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Youth is overrated in football. Happy to update you on this
I’ll explain why I think this. Not here to say youth players can’t be good or perform highly because they can and do, it’s a case people expect too much too soon purely based on potential of what a player could become
Pretty much every professional footballer will have been through an academy (likely multiple clubs) from age 9, if not also likely before this. Before they’ve even become an adult most have dedicated a decade of work to a club with no guarantee of a contract at the end
0.01% of players in an academy turn pro. It’s almost impossible to become a professional player. And yet after defying the odds, so many are thrown in at the deep end of professional football so early on
The U23 system was brought in alongside the EPPP to improve the number of homegrown players and improve England’s squads and has. But fans don’t seem to understand that a 20 year old with absolutely no bridge between academy and elite PL football might not hit the ground running
For me it’s a massive disservice to those players who have given so much to not have the opportunity to be loaned out or bled in to maximise their chances of success and at least develop them. It’s literally a case of throwing stuff at the wall at seeing what sticks
And people wonder why so many players are having mental health issues. Football is an industry like no other and players get treated awfully. No amount of money can makeup for the sacrifices they’ve made in their childhood
In the same way a junior doctor isn’t credited with the same level of respect as senior practioners. People see a professional as a finished product. Not to mention now for some reason 30 years is considered to be a ‘finished’ age
After all that youth level success, if England don’t win multiple international tournaments this decade then something has seriously gone wrong
A final point, Brentford’s success owes a lot to their stance on this sort of thing. They ditched an academy and have just picked up released players (considered not good enough) by other London clubs and from elsewhere too, improved them and played/sold them
Read somewhere the other day they haven’t played a loan player since like 16/17 or something ridiculous. That, and a data driven recruitment process, but that’s thanks to the Danes
