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The Premier League was
formed back in 1992, and the first club to win it was Man Utd.
Mark Hughes
and Ryan Giggs were key players. Both of them were drafted to the club
at an early age and evolved through the youth ranks.
Man Utd have as we all know, kept their standard and went on to win new
trophies. The belief in their youth system have a proud record in those
achievements.
West Ham United is another great example of a club that for many years
have managed to bring forward talent and made them great professionals.
The Hammers, as a smaller club, have shown that it is possible to
believe in younger players and bringing them on at the right time.
Arsenal, Aston Villa and Everton have over the years had good youth teams, the same is to be
said about Liverpool, but they have not managed to bring most of their
talents to the level you need to perform in the Premier League.
The problems are not really the players, but how they deal with their
youngsters and how they
introduce them to the "big world". Benitez, O'Neill, Moyes and
Wenger are all known for their policies and often use another base for
their recruitment of players.
Rodwell, Gosling, Flynn, Bannan and Delfouneso are all youngsters that
we hope will evolve into real Premier League stars. But with the current
policies at Liverpool, Everton and Aston Villa it will probably be
difficult to get a regular place in their first teams.
Man Utd and West Ham have always managed to bring in younger players at
the right time, made good loan deals with smaller clubs. They know their business 100 %.
Producing professional footballers is no easy task. The pieces in the puzzle must fit to bring the talent
forward.
Young players who you would think could be the next Pele, George Best or
Maradona, could suddenly just fade into wilderness and disappear.
Players who lose it at an early age, has either been injured, played in
teams that has struggled or not been able to find their best position.
There is no secret formula, but West Ham and Man Utd have both shown
over the years that they know how to deal with young talents.
The list of players that has a past at these two youth academies is long
and powerfull. Players such as Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Gary
Neville, Wes Brown, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick
and Glen Johnson are just a few examples.
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