Youth departures Ryan and Harvey

[7787fulham]

So I have a question, if Ryan's and Harvey's big moves don't happen should they feature this season and if they do feature will they become the target of the fans displeasure in how they have acted and treated the club that has developed them and given them their chances. Or will they be cheered regardless?

[Lyle from Hangeland]

So I have a question, if Ryan's and Harvey's big moves don't happen should they feature this season and if they do feature will they become the target of the fans displeasure in how they have acted and treated the club that has developed them and given them their chances. Or will they be cheered regardless?

Of course they should feature. And the fans should cheer them on because they would be playing for Fulham. If they don't give their all... then boo them.

[RaySmith]

Players aren't loyal today, but though a club may give them their chance to turn pro, they discard many youngsters if they decide they won't make the grade. Any player will be dropped or sold if a club decides they are no longer good enough, or surplus to requirements.
There's little sentiment in football.


But us fans can and do show emotion for the club they  support, and should cheer any player wearing the Fulham shirt.

[Sting of the North]

How do you mean that they have acted and treated the club? What have they done so far?

[junior white]

If they stay and play rather should be treated like anyone else that's in the pitch and supported 100%

Problem is mainly agents telling them what to do, that's what they are paid to do, its modern football. It is a shame they wont sign a contract so we get more money but that is again modern football. Their agent will tell them not too as they will get more money over week if they do that, fee is generally lower for players in last year of contract no matter how old they are. Kids don't need to sign one if they are that good they will leave and get a good deal else where, its a real shame but to a degree the power is with the players and not the clubs these days

[7787fulham]

Well, I just feel personally that the club have put all that time and effort in as they do with all the youngsters and in Harvey's case after 17minutes of 1st team football can just walk away and not give anything to the club. Ok in Ryan's case we've had some loyal seasons but again can walk away for nothing at the end of the year.

I don't know if it was me and I had spent as long as he has here I'd be saying look I'll sign a new contract but it has to contain a reasonable buy out clause not like £70m or something stupid but £35-40m and then see if the club's interested are really interested. That way he could still get a move to a big club and we get rewarded for putting all the time and effort in in developing him.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Well, I just feel personally that the club have put all that time and effort in as they do with all the youngsters and in Harvey's case after 17minutes of 1st team football can just walk away and not give anything to the club. Ok in Ryan's case we've had some loyal seasons but again can walk away for nothing at the end of the year.

I don't know if it was me and I had spent as long as he has here I'd be saying look I'll sign a new contract but it has to contain a reasonable buy out clause not like £70m or something stupid but £35-40m and then see if the club's interested are really interested. That way he could still get a move to a big club and we get rewarded for putting all the time and effort in in developing him.

Its simple really, if they leave having run their contract down or refuse to sign one, they will be better off financially via a fat signing on fee or higher salary due to the money saved by the buying club.

[Statto]

Personally I do think young players that we've developed "owe" the club. As I've said before, moving for a pay rise is fine if you're an accountant on £50k but not at their salary levels and  given how they earn their money IMO.

I'd only support either player moving if it was (a) clearly in their best interests, both long and short-term, (b) merited by their performances and (c) in circumstances that Fulham are properly compensated. I don't think any of (a), (b) or (c) will apply to Elliott or Sessegnon if they move now.

With that said, I've seen no compelling evidence that either player is pushing for a move, just paper talk that may well be generated by Spurs, Barcelona et al to unsettle the lads.

[Stoneleigh Loyalist]

So all of this talk that Harvey and Matt have refused to sign new contracts is all fake news?
I would love to think so but have my doubts

[Oakeshott]

"Problem is mainly agents telling them what to do"

No doubt some agents take a real long term interest in helping a player achieve the most he can in his career, with commission being the consequence and maximizing that not the driver. For others maximizing short term commission may well be what motivates their advice. But whichever kind of agent a player has, it is the player who must decide whether to act on the agent's advice or not, just as in our everyday lives we have to decide, for example, whether or not to take the advice of financial advisors about how to manage our affairs.

The specific players under discussion on this thread are young, but they are not so young that they cannot be regarded as capable of taking decisions. And the only moral basis for such decisions is one's own belief about what will work out best for you. R and H have no obligation to act in what they might be told is the Club's interest rather than what they see as their own, and as fans we should not criticise them for their decisions even if they are other than we would wish. But the players must take responsibility for those decisions. If one of them ends up England captain and playing for one of the top clubs, they will probably look back at the decision they took now as right, and hopefully at our Club with affection because of the start it gave them. Equally if one of them, after two years failing to hold down a first team place at the club to which he moves drops down the leagues and ends up playing for Hendon Town aged 29, glad to be paid whatever such players earn because it is better than their only realistic alternative careers, he may well find himself reflecting that, had he stayed, things might well have worked out better. But whichever decisions  they are responsible for them not their agents.