Comments on: Rafa’s army for Liverpool’s Premier League domination

By: ckay

ckay — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:51:10 +0000

gerardo bruna is very higly rated but he is in the youth team
.good article though…….why are you mancs still wailing…

By: Manager

Manager — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:28:52 +0000

Gerardo Bruna, is he still at the club? if so is he still a good potential star?

it is long overdue that Hobbs get a breaktru.

and so now there will be a Poldolskei(spelling)?

By: Ahmed Bilal

Ahmed Bilal — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:33:43 +0000

Hmmm…what the article is doing is pointing out how Liverpool is building for the long-term future by bringing in the best players from different countries into their academy.

Yes, you could do the same for other clubs but the approach Rafa has taken (best from each country) is different from United’s or Arsenal’s approach (both have a strong English presence in their youth setups) and Chelsea are, well, they’re Chelsea.

Will Liverpool dominate the Premier League in the future? Probably not, but the youth academy is part of Liverpool’s long-term plans to be in a position to do that. The assumption that they won’t lies in our bias against them or our bias for our own teams more than anything else.

Or it could be because they’re skint and the board doesn’t let Rafa have his way…

By: RUtalking2me?

RUtalking2me? — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:24:29 +0000

I am confused. Is this article about youth development or poaching ? Only two of the players mentioned in the article are actually English !!

By: Coogie

Coogie — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:54:12 +0000

As much as you would like to see talent come through these days, not at Liverpool ofcourse , it doesnt get the chance as it used to! Football has changed dramatically since the days of Beckham, Butt, Scholes etc making an effortless transition from Youth Team to Reserves to First Team! There’s too much money, there’s too much expectations from the fan’s, youth does not get a chance! I’ts beggers belief how many players United have let go over this past 4 years that could have developed into top players, but unless they show early signs of maturity and top talent they will not get the chance! Sad state of affairs but it’s facts!

By: BD Condell

BD Condell — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:51:41 +0000

I should have added that winning the reserve leagues is not the same indicator it used to be, as most of the top teams farm out a lot of their emerging talent on loan so the reserves are not representative of what is available.

By: BD Condell

BD Condell — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:49:37 +0000

The thing is Eddie, as Liam says, you could run this for all the top teams. The gap between being a promising teen and actually becoming a star player is huge. I don’t have the stats but something like 1 in 10 sounds reasonable.

If you look at Utd in recent years there has been:
Chadwick, Jones, Richardson, Pique, Spector, Rossi, Thornley, Bardsley, and a host of others that don’t spring to mind. All of these were rated very highly and while they have moved on and 1 or 2 may yet become top players, the truth is that most will not be good enough to play for a ‘top 4′ team.

Currently Utd have:
Campbell, Possebon, Da Silva x 2, Evans, Eagles, Foster, Welbeck, Simpson, Lee Martin and Cathcart. Some have had very promising loan spells and, again, all are highly rated but not many will make the grade at Utd.

Of the ones who have left, many got a reasonable shot at the first team but it became obvious that they wouldn’t make the grade.

Even O’Shea and Fletcher who have travelled that route to the 1st team are not regulars or rated as star players.

Fot Lucas and Babel at Liverpool read Anderson and Nani at Utd. Slightly different here as they were bought as already established talent.

So, a good list at Liverpool for sure but the headline is unlikely to materialise.

By: Liam

Liam — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:17:44 +0000

wow I’m scared you could probably do a similar one on United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real, Barca and a few other big teams and get similar results. Youth isnt given a chance these days at the top level because teams buy expensive young players that will hold their positions for 5-10 years. Only when you find a real gem like Barca did with Messi but there aren’t too many of those floating around these days.

By: rob

rob — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:43:39 +0000

I agree, good article, but Pacheco definitely should have been mentioned, as he is the second best talent behind Nemeth.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:17:50 +0000

good article… however you fail to mention daniel pacheco and jay spearing, who along with nemeth are probably the three most exciting talents