Sunderland in talks to re-sign Nathan Broadhead

It's probably worth adding another year to his contract and sending him back on loan to Sunderland where he is settled in the team. If he does well there in the Championship, then his value goes up from £2M to triple that.

If he does really well, then maybe he deserves a shot with us. Hopefully he can stay injury-free.

I'd take what you can, Sam, and include a promotion or sell on %. He's 24 and needs to be playing under a club where he has a chance in my view.

Nothing against him but this is not the calibre of player to take the club forward. Time to sell and move on.

The future is Dobbin, Okoronkwo and (if we can retain him) Lawrence. Hopefully Simms kicks on too but even that is in balance. The standard of a top-half Premier League striker is incredibly high.

Ian, I agree.

Over the years, we have kept too many “promising” youngsters, eg, Garbutt, Pennington, into their mid-20s. In my eyes, by the time any player reaches 21-22 who isn't at least a regular in the first-team squad, they should be moved on. Get whatever fee we can, with perhaps a few add-ons, re-sale percentage etc.

Yes, he seems to have been bedevilled by injuries – missing half the season is unfortunately a recurring pattern for the lad.

Just so strange that he got a new 2-year contract just after Carlo Ancelotti left but before Rafa Benitez was appointed. So it's likely neither were even consulted and it was a classic case of the syndrome that John @4 describes – Unsworth's fault!

Time to move him on, despite the fact that he can score under the right circumstances, and especially if the Black Cats will take him.

I would prefer that he either goes to Sunderland for a small transfer fee or he is brought back to be assessed in this last year of his contract or until the January window.

Didn't we wipe the slate clear with Sunderland some years back for outstanding fees which went almost unrecognized while those across the park were lauded for giving them another year or two to repay what was owed to them.

If he is 24 and not being played in our first team and has one year left on his contract, then sell him. The best solution for both parties.

For those advocating moving players on at 21, don't forget we are obliged to field an U23s team. It's likely some squad players get retained just for that reason.

If we don't keep fully grown journeymen, then the U23s could easily get pasted regularly. How would that develop players for us?

Si #8.

Most U23 teams (not just us) comprise players almost exclusively U21. There's only a few still knocking about age 22 or 23 and none of them are any good.

The standard at U23s level is really low. Genuinely talented players will stagnate there after about age 19. Real stars will bypass U23s entirely by joining the first-team from the U18s.

It's not like the old reserve system. The loan system has replaced that.

Funny, Robert, I was just looking at Kenny's youth appearances and he's almost the opposite – played barely a handful of U18 games in his first two seasons, and played a lot more for the U21s / U23s from the get-go, but then taking five seasons before he could break into the first team at Everton – in the dreadful Koeman - Allardyce season.

But then he was let out on loan, and your observation that the loan system has replaced the old Reserves... if ever there was a prima facie reason why the standard at Under-23 is so poor, and the gap to the Premier League so wide, it is because the decent players are all sent out on loan, and the standard of those remaining to soldier on suffers accordingly.

The loan system totally undermines all the highfalutin aims and aspirations of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) – well, that and the plethora of foreign players. I assume the 8 in 25 rule is still in place for homegrown players in Premier League squads... you never hear of anyone flouting that rule.

Argh... What am I doing? Flagging us up to the FA for Everton to be the first!!!

Yes Michael the loan system has completely undermined the u23 League.

I don't necessarily agree with it but if you can't beat them join them.

A top half of the Prem player needs to be international class immediately. Some exceptional players can do it - like Foden. Some mere mortals need to work their way up through loans like Gallagher (Charlton, WBA and Palace) or Mount (Vitesse and Derby).

No player of this quality benefits by playing u23s football. They are simply too good by the time they are 17 / 18.

This is true of Branthwaite for example. He is miles better than everyone on the pitch each time he plays.

Any lesser talent at u23s level (eg Warrington or Welch, both of whom are very good) may well have a good career but will have to work hard to become a Premier League player.

Unless they shine big time at u23 level and quickly it is more likely they will follow the footsteps of Forshaw, Bidwell, Evans and Lundstram. Good, creditable careers in the lower leagues and maybe the Prem with a bit of luck after some very hard graft.

Kenny and Davies may well have benefited from lower league loans at about 18 / 19 - and be better players for the experience now. But we can never really know now.

I don't see the downside of extending his contract and letting him go back to Sunderland on loan, if that is what he wants. It costs us very little and he may be a late developer like Leon Osman, Jamie Vardy, etc

Sell sell sell with more clauses than an insurance policy to future proof our potential repurchase, club success or his increased sales value.