According to SportingIntelligence Saints sit in 49th for best Producing Academy for Europes 'Big 5' divisions. In England Saints are positioned 8th, behind Man Utd, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Tottenham, West Ham, Newcastle United and Man City. Have a read for more info: http://www.sportingintelligence.com...rs-for-clubs-in-europes-elite-leagues-131201/ Personally, it's nice to see Saints up there, but I'm not to worried about the position were in as we all know that we produce good quality English players and at this rate it will continue long into the future. Just found the article interesting and that some of you will find it interesting!
I suppose your academy will become even better now that you aren't confined to players within a 90 mile radius and can cherry-pick the best lower league talent for a tuppence. (Note: That isn't a slight against Southampton, merely the system)
To be honest, isn't doesn't matter where they come from, as long as someone can give talented individuals the chance to be good footballers, if we are fortunate to pick up some gems so much the better, but as long as the attitude is right and not predatory I will encourage the Academy as best as I can.
I can't figure out who Stade Rennais have produced. So far I've got Yoann Gourcuff and Anthony Reveillere. How are they 4th?
Players are nearly always going to want to go to Premier League clubs over lower league clubs, therefore a lower league club will be at a massive disadvantage. At least before they would only be competing against local teams, now Man City can come and take a promising player from Exmouth or wherever while before they'd be picked up by Exeter first for example. That means that the lower league club misses out on the potential transfer money while the player in question will have a lot lower chance of getting any first team experience. It's a **** system for everyone except for the top clubs.
M'Vila? It's quite dependant on the way they calculate it, Rennes could have produced a bunch of players who wouldn't get into English teams and we haven't been in one of these 'big 5' leagues for a while so we're disadvantaged as well under their criteria. I wouldn't say it's poorly researched, their stats are probably accurate, it's just quite a nebulous concept which is difficult to measure.
I agree they shouldn't be fourth and we shouldn't be 49th. We should be ahead of Spurs & Villa. Good to see we are ahead of Leeds and Crewe should be higher than 150th
I only believe surveys if they show we are the greatest team in the known universe....otherwise they are deeply flawed
By what they have surveyed, we have to be quite low down because we sell our academy players off at an early age. That's why Spurs and Arsenal are so high up and we aren't
I can't figure out how the Saints Academy are 8th in the UK. I would put them comfortably in the top 3. Perhaps even best of the UK.
