- Oct 3, 2011
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Haven't read it as I'm not paying but on what basis are they calling him a late developer. As you say he's 18. Comparing him to Kane and Tanganga, from what I read publicly I'm assuming they mean, they think he wasn't very good and developed relatively late to all of his teammates. If that's what they are saying, then they're wrong for all 3 of them, as they have all pretty much been the best players or ones with highest potential since I became aware of them 12/13 for DC and JT, 17/18 for Kane.
I'd argue Winks was more of a late developer as I didn't think he was first team ready until at least his first year in u21s or that's when he became clearly the best in his year group
agree, i don't see how someone who has been a regular starter for england from u15/u16s onwards could be seen as a late developer. also here's a post i made from a couple of years ago before he joined the academy full time:
my u16 top five for what it's worth would be parrott(assume you forgot him?), bennett, white, cirkin and probably binks - i thought he looked good in the qatar tour but less so in the recent italy games. i'll leave madueke out for now as i assume he's gone, but hopefully he ends up staying.
so clearly he's always been seen as being amongst the best in his year group, it's not like he's suddenly shot up from the bottom or middle of the pack. maybe what they're trying to say though with him, tanganga and kane is that whilst they were rated within the club and those who follow the whole youth setup, they didn't have that more mainstream hype that onomah or edwards had where most fans knew of them despite never actually seeing them play.