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New York Times
31-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Why has another Gibbs-White not come out of Wolves' academy?
In mid-February, we invited requests from our subscribers for articles you might like to read on The Athletic as part of our latest Inspired By You series. Thomas C, Guy M, Stuart E and Matt K all asked for a piece about Wolves' academy, including whether there are high hopes for any current players, why academy players aren't getting in the senior team, and what the main objective of the academy is. So Steve Madeley found out. At Wolverhampton Wanderers, teenage players dreaming of careers in the Premier League have a new ally. Vitor Pereira, the first-team head coach who has led a fight against relegation in the second half of the season which looks set to end in success, is an advocate for academy football. 'I started my career in youth teams, firstly in the second division,' Pereira said in a recent press conference. 'When I went to Porto, I stayed there eight years and I had the time to analyse the players, to improve the level of this kind of player, these young players, and this is something that is in my nature now.' Advertisement So every player in the older age groups at Wolves' academy now knows: at the top of the club is a coach ready to give them opportunities. The problem, as always, is reaching a high enough level to be considered. In recent years, Morgan Gibbs-White (pictured top making his Wolves debut as a 16-year-old in 2017) is the only player who was developed fully at the club's Compton Park academy and went on to become a genuine first-team player. He joined Wolves aged eight and spent more than a decade as the jewel in the academy's crown, but left for Nottingham Forest in 2022 for a £25million ($32m) fee (which could rise to more than £40m with add-ons) and has since played for England. Striker Nathan Fraser made appearances for the first team last season, having enjoyed a similar route to Gibbs-White from an early age with Wolves, but his Premier League appearances came amid a debilitating injury crisis that created an almost artificial opportunity. Hugo Bueno, Leon Chiwome, Joe Hodge and Luke Cundle have had a taste of first-team action in recent seasons but all joined Wolves' academy from other clubs well into their teens. So it is not surprising readers were wondering why Gibbs-White has become such an outlier. To find out, we spoke to contacts with knowledge of the academy at Wolves — on condition of anonymity — about the state of play in the gold and black talent factory. But first of all, some context: a study by Football Observatory in the 2023-24 season found that 1.2 per cent of Wolves' Premier League minutes were played by club-trained players, defined as those who spent at least three years with their club between the ages of 15 and 21. Yet six of the 20 clubs, Everton, Fulham, Aston Villa, West Ham United, Brentford and Luton Town, all had even lower percentages while Burnley, Sheffield United, Tottenham Hotspur and Bournemouth came in at 2.5 per cent or lower. Advertisement So the challenge of developing players for Premier League first teams is not unique to Wolves, and the obstacles are clear. The Premier League is among the strongest domestic competitions in the world, boasting world-class international players in every squad. Producing players ready to fit in on that stage in their late teens or early 20s is a daunting task. Add in the changing landscape created by Brexit — more of which later — and the mountain becomes even harder to climb. Wolves' West Midlands rivals have encountered similar challenges. Birmingham City have been arguably the most successful in the region in the past decade or so, producing England internationals Jack Butland and Nathan Redmond before a generational talent in the form of Jude Bellingham. West Bromwich Albion — Wolves' closest geographical rivals — can take credit for Premier League regulars Morgan Rogers (now at Aston Villa) and Chris Wood (a Gibbs-White team-mate at Forest). Villa themselves have produced Jacob Ramsey for their own first team. But the hit rate remains low, with Wolves' challenge exacerbated by the absence of any structured youth league in or near the city from which they could rely on a constant stream of players. That, and the fierce competition locally for the best talent, makes the task a stiff one for academy recruitment chief Harry Hooman and his team. The low-density population in the rural areas to the west of Wolverhampton means talent is spread widely, while Wolves are surrounded on the other three sides by their Midlands rivals and, to the north, Stoke City and the Liverpool and Manchester clubs within 100 miles. But still, Wolves are making constant changes to try to ensure they can compete. The recent departure of joint academy manager Laura Nicholls for a new job at Stoke has allowed former Wigan Athletic defender Matt Jackson, the club's head of professional football development, to take on a more hands-on role with the academy's administration. Advertisement Jonathan Hunter-Barrett retains control of the football operations, with under-21s manager James Collins and under-18s coach Richard Walker heading a staff of around 100, some of whom also fulfil duties elsewhere in the club, helping approximately 200 young players across 12 age groups. In the past couple of years, Wolves have invested to improve the academy's sports science and medical departments, while there has been a shift in emphasis in recruitment to recognise the physical demands of the Premier League. Hooman and his team are still targeting technical ability while paying extra attention to whether players have the potential to handle the physicality of the top flight. And, as ever, academy recruitment is about more than simply looking for players who could star for the first team. Jackson, Hunter-Barrett and Hooman are conscious of the need to build competitive teams at all levels, known within the club as the 'vehicles' that can carry the best players as far as possible. Wolves' best hope of producing another Gibbs-White is to give him competitive teams in which to flourish, even if those players around him ultimately fall just short. And, while supporters traditionally judge the academy's success by the number of players who reach the first team, those inside the club take a broader view. The transfer fee Wolves received for Gibbs-White is seen as a direct result of the academy's work. While former captain Maximilian Kilman spent much less time in the academy having joined at 21, his £40m move to West Ham also owed something to his fine-tuning in the under-23s. The sales of Ryan Giles to Luton for £5m, Dion Sanderson to Birmingham for £2m and Theo Corbeanu and Luke Cundle to Granada and Millwall respectively for £1m each have established a regular stream of income in recent years. And for Wolves, like every club in England, the market in academy talent below under-21s and first-team level has heated up significantly as a result of Brexit. With the biggest clubs in the Premier League no longer able to recruit players from Europe until the age of 18, they are spending their money luring the best talent from clubs further down the football food chain. Advertisement The trickle-down of cash creates a phenomenon that can work both for and against Wolves, who sold midfielder Alvin Ayman, then aged 16, to Liverpool in the summer of 2024 for £2m, having signed him from Bradford City for a nominal fee a couple of years earlier. Chiwome and another striker, Mateus Mane, who made the bench for the Premier League meeting with Fulham in February, were recruited for nominal fees from AFC Wimbledon and Rochdale respectively. If the pair fail to become first-team regulars, Wolves will be confident of turning a profit on both. Which brings us to the question of what the purpose of the academy is. To some degree academies have become businesses within businesses, but Wolves also regard it as a responsibility. On one hand it is a responsibility to contractually abide with Premier League requirements, but they also feel they have a moral responsibility to provide sporting opportunities to youngsters from the community from which Wolves draw their fans. The immediate future for Wolves' academy is difficult to predict. Producing another Gibbs-White will be a challenge, for all the reasons already mentioned. But voices around academy football speak of several current players with hope that they might have the talent to carve out professional careers. Chiwome is sidelined by a serious knee injury that will keep him out until next season and Fraser is currently taking part in a personal training programme designed to improve his physicality after a difficult loan in Belgium during the first half of the season. He is therefore not playing matches for the under-21s, with another loan expected next summer. Northern Irish goalkeeper Josh Gracey, centre-backs Saheed Olagunju and Seb Lochhead, who signed last summer from Chelsea and Dundee respectively, midfielder-come-defender Alfie White and right-back Myles Dayman, who have been with Wolves since before they were teenagers, and midfielder Luke Rawlings are among those catching the eye of coaches at Wolves and opposition scouts, along with Mane and defender Wes Okoduwa, who has also made Premier League squads. Advertisement Whether any of them become the next Gibbs-White, or even another Sanderson, Cundle or Giles, is impossible to say. But that will not be the only metric by which Wolves judge the success of their academy. And should any of them make strides in the next few months, they will have a coach in Pereira who is paying attention. 'What I like to do in every club that I work at is to give a chance to them to come in the first team, to work with us, and (for me) to understand what we have in the club,' said Pereira. 'At this moment, I'm just trying to understand how they can deal with a little bit more pressure. 'Training in the second team is not the same rhythm, intensity, and space to play and the time to decide. It's a little bit different. We need to put them on the pitch and to see what they can do. You start to look at the personality. You start to understand the personality. 'At this moment, I'm just trying to understand the talents that we have in the academy.'
New York Times
27-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Why Nottingham Forest have had the fewest injuries in the Premier League this season
In mid-February, we invited requests from our subscribers for articles you might like to read on The Athletic as part of our latest Inspired By You series. Richard D asked for a piece on how Nottingham Forest have managed to have so few injuries this season. Nottingham Forest's players have missed the fewest minutes of football in the Premier League this season — and had the fewest injuries overall. When Nuno Espirito Santo's side faced Ipswich in their last Premier League outing, the only player sidelined was back-up keeper Carlos Miguel. Danilo and Ibrahim Sangare are the only players to have sustained serious injuries, with the Brazilian breaking his ankle in the first game of the season against Bournemouth and Sangare suffering a hamstring problem before the end of August. Other than that, while Taiwo Awoniyi did struggle with a niggling groin issue that limited his impact during the first half of the campaign — as well as suffering a concussion more recently at Exeter City in the FA Cup — Forest have had no serious injuries according to data from Ben Dinnery, founder of Premier Injuries. Outside of domestic competition, Chris Wood picked up a hip injury while playing for New Zealand in the recent World Cup qualifiers but the club are optimistic it is nothing serious. When asked about the overall situation in a press conference shortly after the last international break in November, Nuno seemed almost alarmed that the subject had been brought up, as if speaking about it would jinx their luck. Advertisement 'You're joking, right? One game in, we lost a player (Danilo). A few games after that we lost Sangare as well,' said Nuno. 'I didn't know that statistic but we need all of the players, we need all of our options over the course of a season.' With 14 first-team players on international duty over the next fortnight — ranging from Morgan Gibbs-White with England to Eric Moreira with the Germany under-19 side — Nuno can be forgiven for his caution. Forest's injury record has played a significant part in building a challenge for Champions League qualification. It has allowed Nuno the luxury of consistency with only 1.6 changes to his starting XI per game — the joint lowest figure in the division, along with Fulham and Newcastle. He has named an unchanged line-up seven times, with only Fulham (eight) having done so more often. Forest have nine players who have started 22 or more of their 29 Premier League matches. Matz Sels and Ola Aina have started every game, while fellow key figures Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic and Chris Wood have started 28. Anthony Elanga has been involved in every game, starting 23, while making six appearances off the bench. Elliot Anderson has been involved in 28, starting 24. Gibbs-White has started 25. Callum Hudson-Odoi has started 22 games, while making a further three substitute appearances. Put simply, Forest's best players have been available for most of the campaign. The prospect of any of them getting injured remains a concern. The two words Nuno used to describe his emotions at seeing his players called up for international duty were 'pride' at their achievement and 'anxiety' over their return. But why do Forest have so few injuries? 'There are two factors. Style of play is definitely very important,' says Luke Anthony, who has been head physiotherapist at Watford, head of sports medicine at Reading and an injury prevention specialist at Norwich City, and is now clinical director of GoPerform, a sports injury and performance centre. Advertisement 'I'd use the example of Tottenham here. Tottenham are the opposite of Forest, in terms of having an aggressive press, a high line and needing their central defenders to cover, often at high speed. They have a relatively small squad and are putting those demands on the same group of players all the time, repetitively playing the same players, which is a risk factor. 'It is the style of football… and the opposite is true with Forest. When they are playing in a system that is less aggressive, press less when it comes to high-speed sprints… it does make a difference. It is a big factor in the number of injuries they are getting this season. The style of play will be helping Forest on that front.' To explain the chart above, passes per defensive action (PPDA) is a proxy of pressing intensity at the team level, used to try and capture the degree to which an opponent is pressuring the opposition when they don't have the ball. This metric counts how many passes a team allows the opposition to make before attempting to win the ball back with a defensive action, such as a tackle, interception, or clearance. Importantly, it applies only to a certain area of the pitch — the final 60 per cent to be precise — roughly in line with the edge of the centre circle in a team's own half. A low PPDA number indicates higher intensity when trying to win the ball back and a higher figure indicates a team that is more passive. Forest have maintained their approach after the opening 10 games, regardless of the opposition they face, as the graphic below demonstrates. They press the least in the division but have conceded only 35 goals in 29 matches. And it has been no fluke. The xG among opposition sides facing Forest this season has been just 34. Only Fulham (33), Liverpool (25.1) and Arsenal (24.7) have achieved lower. At the same time, their rampaging counter-attacking style has given them plenty of threat at the other end, even if the 49 goals they have scored has been a significant overachievement in comparison to their xG of 36.5. Advertisement 'We are all comfortable when our team has the ball — but it's impossible in football (to have it all the time),' said Nuno when asked about it in December. 'That's why I always say the moment you know yourself really well, the things you are capable of doing well, you cannot change. You have to do what you are and what you believe.' Forest are content for the opposition to have possession in areas where they feel they are in control. When opposition sides push up the pitch, it merely provides more space to exploit with counter-attacks. Alongside playing style, sports science also has a role in injury prevention. 'The data and how you load the players, it is a big issue,' says Nuno. 'We really take care of that. A lot of it is about prevention. We have a good platform on which to grow and improve. I really believe we are growing something together. Something nice. Something that will allow us to compete.' Forest are armed with an approach that has less impact on their bodies. But the other major factor in their positive injury record, according to Anthony, is their lack of European football — something the club very much hope will change as they continue their push for the top-five finish that would almost certainly deliver Champions League qualification. 'The non-European sides tend to do better (fewer injuries) because they have so many free weeks,' add Anthony. 'Midweek allows you to do so much with the players. It is not just about preparing for games, it is about doing the conditioning work — the high-speed runs and some of the things that help protect players from injury. 'When I was at Norwich, we were a newly promoted Premier League team and my job was easier because we had so much access to the players, because of the schedule. You generally get time to work with the players on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, before the work begins for the following game. That is so conducive to reducing injury risk. You can get good work into them, without overloading them. 'Not having midweek games is such an advantage. There is just a lot of conditioning work that you can do if you do not throw a European fixture into the mix.' Advertisement Many clubs will carefully monitor the loading of their players on the training ground, using advanced GPS systems to look at how much ground they have covered and how many high-intensity runs it included. But there is a misconception that this means players are regularly hooked out of training sessions because they are doing too much work. 'Old-school players might believe there is a world in which players are now monitored too much; that they get pulled out of training early and they are not allowed to do too much work, in terms of extras,' says Anthony. 'But in my experience, one of the main areas where data is useful is when it comes to players being under-loaded. 'One of the biggest factors in hamstring injury is being overly exposed to sprint distances or sprint frequency. Some of that means that if you are not regularly loading yourself by sprinting, when you then try to hit top speed in a match and you have not done it recently in training, you are going to be more vulnerable. 'You might look at the data and see that Player X has not hit his top speed in training, which would immediately ring some alarm bells and you would be able to address it. You would add in a small amount of sprint speed running. It is hard to predict which players are overloaded just with training data, but it does make it easier to understand when players might need to put in some more work in certain areas.' And the Forest players you would think need to put in the additional sprint work to keep themselves ready, might not be the ones you expect. 'Players like Elanga, Hudson-Odoi and Aina will actually be well conditioned to the demands of sprinting, because it is such a big part of their game anyway,' says Anthony. 'It is about looking after those players who might not do it so regularly so that when they do, they are ready.' While he may continue to be cautious when speaking about Forest's lack of injuries, Nuno's efforts so far this season have worked wonders. (Additional reporting: Mark Carey and Liam Tharme)
New York Times
26-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Liverpool's Anfield plans: Can it expand again and do new stadiums pose a threat?
In mid-February, we invited requests from our readers for articles they might like to see on The Athletic as part of our latest Inspired By You series. Several Liverpool subscribers, including Drew F, asked for a piece on Anfield and whether Everton's new stadium across the city will affect the club's plans. This is what our Gregg Evans came up with. Keith Wyness, the former Everton chief executive, used to say that he hated the autumn 'because when the leaves started to fall off the trees, I could start to see Anfield from my office window at Goodison Park.' That would have been about 20 years ago, when Merseyside's big two clubs were both competing in the higher echelons of the Premier League. For those now in charge at Everton, taking in that view of Anfield would no doubt spark a similar feeling — albeit for different reasons. Advertisement Outside matchdays, it's eerily quiet in the area around Goodison but five minutes across the park, the streets of Anfield are a hive of activity, with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of visitors arriving to take the stadium tour and visit Liverpool's on-site megastore. Yet times are changing. Everton are about to leave their historic home for a new 52,888-seat arena two miles away on Liverpool's waterfront. Down the M62 motorway, Manchester United — Liverpool's historic arch-rivals — recently announced plans to build the biggest stadium in the UK, an 'iconic' new £2billion 100,000-seater close to their current Old Trafford home. So where do these projects leave Anfield, which is still the largest stadium in the city at 61,000 and the most iconic venue in the Premier League, but for how long? The Athletic breaks down the key questions. Anfield has been transformed since Fenway Sports Group (FSG) bought Liverpool in 2010. Where houses were once tucked tightly up to all sections of the ground, now there are wide walkways on either side of the newly-built Anfield Road Stand (which opened in 2023) and Main Stand (expanded in 2016), with those largely derelict and run-down properties outside, some of which were previously owned by the club, no longer standing. It still looks and feels like the older version of Anfield, and many of the surrounding features remain, but there are 15,000 more seats and a modern, regenerated look to the place now — something underlined by how the Kop, the stadium's most famous stand, is these days dwarfed by other sections of the ground. FSG spent more than £210million ($272m at the current exchange rate) enlarging the Main Stand and Anfield Road Stand and improving facilities throughout the stadium. Debate rumbles on about the reasons for Anfield's occasionally flat atmosphere during games but that's a wider issue in football not exclusive to Liverpool. In July last year, Liverpool's CEO Billy Hogan told The Athletic there were 'no plans for further expansion of the stadium', and that remains the case. When FSG took control of the club from Tom Hicks and George Gillett and set out plans to rebuild Anfield rather than pursue previous plans to build (in Hicks' words) a new 'futuristic, imaginative and very exciting' stadium on Stanley Park, the aim was clear. Advertisement Liverpool had to find a way to compete with Manchester United, who had increased revenue through their own Old Trafford expansion and were still considered the team to beat. FSG felt the best way forward was to modernise the ground where it could rather than start afresh — a decision underpinned by the fact the club revealed losses of almost £50million in 2012, including a 'huge amount' written off on the new stadium project. Rebuilding the Main Stand (taking its capacity from 12,000 to 20,500) and expanding the Anfield Road Stand (from 9,000 to 16,000) enabled the stadium to welcome 60,000-plus crowds for the first time since the terracing days of the early 1950s, but further expansion on the other two sides of the ground — the Kop and the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand — are not seen as viable at this stage. The principal reason is a lack of room behind them, as they both back onto housing. The community on Skerries Road, which runs behind the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, often become nervous when talk of further expansion around Anfield is mentioned, so Hogan's comments last year were welcome. Expanding Anfield again could not happen without knocking down houses and relocating those residents and Liverpool have already been through that previously with the other rebuilds. Extending the Kop is even more difficult as Walton Breck Road, which is a major A-road within the city, runs behind it. Even building over the road would require knocking down other buildings. It is simply too complicated. Liverpool already finds themselves in a position of strength regarding their home ground. According to Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation consultancy, Anfield ranks top among all UK stadiums with 59 per cent of home country supporters rating it as a 'great' venue. Fans can even abseil down it if they wish. Advertisement Hugo Hensley, head of sports services at Brand Finance, tells The Athletic: 'That Anfield is ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal, who have reasonably new stadiums, and Tottenham, who've got their billion-dollar stadium, shows that is still has amazing respect and reputation. 'For Anfield to drive greater value for the business, Liverpool need to consider what else can be owned by the club around the venue. That's something that's slightly weaker than others (stadiums) because it wasn't part of the thinking when it was built.' The best stadiums now are 365-day-a-year operations hosting concerts, conferences and other non-football events. Tapping into that remains essential, even with the limit of staging up to six non-football events at Anfield per season that's been agreed with the local council. Music acts consider location, cost and accessibility as key factors when deciding which venues to hire for gigs. Overseas artists will typically split the UK up with a north-south divide, so Liverpool and Manchester are often competing against each other for hosting such shows, given they are separated by only 30 miles, with both being well-established music-loving cities. Anfield is relatively inaccessible by train — the nearest mainline station, Liverpool Lime Street, is over two miles away — but only half an hour's drive from the city's airport. The club have huge artists contacting them to discuss concert opportunities at Anfield, and after hosting Taylor Swift and Pink last year, Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa and Bruce Springsteen are scheduled to play gigs there this summer. Everton's new stadium, which is almost fully operational and has already been named a venue for the 2028 European Championship, ahead of Anfield, may become another rival in this sector in due course. Everton's new American owners at The Friedkin Group (TFG) are keen to explore the potential of transforming the surrounding dockside area into an entertainment district, even if there are still significant issues with local transport infrastructure. Advertisement Manchester United's proposed new ground next to Old Trafford is still a long way from being realised, with many questions unanswered around how it will be funded, but if it were to be built, that may also pose questions over whether Liverpool's home is big and lucrative enough to keep pace. FSG, however, believes Anfield — a modern stadium in a historic setting — will maintain its appeal. The way it reshaped Fenway Park, the home of its Boston Red Sox baseball team, and the surrounding area of the U.S. city into something of a heritage site, is probably the template Liverpool will adopt. Liverpool made £101million from matchday revenue last season, fourth-best in the Premier League. Manchester United generated the highest figure (£137m) with Arsenal (£131m) and Tottenham (£105m), two London clubs clearly reaping the benefits of having a new(ish) multi-purpose stadium, not far behind. As the graph below shows, Liverpool are well off the top two but will be encouraged to know revenue is likely to increase when their next set of accounts are released early next year, following the return of Champions League football, as well as having a full season of home matches at the expanded Anfield. Tottenham have more than tripled their matchday revenues from a decade ago to £103million, with further boosts to their commercial income thanks to all the other events they can host at their new stadium (including NFL games) and increased daily footfall, but Liverpool have not fallen too far behind. Liverpool made £308million in commercial revenue during the 2023-24 season, with strong growth in partnerships and retail. This was a period where there were no concerts at the stadium, because of the continuing work on the Anfield Road Stand. It means that the millions earned from hosting three dates on the Taylor Swift tour last in June will be added to the next set of accounts and give a further boost to the commercial income. How much Liverpool's matchday revenue continues to grow in the years ahead will be an important component of their ability to compete with their Premier League rivals, although not the most vital. Advertisement The long-term plans that FSG set out when it bought the club are now keeping Liverpool ahead of Chelsea, who generated £80million in matchday revenue last season and are now faced with a stadium conundrum of their own as they weigh up whether to rebuild Stamford Bridge (where the 41,000 capacity now looks small) or relocate. In isolation, they are reasonably competitive, albeit there is an ongoing campaign across the division for fans to push for lower ticket costs. Liverpool still set a number of £9 adult tickets aside each season for local residents to encourage support from within the community but, in general, admission costs for an adult are between £39 and £61 a game. The price of adult season tickets ranges from £713 to £904. Compare that to Arsenal, who are the second-most expensive behind fellow Londoners Fulham with matchday tickets at between £30 and £161, and the difference is clear. The cheapest ticket on the Kop is £39 and the most expensive is £45 – the same as when FSG took over. FSG has frozen ticket prices eight times in the past 10 seasons, most recently in February, in contrast to many other Premier League clubs. The bigger problem for a lot of Liverpool supporters in terms of tickets is getting hold of one, even with the stadium now holding over 60,000. Although Liverpool have just over 27,000 season-ticket holders — a relatively low percentage of the ground's overall capacity, in comparison to many clubs — there are over 250,000 members and more than 30,000 names on a waiting list for tickets. It's too early to predict but the work of the supporters' union Spirit of Shankly continues to apply pressure on the club about prices. Liverpool, however, have pointed to an 80 per cent increase in Anfield matchday operating costs since the 2016-17 season, so that may eventually force their hand if price rises follow at some stage.
New York Times
21-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
What next for Everton's new stadium development and Goodison Park?
In mid-February, we invited requests from our subscribers for articles on Everton you might like to read on The Athletic as part of our latest Inspired By You series. Over the last month, we've written extensively on some of the topics raised. John C and Andy K wanted to hear more about the transport provision at Everton's new stadium. That piece can be found here. Paul S and Dylan K were keen for clarity on Kevin Thelwell's future as director of football and what would come next for the club. We used Michael P's suggestion to give a rundown on the 15 players out of contract this summer and likely outcomes there. One of the most popular suggestions from our readers, though, was a look at plans for the new stadium (David O and Dan N) and Goodison Park (Ewan P and Neil P). So here, in the latest in our series, The Athletic's Everton reporter, Patrick Boyland, provides an update on those two key developments. On a stage in the glitzy French resort of Cannes, Everton director Colin Chong mapped out a vision for the club's future. Until recently Everton's interim CEO, Chong was at global real estate conference MIPIM looking to drum up interest in the new 53,000-seater stadium, its surrounding areas and the wider regeneration of Goodison Park. Advertisement Chong's pitch to potential investors at MIPIM was clear and potentially enticing. This summer, Everton will swap Goodison, their home since 1892, for a state-of-the-art facility on Liverpool's waterfront. With that comes opportunity. The Everton Stadium, as it is known, sits in a largely underdeveloped part of Liverpool's north docks. It is an area that has fallen on hard times in the post-industrial age, but one ripe with potential given its location just a mile north of the city centre. Where once, at the height of the British Empire, 40 per cent of the world's trade came through one single Liverpool dock, now the hope is that the stadium can be a catalyst for a part of the city that has long lost its purpose. So far, Everton have mostly had to go it alone. They have received small grants and loans from local authorities, largely so heritage assets can be maintained and restored, but became increasingly reliant on short-term, high-interest loans to cover costs. Everton officials held conversations with UK government ministers throughout the project in the hope of attracting further investment. Their efforts were undermined by regular flux at ministerial level, with the UK having had four prime ministers in as many years. Discussions are likely to continue. In September, Secretary of State Lisa Nandy visited the new stadium and spoke of its 'amazing potential'. Highlight of Labour Party Conference to tour the new Everton stadium with proud Evertonian @AndyBurnhamGM and Liverpool fan @LCRMayor – who is backing this amazing project. We tried to put the smile back on Steve's face… — Lisa Nandy MP (@lisanandy) September 26, 2024 Six months on, those words are yet to yield anything tangible, but the project has been given fresh impetus by the club's new American owners, The Friedkin Group (TFG). TFG inherited half-baked plans, ones largely without funding, and have looked to involve developers, club officials and local and national government in talks to find a solution. Advertisement Yet as Everton look for partners for the next phase of their proposals — potential ancillary developments near to the new stadium — they will be aware competition for funding is likely to be fierce. Also at MIPIM were representatives from fellow Premier League club and north-west neighbours Manchester United, themselves looking for investment to fund a new stadium and wider regeneration project — this time in nearby Manchester around 30 miles away. On the face of it, drumming up investment in schemes involving Manchester United, the 20-time champions of England and one of the world's biggest clubs, appears an easier task. But Everton feel they have one key advantage: they are, as Chong put it, 'at least five years ahead of any other competitor'. While Manchester United's stadium development is still a pipe dream, in need of financing and planning permission, their new stadium is a tangible reality already. 'Oven-ready,' to quote Chong's words at MIPIM. Chong comes from a construction background and was appointed by TFG to lead on development plans at the new stadium and Goodison after impressing during the takeover process. At MIPIM, he admitted to casting 'envious eyes' on Nelson Dock, the site adjacent to the Everton Stadium, and shed more light on the proposals. The Athletic first reported interest in Nelson Dock last year. 'There was always an idea that we might be able to develop a complementary development to support the stadium's development,' he said, as quoted by Place North West. 'Our new ownership has tasked me with looking for a sports-led redevelopment that could be accommodated on Nelson Dock, and maybe even further. Our owners are very keen to secure Nelson Dock because they believe they'll do something good with it regardless — that's their mindset, which is a breath of fresh air. Advertisement 'If I was given a wish list, that would be on the top of it: secure Nelson Dock and protect the asset that we've just developed. We're in a very unique position, there's over £750m of investment already, and that's probably the hardest part about sports-led regeneration.' The idea remains in its infancy, but Everton are pushing on with fact-finding and surveys on the area and there is hope Chong and the club will provide more information in the coming months. Tentative discussions have taken place with land owners Peel Holdings over the Nelson Dock site. The club are still exploring options and conducting feasibility studies with architects and engineers and no plans have yet been sent to the local council for planning permission. Sources close to TFG, speaking anonymously as they were not authorised to talk publicly on the matter, note that the group's preference is for a partnership with a private developer or local or national body. What happens around the new stadium and Goodison Park has become one of their early priorities since taking ownership in December. TFG's background is not in real estate. Their primary industry is cars and they have branched out into luxury travel, conservation, entertainment and sports, owning Italian side Roma and Cannes of the French fourth tier. Ideally, they would like a partner for the scheme rather than going it alone, something that for now appears off the cards. Exactly what comes at Nelson Dock — whether it is indeed secured and how it is funded — is still up for debate. Progress is likely to be gradual rather than imminent. The club has a lease agreement for the Nelson Dock, which has been in place throughout the build, for offices and parking. That agreement will still be in place next season. But potential ideas could include bars, restaurants, hotels and even university campuses. Everton want the new stadium to become a 365-day site, hosting conferences, concerts and other events, and a catalyst for wider regeneration. In an interview with IQ Mag, head of events Suzie Parker-Myers said the stadium could hold between 45,000 and 48,000 people for big concerts. There is the potential for gigs or festivals to be held in the 17,000-capacity fan plaza at the front of the stadium, with the club possessing a licence for 15 such events each year. The Everton Stadium will host Euro 2028 games and is expected to be a venue for a rugby league Ashes Test match between England and Australia later this year. The potential is vast, but the club and new owners TFG are hoping others see it and step up to the plate, too. So what of Goodison, then? That is another question TFG would like Chong to help answer. It is four years since the club unveiled plans for a legacy project featuring affordable housing, community centres and wellbeing hubs, but that scheme is yet to get off the ground. TFG's arrival, as well as the imminent stadium move, has accelerated discussions as to what happens there, too. Advertisement One idea being considered, first revealed by The Athletic last month, is a move that would see Everton's Women's team partially take over the Goodison site. That would serve as a solution to two potential problems. The first is that Everton Women are hamstrung by their facility at Walton Hall Park, north of Liverpool city centre and about a mile from Goodison. The club do not own the site and have it on a short lease from Liverpool City Council, but the Women's Super League is pushing for clubs to be able to house at least 7,000 spectators. Walton Hall Park holds about 2,200 fans. TFG is keen to invest in Everton's women's team and improve facilities. The club are looking for solutions and want to remain within the city boundaries. Rivals Liverpool play at rugby league club St Helens, in a town 15 miles to the east, but the focus is on a solution closer to home. Internal talks continue on whether Goodison could be a new home for Everton Women and no plans have been submitted to the council yet. The idea would be for a partial deconstruction of the site, which could also be home to a legacy project, community schemes and become a prominent visitor destination, too. Before that becomes a reality, TFG and Everton will need to settle on it as their preferred outcome for Goodison, engage in a period of consultation with stakeholders including fans, residents and the local authorities, and receive planning permission. With the old stadium due to close after the final home game of the season against Southampton on May 18, time is of the essence. This is another crucial period for Everton, one in which they are plotting the future while trying to safeguard the legacy of the past. Finding achievable solutions that work for all will be tough. If they get it right, the impact on the club and city could be transformational.
New York Times
20-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Mike Penders will join Chelsea in the summer – is he ready for the Premier League?
In mid-February, we invited requests from our subscribers for articles you might like to read on The Athletic as part of our latest Inspired By You series. Nemanja M. asked for a piece on Mike Penders, his potential, and whether he could be a generational talent. Liam Twomey took a look… Chelsea's weekly goalkeeper psychodrama took another twist before Sunday's 1-0 defeat against Arsenal, with head coach Enzo Maresca's effective admission that Robert Sanchez has been restored as his No 1 after being given time out of the team to 'rest his head'. Sanchez went on to deliver his familiar mixed bag of erratic distribution and impressive saves at the Emirates Stadium. There still appears to be no realistic prospect of the Spaniard winning the trust of Chelsea's match-going supporters anytime soon. Advertisement Filip Jorgensen clearly did not do enough in his Premier League audition to convince Maresca of his superiority to Sanchez. The wait for the truly elite goalkeeper Stamford Bridge has craved since Thibaut Courtois pushed his way to Real Madrid in the summer of 2018 will stretch at least until the end of this season. But could the answer be close at hand and could it be another giant Belgian from Genk who carries a squinting resemblance to Courtois? Mike Penders — only 19 years old but standing almost 6ft 7in (200cm) with a formidable wingspan — will join Chelsea this summer. His arrival comes almost 12 months after a deal was agreed to bring him to London under the noses of several other major European clubs. The imminent arrivals of exciting attackers Estevao and Kendry Paez have garnered more headlines, but given the lack of clarity at the base of Maresca's team and the scarcity of world-class goalkeepers, Penders has the potential to make even more of an impact. In the short term, Chelsea and Maresca must assess his level of readiness at the end of his first professional season. To date, Penders has made only 11 appearances in the Belgian Pro League, having been promoted to Genk's first-choice goalkeeper in January. That is a perilously small sample size from which to make definitive judgements. Penders' outings for Genk are, however, substantial enough for a goalkeeping specialist to get a clear sense of his style as well as his strengths and weaknesses at this early stage. With that in mind, The Athletic enlisted the expertise of Matt Pyzdrowski, a retired professional goalkeeper who works as head academy goalkeeping coach for Swedish champions Malmo. Here is a breakdown of several key aspects of Penders' game. Pyzdrowski's overriding impression of Penders is a startling one. 'I'll start with his style of play and the two goalkeepers I'm going to name will get people excited, but at the same time, I also want to pump the brakes,' he says. 'The two goalkeepers he reminds me of are Courtois and Ederson. He's kind of a mix of the two.' Advertisement Ederson shines through more in Penders' distribution — in particular, his ability to find team-mates higher up the pitch with impressively accurate longer passes. 'He's not as composed with the ball at his feet as Ederson yet, but what I really like about Penders is his ability to go long,' Pyzdrowski adds. 'He's able to stretch the field just like Ederson and start counter-attacks from nothing, which is a huge asset. The way he hits the ball is fast, direct, but also very accurate.' On the surface, this particular quality seems a little redundant under Maresca, who has pledged to substitute Sanchez and Jorgensen this season if they kick long. But there is an important distinction to make between a goalkeeper kicking long and passing long; Maresca's primary issue is with the former and his desire to avoid simply gifting possession back to the opposition. Penders' ability to identify and hit a longer pass over or through an opposition press could be an asset to any high-possession team. His technique is also polished over shorter distances. But when it comes to baiting the opposition press as Maresca frequently wants his goalkeeper to do, Penders is more of a work in progress. 'One area where he'll need to develop is playing under pressure,' Pyzdrowski admits. 'Genk love to build up from the back, but often he has time on the ball. Even if a press comes, it isn't really a high press. 'He's never been punished for a poor pass (by conceding a goal), but he gets stressed when the opposition really press. That's not unique to him among goalkeepers — Ederson is an outlier. 'Penders will need to develop that when he takes the next step (to Chelsea) because teams will notice that and press him high.' When not being harried, Penders' relatively high comfort level on the ball — even well outside his penalty area — seems well suited to Maresca's system. Advertisement 'He's very comfortable playing high off his line with his feet in the build-up,' Pyzdrowski says. 'That's the way Genk play and Chelsea like that as well. And with his ability to go long, if he's standing 30 yards from goal with the ball at his feet, that means a ball into the opponent's box is on and he can very easily start an attack.' Even in an era when elite clubs and their coaches increasingly want 11 skilled outfielders in possession, keeping the ball out of the net remains the fundamental differentiator of a great goalkeeper. Pyzdrowski sees rich promise in Penders' shot-stopping ability, but also plenty of room for physical and technical improvement. 'One area he needs to improve is his ability to traverse his goalmouth,' he says. 'He can be a bit slow in some of his actions and footwork. That's not crazy because he is only 19, but when you watch clips of him, it's not often that he traverses his whole goalmouth and makes an extension save. 'You could say that's because he has really good positioning but when he's out of position, he doesn't necessarily get over in time. When he doesn't need to take a lot of steps he's very, very good. When the ball is more towards the side of the goal, low or high, he needs to get a bit more explosive in those situations. 'Part of it is work in the gym with a good strength and conditioning coach — focusing on explosive plyometric exercises, jumping up and down and from side to side. 'Controlling your feet underneath you is hard for a lot of taller goalkeepers and that's part of what made Courtois and (Petr) Cech so great. They were very tall but also very quick traversing their goalmouth to make the big saves their teams needed them to make.' This also applies to shots Penders tries to save above his head. 'When fans see him play, he will probably remind them of Courtois,' Pyzdrowski adds. 'Even though he's really tall, he bends down quite low and holds his hands low at his sides as well. That's something Courtois has done for a long time, a staple of his technique. Advertisement 'The thing that makes Courtois so great is that he can go from that low position and move his hands up very quickly to get balls above his head. That's an area Penders will have to improve. That comes back to the explosion and agility, for him to dig his feet into the ground and use his trailing leg to set and push off towards the ball. 'In a lot of the goals he concedes, he doesn't do it and just falls to the ground rather than using his legs to get himself to the ball.' It might not come as a huge surprise that, given his size, Penders is already very adept at claiming high balls into his penalty area. 'Commanding his area is what he's best at,' Pyzdrowski says of Penders. 'He's really, really excellent at taking an aggressive position and very comfortable coming and taking high balls into his penalty area, even right up to the edge of the box. His timing is very good and he loves to catch the ball rather than punch. 'That's why I call him a mix between Ederson and Courtois, because Ederson has that aggressiveness commanding his box but Courtois has the hands to catch and hold the ball.' Penders' preference for catching the ball could be a refreshing break from the growing Premier League trend of goalkeepers punching away in-swinging corner kicks. It could also potentially provide more reassurance to a Chelsea defence that can still appear uncertain when defending set pieces. His penalty area presence for Genk is not only felt when facing high balls. 'On his line and with balls around his area, he's really good,' Pyzdrowski adds. 'He's a big guy but he's very quick to pounce when there's a free ball in and around his box. He uses his body and has really good timing in those situations.' The ability to defend far from goal has become an important skill for modern goalkeepers and a vital one in teams, such as Chelsea, who seek to defend with a high line for long stretches of games. 'He's very fast off his line — almost too fast because he's very uncontrolled in those situations,' Pyzdrowski says of Penders. 'A lot of the time he rushes out recklessly and you end up giving away fouls and penalties. Other times he's rushed out and opened up an angle to concede a goal, so his decision-making in those situations will have to get better. Advertisement 'In that way, he also reminds me of Ederson, who has been better in recent years but had some ugly moments (early on at Manchester City) with his timing in one-versus-one situations.' Ederson's example suggests that this particular flaw in Penders' game is eminently fixable. 'This is not strange because he's so young and he doesn't have a tonne of game time at the top,' Pyzdrowski adds. 'As a goalkeeper coach, I would much rather have a goalkeeper who's too aggressive than too passive. You can always rein in a goalkeeper who is too aggressive, but it's very hard to get a passive goalkeeper to play more aggressively because they're so rooted to their line.' By the time Courtois finally made his competitive Chelsea debut in August 2014, he was 22, with four full seasons as a No 1 goalkeeper behind him — three of which were spent on loan at Atletico Madrid, where he won the Europa League, Copa del Rey and La Liga — and reached a Champions League final. He already had a case for being the best goalkeeper in the world. Penders, clearly, is at a far earlier point in his development. 'He's a project,' Pyzdrowski says. 'If there are Chelsea fans out there hoping he arrives in the summer and competes for the No 1 spot, it's too early. 'It would also be a risk to throw him into that situation. That's not to say a 19-year-old can't handle it, there are examples, but other goalkeepers have got a chance too early and faded because it crushes their spirit and beats them down. 'If Chelsea really believe in him, they'll be smart and maybe go through pre-season or half a season with him before loaning him out again to continue to get first-team football and develop.' The key difference is that with Courtois, Chelsea had the rare luxury of being patient because of the enduring greatness of Cech. None of the current goalkeepers on the club's books are anywhere near as accomplished, making the question of how Penders' development is handled much more fraught. Advertisement But there is no doubt or debate about his potential upside. 'When you have someone two metres tall and as quick and agile as he is, it's a huge advantage for him and something that gets noticed because it's not normal,' Pyzdrowski says of Penders. 'If he gets game time and works on his deficiencies, it's not hard to see him being one of the best goalkeepers in the world in a few years.'
