Will You Be Vlad If He Goes?

Lando78 sent us the following.

Should the Premier League's best talent go out on loan or stay training with Manchester City's first team and keep match fit with the reserves?

So what should City do with Vlad Weiss? Should Vlad go out on loan, or not? Certainly they'll be many thinking yes send him out to a top Championship side or a lower Premier League outfit to learn a bit more about the English game.

He'll be able to get some first team practice and bulk up to come to terms with the sheer physicality of our style of play. Weiss has already spoken about the differences for him between Youth level and Premier League football and has been criticised for lacking the required body strength to compete with the sometimes hulking defenders (Wolves!).

Others might be thinking, please don't send this young Slovakian prodigy out on loan. What if we need him? After all, he has just starred in an international standard World Cup qualifying campaign, so surely he can cope with club football.

One argument would be that certain types of players suit certain types of loan deals. Meat and veg British style defenders like Ryan McGivern and Ben Mee for example would certainly benefit from the physical competition of the Championship or even League One.

Then there are young players who are beasts at the age of sixteen like Micah Richards, Wayne Rooney, Tom Huddlestone, Carlton Cole and Michael Johnson need no introductions to the rigours of English football and can cope with the physical demands from day one.

Players blessed with very high technical skills fall into the same bracket as these guys but for different reasons. Ryan Giggs, Ronaldo and Joe Cole are players who possess speed, quickness of mind and lightning reflexes which enable them to effortlessly bridge the gap between youth and first team.

Sending Weiss out on loan to Bradford City would enable him to experience the ferocity of the lower leagues, but it could also result in a nasty injury if he becomes a marked man for being that 'Winker-like Kid' from the Premiership.

Sending him out to a Bolton or Stoke who are decent Premier League teams but play far from expansive football, may be detrimental to the lads development. He has already spoken about being able to adapt to the speed of the Premier League and how it doesn't phase him.

Contrast this with the young international Welsh battering ram that is Ched Evans who often spoke of the difficulties he had in adapting to the step up to top level football. He was phased by the prospect of playing with Europe's elite and is now plying his trade in the Championship.

Psychology is definitely a major factor in a deciding whether a player is ready or not. If you believe in yourself then you have won the first battle and Vlad like Daniel Sturridge and Micah Richards before him has that belief to be a Premier League footballer.

Valdimir Weiss doesn't need to be loaned out because he is good enough to play with the City first team, learning from players great technical players like Robinho and Tevez.

Chelsea's Gaël Kakuta certainly thinks playing against lower Premier League opposition like Wolverhampton Wanderers is much easier than playing in the reserve team games.

In an interview given after his Premier League debut Kakuta suggested he had found life easier in the Premier League with the club's first team. He stated...

'Premier League football is easier than in the reserves, because the game is much quicker, you have more choice when you play and you can play one-touch or two-touch. So it is much better.' 

'I waited a long time for Saturday and I am really happy. All of the players were behind me, helping me and talking to me, so that was good.'

And  the eighteen year old Chelsea hotshot will now go straight into tonight's reserve team for the game against Birmingham City.

His comments are interesting as he shows how playing at a high level with top quality players can be nothing but beneficial. Just look at Arsenal's young guns who we'll be playing in the quarter finals of the cup.

Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey are all examples of diminutive players taking their chance when given an opportunity. So maybe its time to blood a few of our young guns against Wenger's lot.

There's another good reason to keep Vlad in the first team squad and that is to put pressure on Shaun Wright Phillips, who has relied more on his hard work and endeavour of late to get through a period where he has struggled to hit top form.

A young hungry academy star waiting in the wings is just the same as a new signing in your position. Its competition for places and keeps you  on your toes. And if anybody knows what is waiting in his shadow, its Shauny Wright who made the transition from youth team to first team without batting an eyelid.

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