Southgate Insists Kids Make It A Bright Future For Boro!
Last updated : 15 February 2009 By Boro Mad
Gareth Southgate: "It's crucial, we have to develop our own talent as a club.
"There's a lot of bright futures ahead. It's incredible really, we're unbelievably young. Part of that is through necessity but part of it is the talent and attitude of the kids coming through.
"We've seen Josh Walker come into the first-team and do exceptionally well, Matthew Bates coming back and Adam Johnson's been very good lately.
"We've just signed Seb Hines to a two-year deal, we recently got Rhys Williams signed and he's doing well at Burnley. We've got Jonathan Grounds who's doing well at Norwich.
"When I took over we hadn't sold a player for something like three or four years and I'm not sure if we'd ever sold an Academy graduate, lots of them had gone on frees.
"Now even the likes of Tom Craddock has gone to Luton for £80,000.
"You might say 'What's that?', but it all helps to run a department at the club. So all of those sort of deals are important.
"There are a lot of players who, if they don't make our first team, will make money for the club.
"We got £4 million for Lee Cattermole last summer, James Morrison was a few million and Andrew Davies was £1 million.
"We've got two goalkeepers now who've proved they can play at Premier League level. There are assets there, which is important for the future."