Jack Wylie linked to Arsenal and Man Utd

JayDee

Well-Known Member
'Manchester United have joined old rivals Arsenal in the race to sign Scottish wonderkid Jack Wylie.

United boss Erik ten Hag has sent scouts north of the border to watch the Rangers defender in action several times this season.

Arsenal have been tracking the teenager for six months - and even sent chief youth scout Lee Herron to Spain earlier this season to see Wylie impress for the Scotland U16 side against Denmark.

United have been alerted and have upped their interest after watching Wylie help Rangers lift the U16 Scottish Football Association's CAS Cup with a win over bitter rivals Celtic earlier this month.

Rangers are desperate to convince the 16-year-old to commit himself to a long-term deal at Ibrox. The versatile Wylie, who can play right-back or central defence, is eligible to sign his first professional contract in January.

And Ibrox bosses will now fear they could be set to lose out on another one of their hottest young stars if United and Arsenal become embroiled in a scrap for his services.

Rangers were forced to accept a £350,000 bid from Aston Villa earlier this year after the English outfit moved to pinch wunderkind Rory Wilson from their academy.

Rangers are keen to avoid a repeat, but know the lure of playing in the Premier League with one of the biggest clubs in English football could prove too strong for Wylie'.

 
Surely for once we can persuade one of our young talents to see his immediate future with us?
Unfortunately mate what these EPL clubs can offer is out of this world. From digs, to wage to the career program is something that is very hard for young lads and their parents to resist.

I remember watching a Chelsea documentary on their youth setup and i was blown away. I have no idea is Gers are the same as this yet.

I really hope we can keep the top talent in years to come.
 
Looked vg in that cup final victory made very few errors and made all sorts of influential moves .

Realistically you could see him being offered EPL deals and see why a young player would see the vast appeal of moving to country that is both refreshing and progressive
 
Reality is the path to our first team isn't great or thAt convincing for a youngsters to hang around with us. So they gain more skills and experience joining the English academies and playing better players week in week out. Likewise the finances will be better.
 
Reality is the path to our first team isn't great or thAt convincing for a youngsters to hang around with us. So they gain more skills and experience joining the English academies and playing better players week in week out. Likewise the finances will be better.
King and Lowry have played in the european, league and cup games at young ages. Devine and McCann have had a number of senior games now too. The likes of Ure and other B team players have had their debuts in the odd Cup game against lower league teams. Your point was 100% valid even 3 or 4 years ago, it's not now. The youths will see the above and know if they earn it they will get a chance to show what they are about.
 
they steal our 16 yr olds we steal their 18 yr olds .......... vicious circle
 
Reality is the path to our first team isn't great or thAt convincing for a youngsters to hang around with us. So they gain more skills and experience joining the English academies and playing better players week in week out. Likewise the finances will be better.
I'd suggest our pathway is improving, and more young players are getting opportunities.

If you consider he's 16 and our captain is now 31 and the same position, it could be a good time for him to come through.

I realise the opportunities of the EPL, but game time opportunities are definitely worth also considering for a young player.
 
Big risk to move from Rangers, or any club where the progress becomes tangible. It would be good to think any young olayer contemplating a move like that would have help in weighing up carefully the pros and cons of doing so. Lowry and King are close to regular first-team football, and Devine and McCann could join them, leaving that possibility may be detrimental effect eventually; short term it may be more lucrative, but it has no real long-term guarantees.
 
Billy Gilmour was a once in a generation player like Durrant and B Ferguson, he started like he was heading towards super stardom but his stock has now dived, the EPL have the pick of the stall in the pick world football players, any youngster heading south might get a bit of dough but unless you are extra extra special you will not cut it there.
 
Breaking through at Rangers and making it at Rangers are two different things.

Young players are definitely seeing a pathway to at least matchday squads now, but they can have all the talent in the world, and it might still not be enough.

I would doubt there are many other places to play football, where the relentless pressure to not drop any points exists more than it does with us. This is the sort of pressure that a young lad has to be able to cope with.

We have a rightfully very demanding fan base, but the demands can overstep into pathetic abuse way too easily, and young players are not immune from it. Some of the stuff I have read and heard at matches aimed at Leon King over the past couple of months has been ridiculous.

The boy has been thrown into way more, and much bigger games than would have been the plan for him this season. He has also had multiple people alongside him, some not even natural defenders, but the abuse just keeps ramping up.

Moving to EPL must seem like a dream move more than ever for these boys nowadays.
 
Honestly I can't blame any young player moving for the kind of money on offer. They could be set for life before turning 20.
 
A bit sad for these youngsters that in reality even for some of the best ones the reality is whose back up squad do they want to be part of. Struggling to think of the last youngster that got four or five games in a row for us.

It all comes down to the money and if you are going to be at Motherwell or Kilmarnock by the time you are 24 you might as well follow the money now.
 
A bit sad for these youngsters that in reality even for some of the best ones the reality is whose back up squad do they want to be part of. Struggling to think of the last youngster that got four or five games in a row for us.

It all comes down to the money and if you are going to be at Motherwell or Kilmarnock by the time you are 24 you might as well follow the money now.
Leon King? :))
 
How do these types of deals work with the youth? Is it generally a fee or are there also clauses in the contracts such as bonuses for when they make the first team, so many appearances, future transfer fees etc?
 
How do these types of deals work with the youth? Is it generally a fee or are there also clauses in the contracts such as bonuses for when they make the first team, so many appearances, future transfer fees etc?
We’ve made about £3m from Gilmour since he left when you factor in the initial fee, the bonus payments for his Scotland debut and the sell on clause. Which is good going considering he left us when he was 15.

It’s a bit of an awkward one. I think ‘legally’ all the buying club would have to do is offer them a contract and then go to a tribunal to discuss compensation with ourselves if they feel we are being unreasonable.

However, in the deals for Gilmour, Mebude & Wilson, the buying clubs have chosen to include add ons related to bonuses, sell on clauses and appearances etc.

Probably just saves everyone time by doing a fair deal up front, and these clubs aren’t strapped for cash either.
 
The balancing act is that this can work both ways - ie. Bassey, Lovelace etc.

But aye, always a bit of a sickener reading stuff like this.
True, both sides are always going to benefit in different ways. Just have to hope they stick around long enough for us to offer contracts and then hope they sign them.
 
We’ve made about £3m from Gilmour since he left when you factor in the initial fee, the bonus payments for his Scotland debut and the sell on clause. Which is good going considering he left us when he was 15.

It’s a bit of an awkward one. I think ‘legally’ all the buying club would have to do is offer them a contract and then go to a tribunal to discuss compensation with ourselves if they feel we are being unreasonable.

However, in the deals for Gilmour, Mebude & Wilson, the buying clubs have chosen to include add ons related to bonuses, sell on clauses and appearances etc.

Probably just saves everyone time by doing a fair deal up front, and these clubs aren’t strapped for cash either.
Interesting. Cheers for the reply.
 
On the one hand it’s great that our academy is producing highly rated young talent, but on the other it’s very bittersweet if we’re going to lose the cream of them on cross border development fees.

It suggests that the players who remain with us are effectively those the EPL don’t want.
 
I look at young lads who chose to go to EPL clubs aged 16. How many have progressed to first-team level in the EPL? Money is a big temptation but career-wise I see Robertson, Tierney, Patterson, Mcginn, Diog, Ferguson, Hickey taking their time, getting experience, developing physically etc. and making a better choice. EPL clubs eat up young talent and spit them out onto the scrap heap.
 
Unfortunately mate what these EPL clubs can offer is out of this world. From digs, to wage to the career program is something that is very hard for young lads and their parents to resist.

I remember watching a Chelsea documentary on their youth setup and i was blown away. I have no idea is Gers are the same as this yet.

I really hope we can keep the top talent in years to come.
Can u remember the documentary name?
 
Bet Josh Mcpake and Kai Kennedy wishing they took the money from some of the rich suitors that were linked to them a few years ago .

Now looking at the likes of Partick Thistle as a club and a normal job once they are finished .
Very good post. This is exactly why we should never begrudge any youngster choosing a lucrative contract when it's presented. These are life-changing sums of money that may turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
 
If I were your dad, I’d be pushing you to go down south.
Even if it’s just to protect you from the Rangers support.
Look, for example, at the criticism King’s been getting.
And therein is the irony of this thread. King went from the next best thing to getting blamed for everything and we had a thread recently talking about giving Lovelace some game time or even first team training and he was getting panned as well. We are not the support base for a good youth growth policy our tolerance is for 8 or 9 out 10 performances every time or you're getting groaned at.
 
King and Lowry have played in the european, league and cup games at young ages. Devine and McCann have had a number of senior games now too. The likes of Ure and other B team players have had their debuts in the odd Cup game against lower league teams. Your point was 100% valid even 3 or 4 years ago, it's not now. The youths will see the above and know if they earn it they will get a chance to show what they are about.
McCann is not a good example as he didn't come through our youth system. We paid United money for him.
 
Said it before but the rule changes down South mean we'll see more of this over the coming years.
 
They’d get that at Rangers.

They’re getting 1m a year from the EPL.
It doesn’t matter how big a Rangers fan you may be, if you’re getting offered that kind of money at that age it would be almost impossible to turn down.
 
I think that you also have to factor in reality only a fraction of a percentage of young players from here actually become top players.
The structure of the game in Scotland is dire and not helped by the fact that the competition is at so limited whereas in England it is more expansive which should be appealing to a young player.
Add in the financial aspect it becomes a no brainer.
 
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