Youth watch...

With the regular EFL season coming to a close, most of our loanees have completed their campaigns. The PL2 for U21s is in its knock-out stage and the U18s have one more match.

Under-21s
As is often the case, the performances in the PL2 have been very up and down, with a vast cast of players taking part. Ethan Nwaneri has been a stand-out, despite only just turning 17. He has 11 goals and 3 assists in 14 appearances. He also starred in the Youth Cup, scoring 5 against Crewe - but his highlight of the season will have been a 15 minute cameo for the first team against West Ham.
Amario Cozier-Duberry continued to shine, but a lot of rumours suggest he will be leaving the club this summer. The 18 year old has 13 goals and 5 assists, but has not made his senior debut to the puzzlement of many. In a similar position is Reuell Walters, who has had another strong season at CB and RB, but despite getting called up to the bench has yet to get on the pitch for the seniors.

Under 18s
Only two kids need mentioning in this section - firstly Chido Obi-Martins. After scoring 10 in one u16s match against Liverpool, Obi stepped up to the u18s and went on a stunning scoring streak. He has scored 29 in 17 appearances, including 7 vs Norwich, 5 vs West Ham, 4 apiece against Fulham and Palace, and has scored in his last 8 games. He has made a couple of u21 appearances, and next season he is expected to step up more permanently.
14 year old Max Dowman is already getting a lot of hype, and has been performing well at u18 level in recent weeks with a number of assists.

Loanees
A real mixed bag, so we will start with the positives...
The Good
Mika Biereth has had 2 successful loans this season. First of all he went up north to Scotland, where he scored 6 and made 5 assists in his injury interrupted 15 appearances. In January he was moved to Austria with Sturm Graz, with European football on offer. 9 goals and 3 assists, he has already won the Austrian Cup and is very likely to add the title in the next week.
After his own spell at Sturm Graz last season, Arthur Okonkwo spent this season in Wales with Hollywood club Wrexham. As well as achieving promotion, Okonkwo was named in the League 2 team of the season.
Alex Kirk and Kido Taylor Hart helped Bromley reach the EFL for the first time in their history. Kirk made more of an impact, and was very close to a match winning goal in yesterdays play-off final.
Brooke Norton-Cuffy had another good loan spell in the Championship, although an injury at a time his manager was sacked proved to be costly. BNC started 25 league games, with a further 15 sub appearances as he helped Millwall to a comfortable mid-table place.
It took some time, but it looks like Salah Oulad M'Hand is making an impact at Den Bosch. 3 goals and an assist in the last 8 games after rarely starting in the first half of the season. He would have joined Hull last summer but his loan deal was so disrupted by injury they didn't take up their option.


The Bad
Charlie Patino was on the verge of leaving permanently last summer, and looks very likely he will this summer. His time at Swansea started well, but he is another one who saw the manager who signed him sacked. After starting 10 of the first 13, he only got 4 more league starts all season. He still managed 4 goals and 4 assists, but with Italian giants circling it looks like his next step will be Serie A.
Also going to Swansea was Charles Sagoe jr. He was the surprise inclusion in the Arsenal first team starting XI against Brentford, but his loan spell saw very little action.
Tyreece John-Jules won promotion with Derby, but once again missed most of the season injured. Nathan Butler Oyedeji, Khayon Edwards and Zane Monlouis barely stepped foot on the pitch in their loan spell.

The Ugly
After spending the first half of the season with Wigan, Omar Rekik was loaned to Servette in Switzerland. Unfortunately they forgot to register a number of players, including Rekik, and our man was ineligible to play.
We also had the rather embarrassing story where our youth team coach went to the wrong place, instead of Brighton it turned up in Bournemouth!!


Despite a fair few youngsters making the bench in the seniors, it is clear their is a reluctance to play them. It is expected a lot of academy players will leave this summer, and the talk is of a big investment in the academy playing staff. Brayden Clarke has already come in from Wolves and it is expected many more will follow. The development of Nwaneri, Myles Lewis Skelly, Chido and Dowman will be key in the long term as well.

We have Chelsea in the PL2 knock-out stage, with the winner likely to face the dominant Spurs side in the semi-final.