As a bit of change from the usual sneijder/nasri/WUM articles i thought it'd be nice to discuss this new uefa project dubbed 'nextgen'. In short its an U19 champions league-like competition where the top youth academies around europe go head to head. Next year is a pilot scheme and only 16 teams have been selected including Barcelona's famed la mesia. Unfortuantely man utd's academy hasnt been picked to participate in this years competition but will be drawn in along with arsenal and ajax for the 2012/13 competition.
What are people's thoughts on the project, do you think it'll succeed help youngsters make the step up or will it just be another pointless tournament that does little to bridge the gap? and finally do you reckon united have a genuine chance of winning it?
Youth champions league-'NextGen'
posted on 18/7/11
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posted on 18/7/11
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posted on 18/7/11
comment by neon1001uk (U6361)
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Never understood the Messi wouldn't make it through english academies debate, he's bigger than aaron Lennon
posted on 18/7/11
Sounds like a great idea - both as a competition worth watching (although the wife won't be happy) and a way of promoting youth development.
It must be an excellent way of giving young players experience before they break through into the big league, and you'd imagine it would also bring home to the (e.g. English) clubs how important development is if their home-grown players are spanked by counterparts from other countries. In fact, this could be quite a good political tool if it provided a stark illustration of how rich English clubs are unable to produce great English players. If English players are exposed, perhaps that will put some momentum behind those who want to change the system.
posted on 18/7/11
You've got to laugh at the sort of person who feels motivated to give an interesting, not particularly partisan article like this one star. I'm struggling to imagine the psychological profile of the person who reads this and then feels the need to express 'strongly disagree' or 'terrible article'.
posted on 18/7/11
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
I think some people will just disagree with anything for the sake of it.
posted on 18/7/11
I think it goes deeper. I suspect some people are sad enough that they just want to leave a negative mark on anything they can. It's a bit like the impulse to vandalise something. Maybe there's an element of competition about it - they don't want other people's articles getting better ratings than their own.
posted on 18/7/11
from a point of view regarding my own team(spurs)
i think it can only help,with what's,let's be honest,a pretty rascal youth set up,which don't produce anywhere near the amount of first team ready players it shld do,i know the stats of players from youth set up's going all the way are very low for all clubs,but at spurs it's particuly low.
it can only prepare players for the first team,by piting them against different styles and tactics of play than they may face playing purely english teams.
if club's get behind it fully,i can only see it as a positive.
posted on 18/7/11
yea its a shame a few trolls are ruining what is fast turning into a very good substitute to 606 but i guess it comes with the territory of internet football forums.
Another point to consider how will invitation be determined? for example I think we can all agree west ham or everton have a better youth academy setup than teams like man city or chelsea but those 2 are far more likely to be invited than the former 2. If that's the case then will the cup lose credibility or will you see an influx of youngsters from these smaller teams moving to play 'european football'-basically what we have currently but on youth level.
posted on 18/7/11
Liverpools academy is in it as well.