Take a chance on me

Don’t you just hate the January transfer window!!

We were going nicely, minding our own business and all of a sudden January and the new year started with a bang. Not a great bang with a 2-1 defeat at Sutton United, but it was also when we became concerned how we might survive without our Moroccan Messi, with the confirmation from the club yesterday that Ayoub Assal is having advanced discussion with an unnamed Middle East club. This unnamed club have activated the buyout clause in his contract which South London Press have rumoured to be around £1m. 

 

I cant say I am surprised that a club have activated this buyout fee when you look at his stats this season and that he has scored 10 goals by Christmas. I think the thing that surprised me and many other fans is that its not an English League club that have bid for his services. With the World Cup being in the Middle East recently, the interest is certainly there for the locals and clubs are not hamstrung by financial issues. 

 

The good news for us is that its likely that the unnamed club will pay the fee in one lump rather than instalments which is standard with larger fees in this country. It would be good if we can negotiate some sell-on’s but I would think they would have to have been included in the contract along with the buyout amount, otherwise we will only benefit from the transfer fee on this occasion. 

 

With Assal leaving soon it will bring our transfer revenue to £1.8m when you include the sale of Jack Rudoni to Huddersfield in the summer. The transfer fee for Luke McCormick was undisclosed but it could be safe to assume that with his sale included, we have received at least £2m in sales. Bearing in mind that we have regularly lost players for nothing in recent years and seen some of our academy products sold way before they got near a first team place, whilst we are sad to see these players leave, we can also be proud that our successful academy have been rewarded for their hard work and seen us benefit financially significantly. This summer alone we have seen Archie Stevens leave for Rangers and Leon Chiwome to Wolves for undisclosed fees that will likely be low six figure fees, but who knows what we could have got if they stayed a bit longer. The same can be said with Leo Casteldine who was snapped up by Chelsea, yet funny enough Mark Robinson is benefiting from that and recently included him in his side for the Papa Johns Trophy. Castledine was selected for England at youth level and was captain on many occasions for them, he is one that could be one to keep an eye on for the future. 

 

Its always difficult to measure success with academy products as selling them alone for a fee isn’t the only qualifier, as you could argue that players like Will Nightingale and Paul Kalambayi have played close to 300 games between them and contributed on the pitch for the club. What would we have had to pay for them if they had been produced by another club and we signed them at 18-20 for arguments sake?

 

A happy medium for me is for our academy products to play at least 100 games for us in the first team and then move on to progress their career, with us benefiting with a decent transfer fee. We have been able to do that with Rudoni & Assal down to contracts we gave them at an early age and gambled. It is a gamble with the majority of players when they are between 16-20 years old as that is a key time in their development physically and also mentally. To become a professional footballer isn’t always about ability as you hear countless stories of players being tipped to be the next start player, yet they end up at Margate – no disrespect to them – but they fall through the leagues due to not making the most of their talents. That can be down to injuries that set them back or mentally with the dedication to training and staying in on those Friday nights when their mates are out clubbing. 

 

Our academy produces excellent footballers but also excellent people which is the key for them to have a long lasting career. Not every footballer in our academy will make it professionally, but they will leave a better person with education and good habits that will put them in good stead for the future. I have been fortunate to interview many of our academy products through the years and they have always been polite, respectful and approachable. That’s a credit to the academy staff present and in yester-years. 

 

The best bit of business we did last season was get Assal to sign a 3 year deal. He was out of contract and could have easily gone elsewhere but thankfully the trust he had with the club and especially Mark Robinson (Robbo), meant that he knew this was a good place to learn his trade. I would think we have been good for each other and credit must to Robbo for encouraging the club to offer 2 year + 1 year contracts to our younger players. It protects us and also the player as the player gets that additional time to impress the club and the club benefits for security if the player does well and is then looked at by other clubs. Once players go into the last year of their contract they can be headhunted if they have done well, however equally the club can choose to not renew the contract which happens a lot in the game. 

 

We owe so much to our academy staff and especially Robbo who was promoted to loans manager under Wally Downes. Important decisions on where to loan our prospects is massive, yet they can always not work out and we can be the club that benefits. That certainly happened with Assal as he had an unsuccessful loan at Billericay Town playing just the one game before returning to us in October 2020 and then making his league debut for us 5 months later with Robbo giving him the chance and as they say, the rest is history. We can all reflect now and say how good its been to see Assal in a Wimbledon shirt, however Robbo took a chance on Assal, yes it was a chance that he knew would pay off, however I for one was amazed we had chucked him on at Shrewsbury that March evening as he looked no more than 5 stone soaking wet. Many clubs may not have taken a chance on Assal and he could have ended up at Margate years later, no offence again intended to the Kent club. 

 

Other loans under Robbo were successful for Jack Rudoni, Jack Currie, Huseyin Biler and Alfie Bendle in recent years. Rudoni spent a season at Corinthian Casuals as did Bendle last season, with Currie spending a season at Eastbourne Borough. Biler had an injury hit season last year but had spent time at Mertsham and Welling United in the 2012/22 season. These loans are instrumental to the players development and the confidence that Jack Currie had when he made his league debut at home to Gillingham at the start of this season, was clear to see and that was down to him having a season on loan and playing week in, week out. Robbo could have been tempted to recall Jack Currie last season at January to help him out personally, however he decided against it and it benefited Wimbledon, but didn’t benefit Robbo personally. 

 

Thank you Robbo!!

 

Talking of recalls, this downside to loan deals is that they can be recalled by their parent clubs in January. That has stung us more than normal this month with Kyle Hudlin, Paris Maghoma and Ryley Towler being recalled by their Parent clubs. Of course we did the same to Dundee by recalling Zach Robinson, so it is a two-way street, but can really impact your season if it happens. 

 

Tonight we play Leeds United in the FA Youth Cup and its another chance for our academy prospects to show fans what they can do and try to emulate the successful AFC Wimbledon youth teams of the past. I will be going along to see who are our next starts to come out of our academy, yet I have been watching academy teams long enough over the 30 years to know that nothing is guaranteed for someone who maybe shines tonight, as it always needs someone brave enough in years to come, to take a chance on them.