The kid's now been called up to the Gibraltar senior national team to face Grenada and the Faroe Islands. Will be alongside Lee Casciaro who is nearly 25 years older than him. If he does make his debut it'll be worth a watch.

Potential firesale at Chelsea too with their accounts frozen and them going to need to balance the books in order to pay staff. Could see a lot of decent young players getting offloaded.

Gonna suggest someone who should be signed for the academy team. Name: Jaiden Bartolo Age: 16 (11/02/2006) Position: Centre-Forward Current Club: 🇬🇮 Manchester 62 FC International: Gibraltar U17 - 5 caps, 2 goals 1 goal scored vs Faroe Islands U17 10 September 2021 (Result: W 2-1) 1 goal scored vs Bosnia-Herzegovina U17 7 October 2021 (Result: L 1-6) Season stats: Gibraltar Intermediate League (U23 League): 2 apps, 4 goals Gibraltar National League: 4 apps, 5 goals Made his U23 debut on 10 February 2022 against Lynx U23, scoring 4 goals as a substitute in a 7-4 win. Made his first team debut on 12 February 2022 against College 1975, starting the game and scoring one goal. Scored first senior hat-trick on 5 March 2022 in a 4-1 win against Lynx. Seems to be making a big impact over there and is part of a crop of youngsters making moves abroad, with several now in Spain (Thomas Recagno - Atlético Zabal, Tyler Carrington - CD Estepona, Rafi Emrani - RB Linense, Nicholas Pozo - Cadíz, Jesse Gomez - Algeciras) and a few in England (Carlos Richards - Derby County, Evan Busto - Rotherham United, Liam Jessop - Fleetwood Town). Considering he was rushed into the first team as soon as the league's rules allowed them to, it's clear his club sees big things ahead for him and with the right coaching could turn into a good goalscorer at a decent level. Not like Blackburn haven't scouted there before either, and with Gibraltar league games now being streamed on demand it's easy to watch his performances online too (for example, yesterday's game where he scored a hat-trick).

We won't know unless he gets a chance there.

Annesley's loan at Woking ends tomorrow but he was absent from their game today. Recalled a couple of days early? Wonder if that means they're plotting an EFL loan for him this Jan, he earned positive reviews from his time at Woking so a chance to prove himself in the League would be welcome.

Could always surprise people. Considering he was released by Barnet at 17 cos they didn't rate him, then 6 months later he signed for Blackburn, he's got form for that. Barnet haven't done well in that regard though. Kai McKenzie-Lyle another they released in 2018 - he then signed for Liverpool (Barnet got no compensation cos they released him) and is now at Cambridge United. Their youth coach must have a low score on FM for Judging Player Ability and Potential.

I think he could play in the EFL with a bit of time to prove himself at that level. Woking will help him get used to the more physical side of the game but next season he needs a loan in League Two at the very least. Gibraltar players seem to have longevity in their blood though as Lee Casciaro (40 years old) can still outpace Irish defenders and Roy Chipolina (38) is scoring in the Conference League. Some players like Aymen Mouelhi, Mohamed Badr and Kyle Goldwin didn't even make their debuts until they were over 30. So he's still got a good 15 years ahead of him in the game if he looks after himself.

Louie and Gibraltar are 1-0 up against Latvia inside 10 minutes. Great counter attack, Tjay de Barr the architect and Liam Walker the finisher. De Barr is currently at Wycombe and one to keep an eye on. Louie played his part in the goal, breaking up the initial move from Latvia.

For what it's worth Louie had a decent game, made some important blocks and clearances, and was pretty involved whenever Gibraltar attempted to push forward (which was rare but what do you expect given the circumstances). Almost had a goalscoring chance himself at one point.

Probably a brown paper bag. Turkey need to win big to overtake Norway for a playoff spot. They could only win 3-0 last time out against 11 Gibraltar players so have a better chance of a big win if there's less players on the field.

If any of you are watching the Turkey-Gibraltar game you can tell me how on earth this was a red card: https://streamja.com/jqaWw

Louie's back in the starting XI for Gibraltar in Turkey. Didn't realise Turkey were now managed by Kuntz. Kind of like Blackburn.

Annesley did play in a 2-0 friendly win for Woking against Brentford. He's gonna be off on international duty this week though.

Didn't think the U23s would miss Louie at the back that much

Woking fans seem very impressed with Louie in his Woking debut on Saturday. They won 3-2 in the end but they liked his movement and distribution. Hopefully this loan will really help him kick on.

The effect joining the Chile national team has had on BB Díaz has been unreal. 10 goals in 11 games means he's already more than doubled his return for the previous 3 seasons combined. 2 goals in this international break will keep his confidence sky high. He's become the player he promised to be when he first joined and I wouldn't be surprised if he got a big move in January.

Depends on their situations.

he really needs a loan in January to see if he's cut out for the EFL.

Annesley played 90 mins in the 6-0 defeat to the Netherlands. Had some good moments but it's hard to have a good game when you're under constant attack from players like Depay and Klaasen. Special praise for debut goalkeeper Bradley Banda, the national team's 3rd choice goalkeeper who got called in due to injury to Coleing and Goldwin's suspension and ended up saving a Depay penalty in one of his first pieces of action. Dutch fans full of praise for the 23 year old, still working part time as a teaching assistant for disabled children at a special needs school in Gibraltar. Kind of shows that the goalkeeping department is thriving over there and maybe pro teams should start taking note.

Gibraltar 2-0 down to Montenegro at HT. Annesley's been pretty assured throughout the first half, playing in the middle of a back 5 but moving into midfield when Gibraltar advance with the ball. A mistake from Joseph Chipolina allowed an early first goal before goalkeeper Chino gave away a penalty towards HT. Otherwise not much to report on. I will say for any scouts that the Gibraltar left midfielder Julian Valarino has been a nuisance down the wing.

If Mowbray and the board can actually bother to bring some players in during the January break to add some depth to the first team then hopefully some of the U23s will actually get to go out on loan. The problem is everyone at the club seemed to want to wait and see how much they can get for Armstrong and BB Díaz before even starting to sign players and left it too little too late, which also meant it was too late to loan out the youngsters. In January as fixture pileups and relegation scraps cause the League One and League Two clubs to start loaning in more youngsters, opportunities will come for the Blackburn kids. The board just needs to let them have that chance.

Yeah I think Louie would have 100% gone out on loan had the first team not been paper thin.

BB Díaz has been like a new signing since becoming Chilean

Not sure playing him last night, when just 3 days prior he was playing against Norway in Oslo, was a good idea. Essentially played on Tuesday, flew back Wednesday, trained on Thursday and played on Friday. I'd be tired too.