Well there are many who appear to have benefited from LCFC coaching, esp in last few yrs. We have seen players of all experience improve greatly, from Vards (as old as he is) to Demarai Gray (as young as he was when we took him on).
Now, intelligence comes into all this, so if you are bright, eager and willing to learn, your improvement will happen more rapidly and have a deeper effect, whereas if you're that slow lad at the back of the class who needs help writing his name at the top of his composition test, it will happen less quickly and to a smaller degree. It is no surprise therefore, that Jamie advanced his stock in record time, while Demarai had to be rescued before a helicopter's rotor blades took his head off. So we return to BC.
As we cannot definitively determine his coaching path, we can only judge him on what we have seen at first team level, and perhaps he has reached his peak. Perhaps he cannot get any better. I didn't see any improvement today in his MO as a wing back. Some of his crosses before he left were actually pretty good; he was improving in that regard, and so it showed today. Just like when he was with us, others weren't so good but come on - a £50m+ player should practice from dawn till dusk to get that particular aspect of his game right because that isn't coached, it's practice making perfect. The bit that costs £50m is the positional play; the awareness; the Bobby Moore reading of the game; the never having to wash your kit coz you're in the right place at the right time, every time. That's what sets 50m quid apart from your average full back, not crossing or scoring the occasional goal, and that's what BC has yet to prove.
The loaning system as you say can be a very profitable exercise, but perhaps not as you intimate by selling the subjects of loan. We found out that by loaning Islam Slimani to Newcastle, a player can command a fee exponentially outstripping his market value. Hence LCFC profited to the tune of £2m over a 7 week period for his services. Incredible, and Chelsea do this for whole year loans over years and years for at least 15 of their youngsters. This is huge, ghosted business which can no doubt clear a massive proportion of the club's wage bill. Think about that. LCFC can get there with this new training facility but obviously must first concentrate on their own competition needs.
Re SBU (I coined the sobriquet): loathe them but don't ever forget the class of '99. Alan Hansen still has nightmares that successive shrinks and psychotherapists cannot dispel, due to that. And the mickeys have always pursued that agenda: paying record fees for players they don't need in order to prevent any other club from securing their services.
Anyway, we're gonna win the League again, so there.
BLUE ARMY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!