The point being bedding in one or two young players is doable. Maybe a few more if they are familiar with each other and the first team. But blooding a bunch of new players- imports, academy grads and players back from overseas- makes the job much more difficult. It assumes the players are ready to be pros and relies on that, rather than give them a taste without too much pressure.
So a gradual introduction makes sense, which would require using a seasoned pro who has been a crucial cog in the squad for the last few seasons.
I doubt Ball would have scored any goals thus far, but he would have avoided several occurring - simply due to the lack of losing posession at crucial moments.