of 'we', while not mentioning the fact that there were six of them sat there, make him sound arrogant. I can vouch for the fact that he was the complete opposite and just clearly had something he wanted to get off his chest.

On your final point, the topic of the club having a feeder to whom they can send players on loan came up but quotes are embargoed until the October international break.

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