The English Development System and why it doesn’t work
There are thousands of football teams around the world, but only a few receive the professional spotlight that English teams do. The players produced from the youth academies of these teams can be growing prospects and some can be overrated young players that struggle to develop into professional players. However, the presence of the English Development System and differing club methods certainly have an effect on the chances of growing and developing players across England.
Several Premier League clubs are commonly attacked for their treatment and development of younger players, including the oil-rich Manchester City. They are one of the top clubs in England, even the world. In the past two and a half seasons they have won two Premier Leagues, an FA Cup, a League Cup and the Community Shield. Many put their success down to their overhaul of money, but it is well known that it has little to do with their academy. One of the only Manchester City academy players that has broken into the first team squad is Phil Foden and even he struggles to play on a regular basis. Jadon Sancho, at the time of writing, is flourishing at Borussia Dortmund with 13 goals and 13 assists in 20 games. This rate of 1.3 goal involvements per game is incredible for a young 19 year old. This is the same boy who was not given a chance at Man City and was sold for 9.5 million pounds, a miniscule amount now you compare it to the 100 million that teams would happily pay for the wonderkid now. When you compare his growth to his compatriot Phil Foden you can clearly see how leaving Manchester City did Sancho good. However, he is not the only young player to leave Man City in search of game time. Others include Brahim Diaz, Angus Gunn, Rony Lopes and more. They have earnt a huge amount of 153 million. This could possibly be because of Man City‘s over-saturation of players. For example, there was little need to buy Riyad Mahrez with all that Man City had at their disposal, with Mahrez’s signature only blocking the way for young players like Sancho that were looking to become a part of the first team squad. Due to them being officially banned from all UEFA competitions for two years, they may be forced to start using their young players as many of their superstars will copy their former young companions and leave for greater success and Champions League opportunities.
There are a good number of Arsenal players that have graduated in the past decade, yet only around seven have become first team regulars out of the 38 graduates. The following players have had 0-3 matches as a first team player for Arsenal: Charlie Gilmour, Zech Medley, Julio Pleguezuelo, Matt Macey, Ben Sheaf, Marcus McGuane, Chris Willock, Jeff Reine-Adélaïde. This can be frustrating for young players as they struggle to become figures in a Premier League side. As well as this, an increased buyers transfer market has led to consistently high amounts being spent on signings, further limiting the chances of these players. Some young talents slip through the cracks, for example Serge Gnabry who has scored 14 goals in 28 games this season. This is commonly due to a lack of playing time, meaning little experience on the pitch and little time to show their true potential.
Chelsea has and has had one of the best academies for a long time, winning several FA Youth Cups over the last 10 years. Despite this, everyone knows Chelsea as the club that gave Salah, Lukaku and De Bruyne a total of 26 appearances between the trio. They are also known for having a so called “Loan army”. This used to be true as Chelsea stockpiled youth players which led to a transfer ban from UEFA. However, in the long run, this could potentially have good consequences for Chelsea, as the lack of incoming transfers has forced Chelsea to provide opportunities for their youth prospects like Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mason Mount.
Another two talents that were wasted but may have different fortunes are Nemanja Matic and Nathan Ake. Nemanja Matic joined at 20 and only received two appearances, but then proved himself elsewhere and rejoined, gaining 121 appearances before moving the Manchester United. On the other hand, Nathan Ake barely got any appearances and was sold to Bournemouth (where he has proven himself as a battle-hardened Premier League defender) but is now wanted back by Chelsea, with the Blues ready to activate his buyout clause in the summer. As previously mentioned, their transfer ban, as well as the young minded Frank Lampard, have led to the growth of a young, fresh and exciting Chelsea side.
On a local level, recently Kodi’s younger brother was scouted for Tottenham and he is very excited. “Playing for Tottenham is exciting because it’s a big league team, and I started off at a Sunday-League team called Fleetdown in our local town. I think I am going to be a professional footballer because I already play for Tottenham.”, he says. However, only 1% of academy players becoming professional, meaning there are many more trials, tribulations and hurdles that will need to be overcome if a young academy player is to make it in the world of football.
We commonly hear the success stories of becoming a pro, but does this really give us the full story? In 2013, a young man committed suicide as a result of getting released by an unnamed Premier League club, a tragic event following the heartbreak of being released. One parent was quoted saying “Football club academies are taking in boys as young as five but ‘just throw them on the scrapheap’ further down the line”. This is sadly one of the problems with the English academy system, with teams accumulating vast numbers of young players in the hope that a few will be good enough to make an impact on the professional stage. Another problem is that football affects your education, especially at the time of GCSE and A-Levels. Gareth Bale once said that footballers are treated similar to robots, “ you cannot choose your timetable like tennis or Golf.”, linking to football’s impact on a young player’s wider life.
A 2015 study by Dr David Blakelock of Teeside University found 55% of players were suffering ‘clinical levels of psychological distress’ 21 days after being released from an academy. Oshodi, a boy talking to The Guardian was an academic but decided to take 9 GCSEs and BTECs instead of A Levels due to the demand of football. He says that you should not become tied to an academy until you are 16, with him comparing it to having a job from 10. At the time of the article, Oshida is playing for semi-pro club Wealdstone in the National League South division, (English sixth tier).
Out of the 1.5 million players in youth football in England, only 180 of them will become professional at any time, highlighting the minute number of footballers that will make it at the top level. This, combined with the hoarding and subsequent lack of first team exposure of youngsters in top level sides, suggests that the English Youth Development System needs to change, both to improve the lifestyles and pressures on younger players, and the chances of talented individuals advancing into the upper echelons of the footballing world.
A joint article by DGSChapter journalists Ramadan and Kodi
Image from © Catherine Kõrtsmik [CC BY-SA 2.0]
