That’ll be the average attendance for the first team next season if they carry on like this season tbf.
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That’ll be a gate of just over 4k for the not “Big 6” games.
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Unlucky, they played well.
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Yeah the had most of the play in the second half against a side that has steamrollered the league this season.
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Interesting from Jacob Tanswell (THe Athetic)
I got technical and found a way past the pay wall for you - interestingly worrying information in this
Southampton’s fight to keep Gomes Rodriguez as Brexit leaves clubs vulnerable
2h ago
Recruitment at youth level has been unquestionably reshaped since Brexit.
The inability to sign anyone under the age of 18 from overseas has caused a sea change in academy football, with clubs required to largely and exclusively scout within the United Kingdom. Conversely, it has restricted players leaving for clubs overseas too.
The UK’s membership in the European Union ending in 2021 altered the dynamic of youth football. New restrictions meant novel challenges, with Brexit ending freedom of movement between the UK and EU.
Southampton are among the clubs encountering the complexities of tying down one of their most highly-regarded prospects, England youth international Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez.
On international duty with England’s under-16s recently, Gomes Rodriguez scored in a 2-1 victory against their Italy counterparts, playing alongside club team-mate Harrison Miles. Gomes Rodriguez and Miles, a midfielder who featured for Southampton’s under-21s team as a 14-year-old last season, are in the process of mapping out the next stages of their development.
The key difference is that Gomes Rodriguez, who scored a hat-trick for Southampton Under-18s against Liverpool’s youth team last weekend, has a Portuguese passport due to his grandparents, enabling him to circumvent Brexit restrictions and move across borders. Regarded as among the best strikers in the country for his age, he has received interest from the UK and overseas, including Germany, Italy and Spain. Southampton are in contract discussions and there remains confidence that Gomes Rodriguez will decide to stay, with the south-coast club seen as the best place for his progress.
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Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez A #PL2 debut goal for the 15-year-old 
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Complications have arisen due to his Portuguese citizenship and Southampton attempting to reset their wage structure at youth level. This coincided with last season’s relegation from the Premier League for their senior team.
Gomes Rodriguez came to England at the age of 10, having been raised in the South American nation of Venezuela.
Shortly after arriving in Britain, the attacker asked for a trial at Southampton. The club’s advice was for him to remain at grassroots level, where scouts tracked his progress. He joined local side Eastleigh Tornados and quickly drew interest from Premier League scouts.
He broke the Southampton Youth Football League record, scoring 334 goals in 136 games, with his family deciding in 2022 that Southampton, who stayed true to their word in keeping an eye on him, were the best place for his development.
Largely operating as a centre-forward or on the left, Gomes Rodriguez’s first year in the academy produced 65 goals across under-15 to under-18 level, breaking Jimmy-Jay Morgan’s scoring record.
Within recruitment and coaching circles, the 16-year-old’s talent is well known, with sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Athletic, describing a growing reputation for his directness, power and general ability, despite being technically raw. This, in part, is due to him only entering into an academy system at the start of his teenage years.
Gomes Rodriguez is described as looking “older than he is”, facially and also from physical and playing points of view. His physicality has helped him cope with the demands of stepping up to training with the first team and playing for the under-21s.
This year, at 15 years and 10 months, Gomes Rodriguez broke the record for Southampton’s youngest scorer in Premier League 2.
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Harrison Miles Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez #PL2 debuts for #SaintsFC’s 15-year-old duo
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The player does not turn 17 until next March, when he can sign his first professional contract. It means he can leave this summer, with a cross-border fee (if he moved abroad) worth around £150,000 in training compensation — £75,000 for every year he has been in the academy.
This season, Gomes Rodriguez has played mostly with older age groups and from the right, an unfavoured position but a role coaches regard as providing him with a sufficient challenge. It is designed to improve his skill set and positional intelligence, even if this has become a source of frustration. Still, Gomes Rodriguez tops the assists chart in the Under-18 Premier League with nine.
Southampton have been in talks over a new deal, and a view to a professional contract, in recent months, with the academy wage structure requiring a return to being in line with where they had been before the summer of 2022, when the dial shifted.
This was after Southampton signed Jayden Meghoma and Sam Amo-Ameyaw from Tottenham Hotspur for a combined fee worth around £1million. They were viewed as two of the best 16-year-old talents in the country, with Southampton offering a generous financial weekly package, far higher than what the pair’s peers were earning. Their basic salaries, plus bonuses — which can vary — are thought to be in line with what a regular first-team Championship player would demand.
Representatives of other academy players, who have successfully renewed contracts at Southampton, have told The Athletic their respective agreements were influenced by the deals given to Meghoma and Amo-Ameyaw, with their wages an open secret among players.
Morgan left Southampton for Chelsea (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
This played a part in Morgan’s exit to Chelsea in January last year, after he refused to sign a professional contract, instead agreeing a three-and-a-half-year deal with the London club worth an initial £3million (€3.37m).
Reports of Morgan wanting parity with Meghoma and Amo-Ameyaw were dismissed by sources at the time — Morgan had agreed a pre-contract with Southampton before the Tottenham duo’s arrival, only for Chelsea to enter the fray.
Gomes Rodriguez, meanwhile, has been offered a deal in line with the wage structure and therefore lower than Amo-Ameyaw, Meghoma and Morgan, albeit he is in the age group below them.
Brexit and a club’s vulnerability in losing a player before they turn 17 have increased competition within the academy market.
Regardless of what he chooses to do this summer, Gomes Rodriguez’s decision will serve as an illustration of how youth recruitment has been affected by the UK leaving the EU.
(Top image: Gomes Rodriguez playing for England Under-16s; Clive Brunskill – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
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The Yoof has just beaten Derby 4-1 to reach the Q/F of the Youth Cup. Away to Watford or Spurs next.
The only time we’ve reached the final (lost 3-2 on agg. to Ipswich) was 2005 as the first team were being relegated.
How many of that U18 side became famous?
More than the current first team probably 