One of the main factors of any youngster’s next career path is game time. In England, that is very limited. Managers in England have to be very picky as it all about trophies here so playing your youngsters is not going to guarantee you silverware. However, in Germany, bringing through your academy players is a must for owners and most teams in the Bundesliga follow that rule of bringing through youth.
English Youngsters Heading Abroad
Game Time
For example, Jason Sancho moved from Manchester City to Borussia Dortmund last summer. Despite being just 18-years-old, the German club have shown faith by giving him 12 appearances in the Bundesliga, seven of those being starts. The same goes for Ademola Lookman who joined RB Leipzig on loan in January. He made 11 appearances for the Champions League club compared to Premier League side Everton, where he only made seven appearances in all competitions. This shows the faith in youth players in Germany is a lot greater than England. Everton were, at the time, were struggling for form and goals. Instead, they loaned him out to Champions League hopefuls where he has made a bigger impact with five goals and four assists and helped them secure Europa League status.
Future National Team
When you look at England youth teams it looks promising with exciting talent. Last summer, England’s U20 and U17 teams won their respective World Cups. Also, the U19 team won the European Championship. But how many have featured for their clubs this season?
From the BBC, in the 2017/18 season, English youngsters at U21 level played almost 4,500 minutes of top-flight football, compared to Spain’s U21’s who played almost 9,000 minutes. If you compare the success for senior teams, Spain has won two European Cups and one World Cup, whereas England have failed at the majority of their recent major tournaments. Also, the playing time in competitions is important as playing at the top level is a career changer. 88% of 9,000 minutes of game time came from La Liga which shows the development for Spanish youngsters is happening in the top division.
What Next for England’s Future
Gareth Southgate has picked a young side for upcoming World Cup so is that a sign of things that will change. Ryan Sessegnon and Jason Sancho were both called to feature in the final 23-man squad but both missed out. However, even being mentioned is showing the progress of these youngsters. But the only thing is that they are not playing in the Premier League.
So is it time now that England youth players ditch their clubs and go abroad to light up their career. Managers futures are on the line in England. So would they sacrifice their job just to play youngsters?
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