Friday, 2 August 2013

Addressing the Lack of English Young Talent

Addressing the lack of English young talent

It is often bandied about that English clubs are not producing enough English talent. The riches of the premier league are often blamed but the fact that England haven’t won the world cup since 1966 shows that it is a deeper rooted problem than that. However, evidence shows that the talent reserves are getting ever weaker. In 1995, David Beckham made his premier league debut, around that time the likes of Paul Scholes and Gary Neville were also produced. Many argue that this is because English players are not given a chance but this is simply not true. At the same club, youngsters Tom Cleverly, Danny Welbeck, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones were all given opportunities to impress and to be frank they are not comparable to the golden generation and Manchester United. In 1998, Steven Gerrard made his debut and around this time, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdiand also made their debuts for West Ham. Now what youngsters are given the chance at these clubs? Jonjo Shelvey, Martin Kelly, Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson at Liverpool. Maybe Raheem Sterling will come to something, it’s too early to judge but the other players are again players that should be compared to Gerrard, Ferdinand and Lampard. West Ham maybe an exception to the rule I said above about team’s not giving their youth a chance, but it is probably true that they do not have the youngsters good enough to challenge for the first team.

Ashley Cole made his debut in 1999 and John Terry his in 1998. Now Arsenal can be argued  with some conviction to be the one team who have a world-class player developing in Jack Wilshere. Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain has also been given rave reviews but I don’t see him as possessing the same talent as players of the older generation. He will be a good player for sure, but I can’t see him becoming world class, much like Arsenal’s last hyped wonder kid purchased from Southampton, Theo Walcott. At Chelsea, Ryan Bertrand was given chances last season but again lacks the ability of the players from older generations. In my reckoning therefore, English clubs have produced one world class talent since 1999 and that is Jack Wilshere. In my belief, Spain have produced 10 world class players since 1999. Germany have also produced 10 world class players since 1999 in my opinion.

In recent years, these two countries have provided the two most comparable leagues in terms of strength to the Premier League. It is therefore, an underlying problem that begins a long-way below the first team that causes youngsters to not be good enough. It is not that they are not given enough chances as all the youngsters I have mentioned before have been given chances and in a lot of cases, I believe it is only the fact that they are English that they are kept by their clubs. There is clearly something wrong with youth football. Much of youth football in England is not based on the tactical side of the game in England, the reserve games I have seen in England seem mainly to emphasise pace and strength and players aren’t given a chance to develop their technique. I won’t confess to being an expert in foreign youth football, but from what I’ve read the top football academies are based on technical quality, ball retention and to a certain degree not minding what the results of matches are and if mistakes are made, players learn. When they become first team players, they are comfortable in possession  as they have been trained to be, and not like in England where they have often been trained to look for the 6ft 5 centre forward at the first opportunity. This was surely not alwayys the case in England as the likes of Scholes, Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard’s games are not based on pace or strength but on technical quality. Many players in England are told they are too small. The scout who discovered Adam Johnson, Peter Kirkley reflects this belief “The modern outlook is all about size. When you push a boy forward to a club it’s the first question you get asked, ‘How big is he?’ “Imagine if Lionel Messi had been treated that way – he would never have come through.”[1] Whilst I’m not saying that Adam Johnson is a world class talent, he was surely good enough to earn an academy contract at Newcastle. He didn’t because of his size. Johnson was lucky that he was spotted by a scout who didn’t take into account size. It’s impossible to know how many other talent youngsters may have missed out on footballing careers because of their size but you can guarantee that there are a few like Johnson, who had the potential to play premier league football but missed out because of their size.

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