Taylor Harwood-Bellis

[Inchy]

He’s 20


Let that sink in. 20!

The last time I said a Loan player would play for England it was Cahill. I’m confident this fine young man will play for England before he’s 23, if he gets his next move right. What a leader for a 20 year old. He commands the back 4.

[CoolClaret]

The only thing that may hamper him is his pace but he literally has everything else.

His line breaking passes & vision are absolutely excellent

[ElectroClaret]

Was just about to post something similar.
Excellent stuff tonight and will hopefully only get better.

Great acquisition.

[NickBFC]

Looks an outstanding prospect. Was disappointed when Collins left but dare I say it, this lad runs him very close.

[Belgianclaret]

Some terrific inside passing

[KRBFC]

Better prospect than Keane/Tarkowski, like Collins, will go to the very top of the game.

[eyebrowchicken]

He is different class so calm in possession and can play a pass.

[RVclaret]

He’s class. I have a Rovers supporting mate who tried telling me he can’t pick a pass. Ha.

[jedi_master]

You’ve beat me to this thread.

I couldn’t go tonight as been terribly Ill with food poisoning since last night, so I watched on Clarets+, I thought THB shone so brightly. His distribution is the best I’ve ever seen from a centre back at Burnley.

[Devils_Advocate]

Better prospect than even Collins by some distance. This lad has potential to become absolutely world class and is one of the best young centre halves I have ever seen play

[NRC]

Collins still edges it for me - more physicality, but so happy we have THB in the building after losing Collins. Two very high potential players. for THB, if you think in England senior squad terms, he'll be an ideal age for the next world cup

[Vino blanco]

Absolutely fabulous performance, what a young talent, makes mom difficult tonight.

[Ampth7]

Agree! This kid is the real deal and he will be a City and England regular within a few seasons in my opinion.

[Guller Bull]

Woah - steady down everyone! The lad is OK at best. I mean he he is not City quality but could perhaps do a job at a lower half Prem club. not worth getting excited about.

[whiffa]

If we can sign any of Tella, Maatsen or THB in January/end of season it would be a massive coup - can't see it happening though.

[MDWat]

He’s very good but I’m not entirely convinced by his aerial ability. However, there isn’t a better level for him to get better at that side of his game.

As noted above, his commanding and organisation of the defence is excellent. He’s an excellent player with potential to get better and better.

[SussexDon1inIreland]

THB made some great passes for a CB

UTC

[Tinribs]

Harwood Bellis Any day over Collins.
Collins is more of a salvage defender usually last ditch tackles and blocks.
THB is just pure class his passing tonight was hit to watch,Collins can’t pass like that

[NRC]

Harwood Bellis Any day over Collins.
Collins is more of a salvage defender usually last ditch tackles and blocks.
THB is just pure class his passing tonight was hit to watch, Collins can’t pass like that

you did see Collins walking through an entire international team to score, right? I think Collins edges it still, he's a year more mature, but they're not direct comparisons, as you point out.

[Stayingup]

How you wonder does he pick those passes. Like Jan Molby in that respect.

[bfcjg]

He is absolute quality.

[Socrates]

Think people are going a bit overboard here.

Loses an awful lot in the air.

[Foshiznik]

He’s made for this style of play. Collins was made for Dyche’s Burnley. Both great players in their own right.

[JR1882]

At 20 if we manage to go up there’s a great chance of City loaning him to us for a season of game time in the prem (same with Maatsen/Chelsea)

Stay down and no chance.

[Jakubs Tash]

He’s playing well and looks a very good prospect that will get better with more experience. But there’s a lot of big claims by posters on this thread. For starters, Collins in this set up would be better than THB right now.

[martin_p]

As others have mentioned his aerial ability is a little lacking for a central defender, he didn’t win a lot in the air last night. Good defender at this level though and suited to our current style of play.

[forzagranata]

Collins was playing against the likes of Harry Kane.

THB is playing against the likes of Tom Bradshaw.

You can't compare until THB plays regularly in the top flight.

[buzzclarets79]

Shouldn't think like this I know but, I would of loved to see THB & Collins as our two CBs, sadly not to be, but what if.

[Devils_Advocate]

I think some people have misinterpreted some of the comments on this thread. Myself and others are not saying THB is currently a better player than Collins but that we think THB as more potentially to get to the very top of the game and be world class.

Collins is a brilliant player and if he was English I would expect by the next world cup for him to be challenging for a starting spot. Playing lots of games at a decent but physical level at such a young age has helped him progress very quickly into someone who is a very good Premier League defender today at such a young age.

THB on the other hand just looks to have an extra class about him and its no wonder that he is considered one of Man City's top prospects and why he is the U21 England Captain. He might not fulfil his full potential but he really does look to me a player who could end up one of the top 4 or 5 centre halves in the world and as good as Collins is I do not think he has the potential to reach those same heights

[Socrates]

We had to drop Jack Cork back into the centre halves at goal kicks last night as he didn’t win a header.

The moment when Muric came out for the free kick was to help his centre backs as they couldn’t compete in the air.

The Hull goal at the Turf came from him coming to the half way line for a header, losing it and leaving a big gap behind him for them to run in to.

He’s very good on the ball. But there is a very real weakness there - which, to be fair, he may address.

[beddie]

I’d say we’re privileged to have him playing for us. A wonderful player.

[Big Vinny K]

Last 3 or 4 games in particular think he has been outstanding.
His distribution in this system is really good - not sure Tarks, Mee or Collins have his technical passing ability but accept that they never got the opportunity to play in a system like this with the movement of players in front of them that we are seeing now.

And I’m not saying THB is a better defender than Tarks, Mee or Collins at all - they are better than THB in almost every other area of defending. But it is good to see THB playing well and be an important part of the way we are playing.

[JohnMac]

Wonderful vision and clearly has qualities but he is not Bobby Moore yet.

[fatboy47]

Calm down.

He's a youngster and he'll improve for sure, but he's not close to Collins, Tarkowski, Cahill or Keane just yet.

It's a better watch than Mee lumping everything aimlessly upfield though.

[Mattster]

I think if we get promoted it's very realistic that we sign him permanently. His distribution is very important to the Kompany's setup here.

Clubs like City don't provide pathways for their own academy players direct to the first team except in rare cases (eg. Foden) - they prefer to sign players for big fees and it's hard to justify giving academy graduates opportunities at their expense. In the case of THB they'd likely be willing to sell for £10-15m in the Summer with a ~£35m buyback clause in the deal. It's win-win for City as it gives them money for FFP in the short term and if the player does develop to the level of player that can go straight into their starting 11 they can buy them for a fraction of what it would cost to buy one in from elsewhere (see how much Chelsea have had to spend to get Fofana, for example).

[Duffer_]

I think some people have misinterpreted some of the comments on this thread. Myself and others are not saying THB is currently a better player than Collins but that we think THB as more potentially to get to the very top of the game and be world class.

Collins is a brilliant player and if he was English I would expect by the next world cup for him to be challenging for a starting spot. Playing lots of games at a decent but physical level at such a young age has helped him progress very quickly into someone who is a very good Premier League defender today at such a young age.

THB on the other hand just looks to have an extra class about him and its no wonder that he is considered one of Man City's top prospects and why he is the U21 England Captain. He might not fulfil his full potential but he really does look to me a player who could end up one of the top 4 or 5 centre halves in the world and as good as Collins is I do not think he has the potential to reach those same heights

THB currently lacks the physical attributes; aerial ability and more importantly and harder to resolve, pace; to enable him to operate at a world class level. He has maturity, intelligence, leadership and a great passing range, all of which make him a very good player at Championship level. Collins is still raw, and whilst I don't see either making the top 4 or 5 in the world - not exactly a brave call on my part I know, I would back him to have the more successful career.

[RVclaret]

Here is the underlying data for THB so far.

The comparisons are to all other Championship cb’s.

As you can see he is shining in possession but scores quite low on aerial duel success.

Key to Kompany’s style of play change.

[IanMcL]

He’s 20


Let that sink in. 20!

The last time I said a Loan player would play for England it was Cahill. I’m confident this fine young man will play for England before he’s 23, if he gets his next move right. What a leader for a 20 year old. He commands the back 4.

He is a proper footballer.

[Rileybobs]

He’s a fantastic passer but still has a lot to learn about the art of defending, which of course he has plenty of time to do. I think some of the rave reviews are going overboard as he’s often been caught the wrong side of his man, struggled with the long ball over the top and loses more headers than he wins. His lack of physicality may prevent him from getting to the top, but of course there are comparable players who have made it despite this weakness.

He fits very well in a team who have 70% of the ball and need someone deep to play line-splitting passes (ie us) but I’m not sure how he’d handle the Premier League. Looking forward to seeing him progress with us this season.