From Rhys Jaggar:
Myles,
I have read with amused disdain the past 4 years certain disreputable bloggers, all with ulterior motives mostly associated with kissing the backside of Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis, claiming that ‘players being away from Arsenal turns them into ‘shit players”.
Perhaps one should therefore ask why a 19 year old, who has never been anywhere near Arsenal, appears to have talents every bit as good as those of Arsenal players, would undoubtedly fit straight away into the first team, assuming talent, not nationality, were the sole criterion for selection, has managed to develop as he has?
This emerging English talent spent 5 years in the Milton Keynes Dons youth system, his home town and made a debut in the first team aged 16, albeit only playing a few matches that first season, mostly in the FA Cup.
That is a timetable similar to Wayne Rooney and Gareth Bale, two whose careers have reached suitable heights for benchmarking.
For the next two seasons, namely aged 17 – 19 he played regularly for Milton Keynes, although his registration transferred from them to THFC 18 months into that 2 year playing apprenticeship. He also played regularly for England youth teams, at U17, U18 and U19 levels, which clearly suggests that the FA
Coaches do not consider the youth set up at MK Dons to be ‘shit’, in fact they clearly consider it to be highly satisfactory.
He made 37 appearances for MK Dons in 2013/14, just the right number to deliver experience without burn-out, red zones or whatever.
Clearly, attention to sustainable development was not absent at that ‘shit club’. He made a further 39 appearances as an 18/19 year old, establishing a first-choice reputation in his second season.
How many Arsenal ‘budding stars’ have played 88 times in competitive play over three seasons by the age of 19 yrs 1 month?? And how many might be fulfilling their talents more effectively if they had??
So what then happened to this 19 year old in the summer of 2015? Was he taken on a tour of the far east, played in a couple of meaningless friendlies and then consigned to the U21s, the bench or a lower-league loan??
No, he entered the 1st team squad of Pochettino at Spurs, was given a substitute debut in the first game of the season, made his mark through impactful substitutions and earned a starting slot. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands and was called into the England senior squad. Once again, he was not parachuted into a starting role, rather a substitutes’ slot and then, with an injury to Carrick offering him a starting berth, he grabbed it with both hands and is now being talked about as potentially being a core part of England’s 2016 summer tournament.
My judgement?
1. Youth development of talent can occur perfectly happily at a home town club, even if the senior side are not in the EPL or the UCL. In fact, clubs like that may take more care of their youth, as they see them as potential first team players and potential sources of 7 figure transfer sums.
2. Professional experience on the pitch between 16 and 19 is critical in the development trajectory of a successful international player. The right level is critical: too high and no opportunities will arise; too low and bad habits will be picked up. The right coaches are also important, something the FA can have a role in influencing.
3. The confidence borne of playing for England youth set-ups, allied to the humility of playing professional club football in the lower leagues, builds appropriate understanding of what is required to reach the top through hard work over a number of years.
4. Dele Alli didn’t suddenly get transformed by Pochettino in 3 months – he was ready to receive the input that Pochetino was able to deliver courtesy of 2 seasons of regular starting slots in a lower league.
5. A club not chock full of foreign stars with contractual clauses guaranteeing starting positions is a better place for a 19 year old Englishman.
6. Even with all the ‘stars aligned in his favour’ it was still up to Alli to step up to the plate to take his chances.
7. If he changes his attitudes now, all the hard work he has done so far may well get undone. He should stick with what has succeeded and continue to raise his personal bars to see how far he can go.
I have pretty close to zero tolerance for Arsenal FC saying that they have a superior U15 set up to even small-to-medium sized clubs in England.
They do not have a trajectory which produces players at senior EPL level, they do not have a structure which says: ‘many may need to be sold at 16 to lower league clubs to gain 3 – 7 years playing time before they can have a fulfilling career at Arsenal’. And they do not have a set up which keeps their youngsters healthy and injury-free.
Arsenal FC have a very great deal of money and a desire to create a closed-shop oligarchy which bleeds the whole of the lower parts of the football pyramid dry.
And they certainly don’t have any desire to be an engine for the England national team any time soon (what a surprise that the French wish to insert a new manager before he has barely achieved his coaching badges, to continue the French undermining of English EPL playing chances, eh?)
They pay 17-18 year olds far too much before they have proven their worth for three seasons, they stymie their development because they need to win trophies immediately and they snarl at anyone who says that English football is healthier when young talent is developed at Southampton, at Milton Keynes, at Leeds Utd, at Everton or wherever.
Perhaps if they focussed solely on an holistic view of the footballers’ life from 9 to 35 and see how many England players, how many UCL players, how many EPL players and how many players who played 400 times in a career, they would have a better gauge of their apparent ‘superiority’ or otherwise??
Because I don’t see it myself.
They create English players who end up in the lower leagues after barely playing for Arsenal at all.
Maybe they should be selling more 16 year olds to MK Dons or the like, with a first option on buy back for 7 years, even if the registration transfers somewhere else in the meantime?
Then the self-righteous ‘we can’t let our luvvies out of our pristine Colney Creche, they might learn that other clubs treat their youngsters better!’ might stop, eh??
The real question is whether Arsenal FC are prepared to destroy the careers of any youngster who says at 16: ‘no I won’t sign forms with you now, I want to play every week for the next 3 years. But I will always be grateful to you for what you have done and would always consider a return, if there will genuinely be chances for me to play regularly for the 1st team in the future….’?
And the other question is whether there is an aura of Arsenal U16s which makes them think that they have made it, when clearly, they’ve not yet once played a game in a professional environment.
Makes them want a fat contract for not playing first team football, rather than a career trajectory in football which starts a bit lower but rises rather higher over time??
The career template of Dele Alli to date, like Gareth Bale before him, is the one ambitious young English footballers should follow.