Lessons from aboard
Posted by Jay Singh in academy, Clairefontaine, England youth set-up, FC Barcelona, Sevilla, youth development on Tuesday, 26 February 2008
I think the England’s Youth set-up, called in question in recent times, would be best to look at some famous examples:
Clairefontaine
No doubt of the best academies in world football, Clairefontaine is the masterpiece of youth development. Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, Louis Saha, William Gallas, Hatem Ben Arfa and Abou Diaby have all come through the ranks of Clairefontaine.
But in the FA’s defence they did have a national School of Excellence. The School of Excellence based at Lilleshall Hall opened its doors in 1984. Despite the relative success of it, with the likes of Premiership and England stars Michael Owen, Scott Parker, Joe Cole and Wes Brown all coming through it ranks, the school was shut in 1999. It was also criticised for its anti-club stance. But where the English clubs couldn’t co-operate with the School of Excellence, resulting in many of them setting up their own internal academies, the French have embraced Clairefontaine. The French Under-21 coach, René Girard, regularly instructs coaches of the first division clubs in the subject of developing young talent.
Sevilla
There’s no doubt that one of the best club academies in world football has to be that of Sevilla. Jose Antonio Reyes (Athletio Madrid), Julio Batista (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) have all come through the academy at Sevilla. And the current squad boasts players who have come through the club’s academy in recent years. Daniel Alves, arguably one of the best right-backs in the world right now, Jesus Navas and Diego Capel, who has a buy-out clause of 12 million, have all become regulars in the Sevilla first-team. And under brilliant sporting director Ramon Rodríguez Verdejo Monchi, there are sure to be more to come in future years.
Barcelona
And let’s not forget about Barcelona. Xavi Hernandez , Andrés Iniesta, Víctor Valdés, Carles Puyol, Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkić, and Giovani dos Santos have all come through Barcelona’s youth system and all of them play in the first-team now, some more regularly than others. Cesc Fàbregas was even part of the Barcelona youth set-up until he decided to move aboard to Arsenal.
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