For a minute then, I thought this was a article about the first team being in Europe! It sounds like a good idea. Gets the younger players some European experience which should help them later in their career.
This can only be good news for the youngsters. Any yeah, no Mancs, no Chelsea & no Arsenal. So no doubt they'll all attempt to denigrate what could become a fabulous annual tournament
Yet you're missing the fact Barcelona and Inter Milan ARE in it, all it shows is those clubs you've mentioned don't have the best youth setup.
The irony of that statement is mind boggling! We all know who the guy with the extremely low IQ and little knowledge on anything is here, and it's certainly not me. Your Occupation alone shows exactly how thick you are. Have you got any proof that Ajax's youth setup is producing the same talent they once were, at this moment in time? No, you haven't - and incidentally PSV got in ahead of Ajax. "Continent's top young footballers," I'm quite sure they didn't just pick the teams at random you know...
My only guess is they turned the offer down, after all it will cost quite a lot of money with not much in the way of returns and with their current financial issues I wouldn't be surprised if they just turned it down.
So you think since Ajax isn't producing the same calibre of players today like it did a few years ago means they don't have a good youth set up? Your words not mine. The fact that you have dismissed the club which traditionally has been the envy of Europe for producing players such as Johan Cruijff, Frank Rijkaard, Marco Van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, the de Boer twins, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, John Heitinga, Nigel de Jong, Maarten Stekelenburg, and Gregory van deer Wiel; I find quite staggering. You play down their youth system but surely you must know that the production of highly talented young players is a difficult process which does not always produce dividends even for teams such as Ajax. Liverpool themselves have proven not to be productive when it comes to developing their own talent when compared to other teams. Man Utd for whatever reason has chosen or not been asked (highly unlikely) to participate in this tournament which should be highly beneficial for the young emerging players of Europe. Do you honestly believe that failure to play in this tournament shows that a clubs youth setup must be failing? If so explain Man Utd's absence and yet still they are the winners of the FA Youth Cup this season and have in their midst many highly promising players?
With the exception of Ajax then, the clubs mentioned historically aren't known for their youth setup. Of course I know of the talent produced from Ajax, but they have a Academy league like us and if they didn't come top in that then they probably wouldn't get into the European competition. I don't see West Ham in that list of clubs involved, and their academy is surely one of the best in England; so it's either down to choice from the club or for some reason the club missed out on it this year. Man Utd came 5th behind Bolton, Man city, Everton and Liverpool. My only guess as to you not being in the competition would be because of the league. The only reason Liverpool didn't come top of their group is because we took quite a few players out of the U18 to play for the first team in the last few games of the Academy season, where we lost 1 and drew 2 of the last 3 games, losing the group by 1 point to Everton. Mainly due to the loss of Robinson and Flanagan, aswell as occasionally Coady who was on the bench for a few games.
To be fair Liverpool do look like they are producing a few good young players right now (pains me to say it!!). I especially like the lad Kelly and believe the lad will be quality. I have no idea why Utd are not involved in this tournament which should be beneficial to the young players featuring but honestly Ill not lose sleep over it as Man Utd always seem to have promising youngsters coming through regardless of what competition they play in, though whether they make it is another matter.
I'm pretty sure you will produce 2 or 3 quality players like you did during the 90s. If Ravel can stay out of jail and keep control of himself he will be a very good player for you and I'm sure there are a few more that carry your youth team at the moment.
Morrison is quality though his temperament is very suspect. Pogba looks like an excellent player and hopefully will be featuring later next season. But its not just those two, you could add for example the likes of Will Keane, Joshua King, Matthew James and Larnell Cole to the list of players who with more coaching, effort and some luck could establish themselves at Utd.
Im hoping that this tournament is going to be worthwhile. With a number of top clubs competing it should prove good competition for our youngsters and perhaps is a gauge of how far these guys can go?
There is a reason why Man United are not in it,they haven't got a youth team worth mentioning.Their one decent prospect Ravel Morrison is facing 18 months in prison.
I think Ajax is the benchmark of what developing youth should be about. It does not always bear the same fruit but when it does it is awesome. PSV has an excellent academy program as well but a lot of that is the money that team has. The club has a philosophy but allows each coach to teach that philosophy and style in his own way, one of the big reasons I love the way they develop the youth. A vision, a plan, but freedom to develop it how you see fit.
Out of the ''Ajax youngsters'',How is it that nobody has mentioned Jan ''Rambo'' Molby.Okay he's Danish but thats where he was schooled.
