Bob Zamora (we had to buy him back), Kieran Richardson, J’Lloyd Samuel, Fitz Hall, Liam Ridgewell.
None of them world-beaters (Zamora the best of that lot, played for England), but would all have done a job for us at some point in our history.
With your youth players, you’re not always looking for them to be Rio, Frank, Johnson, Carrick or Joe Cole. Sometimes they can become the reliable back-ups in the squad - and that’s what I think we’re missing out on at the moment.
Ashby will probably go on to be a decent player. Probably not a world-beater. But that’s not necessarily the point.
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