Should Crystal Palace be concerned at seeing academy talent fleeing the nest?

New York Times

08-02-2025

It was Gareth Southgate who cut the ribbon to formally open Crystal Palace's redeveloped academy back in October 2021.
The then England manager was back on his old stomping ground and, behind him, a wall bore the images of other prominent, celebrated and appreciated youth-team graduates who came through at the south London club. There were Kenny Sansom, Vince Hilaire, Clinton Morrison, Victor Moses, Nathaniel Clyne, Wilfried Zaha, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Tyrick Mitchell and, the most recent to make the grade, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.
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It was a wall of pride. Optimism abounded.
The hope was that the new facility, which was granted Category One status in 2020 and ended up costing £30million ($37.2m) after further development, would help the club retain its best and brightest homegrown talent, as well as assisting the recruitment of players from outside, be it from other clubs or grassroots academies.
In attendance as a member of the club's coaching staff that day was Shaun Derry, a former first-team captain. Notable omissions from the wall were John Bostock — who, almost 20 years on, remains the club's youngest ever men's player after making his senior debut aged 15 — and Ben Watson, who played 189 times for Palace. Many of those appearances were alongside Derry in midfield.
The names Watson and Derry carry significant weight in the club's recent history. The pair left a legacy. For a while, it seemed like that their influence might be carried down into the next generation, too; that Reggie Watson and Jesse Derry might have followed in their fathers' footsteps. Both forged strong reputations over their years in the Palace academy but, barring an unexpected change of heart from Derry, neither will be at Palace come the summer.
Derry has rejected a professional contract and informed the club that he does not intend to sign professional terms, while Watson joined Chelsea in July. A third well-thought-of youngster, Samuel Lusale, joined Manchester United in September.
Their departures have provoked consternation among the fanbase. What is the point of the enhancements to the academy setup if the club's best players are going to be picked off like this regardless?
As much as Derry's departure at the end of his scholarship contract this summer will hurt, it is Watson's that is the most painful to endure. The midfielder only turned 15 in January and has already featured in Chelsea's Under-21 side. Without intending to pile too much pressure on a 15-year-old, and while noting that plenty can change, and quickly, there is an expectation that Watson is well placed to have an excellent career at the highest level.
Derry, a winger, is clearly very talented, too, having represented England at an international age group level. The 17-year-old has made an impact for Palace's under-18s and featured for the under-21s. But his decision not to sign professional terms on his 17th birthday would have immediately set off alarm bells within the club as the best talents tend to do so as soon as they are eligible.
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Indeed, some have agreements in their scholarship deals where a professional contract kicks in when they turn 17.
His departure is far from ideal given Lusale, another winger, also left. Palace will have been eager to keep all three, but there is likely to be slightly less disappointment over the pair's decision — despite their potential — compared to that of Watson. The compensation, which will surely total millions for the three combined based on precedents set by other youth departures to top clubs in recent seasons, will cushion the blow, even if it will not entirely make up for the loss.
On the surface, it looks as though Palace are finding it more difficult to retain their most talented prospects.
That is probably accurate, but competition is fierce among Premier League clubs and academies, especially in a post-Brexit environment where the available pool of young talent is limited due to restrictions on bringing in young (and senior) players from abroad. The focus is inevitably more on domestic talent as a consequence.
Palace, for all their relative financial might, cannot match a combination of the world-class facilities at Chelsea's Cobham site, for example, and the potential salaries on offer at bigger clubs. In principle, they should be able to offer a clearer pathway into the first team as an alternative to entice players to stay. But, at present, even that does not look especially attractive.
The debuts of Caleb Kporha and Asher Agbinone in the Premier League this season offered promise, but they have seen limited participation. Rak-Sakyi failed to push beyond a handful of appearances before being loaned to Sheffield United and is unsettled at the club, in part due to a lack of opportunities and the failure to loan him out in search of more first-team experience last season.
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Palace also have a bloated under-21 side which would benefit from a trim. In the past, loans have not been secured early enough or to an especially high level. Perhaps that reflects the ability of those coming through — it is difficult to judge.
The club would, no doubt, point to the challenges of affording youngsters opportunities when so much is at stake, and there has been hefty financial investment in senior players such as Eddie Nketiah and Daichi Kamada. Theirs is a difficult balancing act.
Yet the major mitigation is that losing the best players is far from unique to Palace. Even the big hitters — Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United — are trading blows in this respect. This is all part of the nature of academy football. Clubs jostle to recruit the best talent in the hope of unearthing the one who makes it all worthwhile.
It is also easy to forget that Palace are targeting other clubs and their best young talent, too. They can recruit from any club by virtue of their Category One status, but can only lose players to fellow top-level academy sides.
Their facilities are sufficiently impressive to attract talent from elsewhere, and some of these players must believe there is a route into the first team eventually.
They have an outstanding three-year aftercare programme for those released which reflects just how seriously they take the welfare of their players. Many youngsters have caught the eye early only to fall by the wayside as they become older. There are so many factors involved when it comes to player development that it is impossible to point to just a single explanation as to why some succeed and others do not. This is a highly skilled industry.
The same is true of other non-sporting industries — many who enter at a young age will simply not end up at the highest level, football is not unique here. Even those who are seen as absolute certainties to progress to the first team can fail to do so. There is no guarantee.
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So if the question is whether there ought to be concern about Palace losing these players, then the answer is, with heavy caveats, yes.
But it is important to stress that they are not losing players hand over fist, are still beating other clubs to talent where, in the recent past, they would not have been able to compete, and to remember that this is something that just happens in academy football.
GO DEEPER
Palace hope £20m academy will take club to next level and attract London's brightest talents
(Top photos: Jesse Derry by Crystal Pix/; the academy building by Crystal Palace FC)