The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

[FormerlyJohnnyBreadhead]

I really dont get some of these U21 signings of players released elsewhere, all they do is block the progress of younger more talented players. They must be agent pleasers or favours for mates.

I think that was definitely the case in Warnock's time (the McKay twins anyone?).

However, I remember Darren Purse saying a couple of years ago that they sign these kinds of players to raise the age profile of the team, so that you don't have 11 16-17 year old kids going straight into the U21 set up (with the idea being that the other 18-21 year olds should already either be out on loan or in the first team). Whether it's a waste of time or not is up for debate, but there is a reason behind it.

As Loramski says, there's also the added bonus that one of them might break into the first team, although there's not been much success in that regard for us. The likes of Raheem Conte, Chanka Zimba, and Oli Denham played a handful of first-team games between them, and that's about it. Reindorf is the latest "experiment" I suppose, although I can't see him breaking into our first team anytime soon.