Homesick, unused, forgotten - Rodriguez was never good enough but flawed regime to blame

First morning, not even lunchtime one of the old hands said he'd have to let me go, I wasn't up to speed. I told him that I was staying cos he had not hired me.

It was two days later when the director who hired me turned up. To her credit she admitted that they had taken me out of a job. She kept me on. I was on the same money but I got all of the shit jobs. The local lads were lazy nuggets but I worked my arse off.

She was as good as her word and I got paid the rate she'd agreed. I wasn't progressing and after 8 months I'd had a thorough bucketful of the sly lazy cockney nobs that I worked with. I got a job back near home (Liverpool).

That experience trashed my career. Completely. After that I just took work that was steady. The experience crushed my ambitions.

We all know that young footballers get paid Princes wages. But they really are just kids. Sometimes we need to realise that these are just poor kids clinging to a dream. When they fall out of favour they are rarely if ever told why.

Managers in any industry can replace one operative with another. But not to explain why is bloody criminal. Football seems to be the worst sport for this.

How many kids could turn things around if the managerial system at a wise club just spelled stuff out to their starlets.

When I read about EitC I always hope that the fine principles are transferred back into the football development academy. As they are just kids.

Only the strongest survive. True. But only the wise create true strength.

Wasn't there a similar case earlier this season with a youngster going to St Patrick's Athletic?

Good luck to Leandro for the future.

The article doesn't say anything about what the club did to help him integrate – maybe nothing – but the article doesn't shed any light. It suggests the club is to blame for hiring in the first place because he wasn't good enough, but this is nonsense, we gave him a chance and the club can't completely predict who will work out well; we have to over-recruit at that age.

I feel sorry for the lad but I'm not sure what the article is really getting at. Maybe he'll get another job in England if he doesn't have work permit issues; otherwise, I hope the club will pay for his flight back to Uruguay where he can go back stronger and wiser to a club there.

So this lad probably on wages you don't get, is not good enough, has been injured and isn't been picked.

Then let's look at lad on who came from Afghanistan or Syria, is working picking vegetables and, surprise surprise, also isn't told why he hasn't been promoted.

I feel sympathy for any young person who is far from home and homesick (so the Echo says a tad creatively with no quote). But poverty and misery are relative. Phil wrote this article in a bubble - something Premier League journos constantly do.

I don't believe nobody at the club at his level speaks to him. Does Koeman? Maybe not but the CEO at my place doesn't explain to me why I am not part of the senior management team.

So in the end this was/is a failed dream for a young lad. But bet he can still pay the rent.

For every youngster who "makes it" there must be thousands who don't and for those who leave their homeland in search of glory at a tender age it must be particularly difficult to admit failure.

I remember a documentary a few years ago about young African lads who were given trials with European teams. They had to pay their own way and if they weren't accepted they had to buy their own ticket home. The problem was, most of them couldn't afford the ticket home and were stuck in places like Moldova, Turkey, Ukraine etc... basically living on the streets.

The big shame is the lads that have trained and binned off at 16. They've sacrificed a lot training, 3 plus times a week out of parents pocket and who have fallen behind with school.

18 months later things havent worked out as planned, he is still getting paid handsomely. He will get a transfer to a lesser club for another couple of years and if things don't work out the same will happen again. There would be a queue a mile long if you asked someone to replace him in his current situation.

This happens at every professional football club in world football. Back in the real world most people are clinging onto jobs that they hate and have no prospects in. I have little sympathy.

Now at 18, after 2 years without kicking a ball, he's just started playing again for a local side but isn't interested in the pro side of things (I don't doubt him for a second when he says, re clubs, "They're all a shower of shit-houses, they don't give a fuck.")

He's learning a trade now with his dad (french polishing) and seems loads happier. As much as we all think (given the chance) we'd do anything to be in that position, it's not for everyone.

Wherever Rodriguez ends up, hope it works out for him.

If the kid feels homesick then he can go home. As others have said, many kids get let go from academies at every age group and their dreams are crushed. At least Leandro has been paid handsomely and can go home a relatively wealthy man. He is also in a position to move to a level more suited to his ability, maybe closer to his family and friends.

I feel more sorry for kids that love the club, come up through the academy, and then get dropped at 18. All of the years of sacrifice and nothing to show for it.

The fact is that all kids and their parents know the risks. Football is a business and can be ruthless. The kid was given a once in a lifetime chance, experienced life at a big club, trained in the best facilities, got paid thousands a week... but he wasn't good enough. He is a very lucky boy.

The problem is with the kids who neglect their education because they, and in some cases their parents, convince themselves they will make the grade. Only to be shattered when the knockback that 99% of them get comes along. Like you, I hope it works out for the kid.

Quite simply the academies are made up of a few youngsters with potential and the rest are just there to make up the numbers, otherwise who are they going to play with/against?

I know a lad whose eldest son was recruited from Ireland to Liverpool but he was nervous about letting him go alone; so the clubs answer was to bring his younger brother too. Not that he had any chance and this was made clear; but at least the eldest wouldn't be lonely.

How about an idea that all Premier League players are forced to put 30/40/50% or similar of wages aside in a trust fund with 50% of sign on fee. Say until they are 24 years old. At the wages he is on x 15 months + 10% of transfer, this "poor lad" would have 𧻲,000 + interest to help him cope. My figures may not pass an audit but see the idea?

The Echo could have focused on a local teenager EFC or LFC dropped. But that could be construed of being critical of the finances of our Premier League clubs. Tabloid crap, that paper these days.

I accept that all clubs take a punt sometimes with a lot of unknown factors. But at the time I thought this was an odd and risky choice – an obscure league and some extremely modest achievements. I wasn't surprised when it didn't work out.

I do feel sorry for the lad, who obviously needs to go home, with hopefully some lessons learned and a little more cash than he would have had normally.

It worked wonders for them. Chester had a CB called (Richard?) Money... big things expected etc, they signed Rush more or less as a make weight to keep him company... The newspaper headline said... 'Liverpool in Rush for Money' they never change do they.

They wouldn't have let you in – under a little-known Uruguayan law, you have to be able to correctly spell the name of their country before they'll allow you to work there.

(I bet Rodriguez can spell England...)

These lads are sent out on loan, sometimes never to be heard of again. We never really know if it turns out to be a lack of talent and commitment or the wrong attitude. Whatever it is, it is sad to read stories like these. Not sure if the club has done anything wrong though.

McAleny is actually still at Everton, but has only played a couple of games for the U-23s from what I can see. He was at Wigan till the end of last season.

A close friend a number of years ago played in the Irish league. He was a centre half and was fast. He had a good attitude and, it seemed to me, had it all before him. He could have been a top player.

Anyway, he was given the chance to move to Sheffield Utd who were higher than they are now. He turned it down and quit football. He said it was not what he wanted to do. Me and some mates cursed him, berated him, said he was fucking shameful, wasting talent we would die for, said he would regret it.

I met him before Christmas after many years. He is an electrician, getting by and happy. No regrets, none at all. Life is strange.

Contrast this with much younger lads who are put on the jobless scrapheap, have no other choice but to join the army, are then posted thousands of miles away, being shot at bombed, for a minute fraction of the wages Leandro picks up?

Now I don't know if the problem is his lack of ability or maybe he just doesn't train hard enough or take in advice, but either way, he will have an agent and they can provide a legal team to sever his employment and he's free to go home with plenty of bunce in his pocket; unlike those young lads who aren't allowed to go home when they want – they'd be in the glasshouse if they tried that

Mick Davies (#35) – Just because he arrived at the same time as Funes Mori, it doesn't mean they're bezzie mates or something. Besides the fact that one played in the first team and the other in the Under-21s or reserves.

And you used a very silly example there "have no other choice but to join the army"? The current climate is indeed terrible but that doesn't mean you're pushed to join the army; it's a choice, just like any job.

Most footballers are working class folk are they not? I'm also sure he knows he's in a privileged position but that doesn't mean he has to be an emotionless robot.