Spursex
Alert Team
The dream starts here for England’s youngsters
Michael Calvin
England’s youth players had a summer of love but their passion will be tested in the harsher confines of their clubs
At times like this, when criticism is fierce and the familiar flaws of another World Cup qualifying campaign cannot be camouflaged by results, Gareth Southgate would be forgiven for coveting a return to development football, where England teams operate in a bubble of best practice and earnest intentions.
His new world is harsher, infinitely more judgemental, but not entirely without hope, since the struggle for consistency and credibility at senior international level is balanced by the burgeoning promise of age group squads which have carried on where they left off in their summer of love.
England’s under-20 team, the current world champions, set the tone on Thursday evening with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Holland. Tottenham’s Marcus Edwards, rashly compared to Lionel Messi by Mauricio Pochettino, scored with a sumptuous free-kick.
The under-19s won 7-1, easing up, against Poland at St George’s Park the next day. Their quality of movement and poise on the ball were so impressive that hat-tricks by George Hirst, of Sheffield Wednesday, and Arsenal’s Edward Nketiah seemed almost incidental.
Ipswich Town’s Tristan Nydam announced himself as a beautifully balanced left-footed midfield player. The creativity of Sunderland’s Elliot Embleton, scorer of the other goal, compensated for occasional coltish clumsiness. Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson seized the eye as a second-half substitute.
Seven of the team that won the Under-20 World Cup featured in the opening match of England’s European Under-21 Championship qualifying programme on Friday night, a 1-1 draw in Holland. Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin maintained the momentum of a breakthrough season with a goal on his debut.
Arguably England’s most naturally talented group began their preparations for next month’s Under-17 World Cup finals in India with a goalless draw in an under-18 friendly against Brazil. England even won the penalty shoot-out, 5-4.
Steve Cooper, their head coach, preferred to highlight collective virtues rather than individual contributions. He was reflecting the conservatism of his trade; others, with less altruistic motives, were more prepared to name names and, quietly, estimate market values.
A Juventus scout came to assess Brazilian striker Yuri Alberto, who also interests Arsenal, Manchester United and Inter Milan. By half-time he was telling his superiors about the dynamism of Tottenham’s Tashan Oakley-Boothe and the game intelligence of Manchester City’s playmaker Phil Foden, the defensive qualities of Chelsea’s Marc Guehi.
Foden fits the Barça blueprint. His instant control and instinctive appreciation of space is matched by discipline out of possession. His tactical maturity enabled him to play across a front three supporting a lone striker, Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster.
My companion suggested he is already worth double the £8m Borussia Dortmund paid for Jadon Sancho, his disaffected City colleague, on Thursday.
At 17, he has made City’s first-team bench in the Champions League and starred in a friendly against Manchester United. He will doubtless be Pep Guardiola’s first Premier League debutant from the club’s £300m academy, but the system needs more than token opportunity if its pretensions are not to be exposed.
The depth of England’s talent pool is highlighted in a password-protected room on the top floor of the National Football Centre. The names and passport-style photographs of England’s best young players, arranged in seven squads from under-15s upwards, are posted vertically on the walls. Each features an optimal starting 11 in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Dan Ashworth, the FA’s technical director, classifies 459 youth players as England’s elite. Of those, 175 are female, and have a less cluttered pathway since statistics suggest 19% will become full internationals.
Only 5.28% of the 284 male players will progress to the senior team.
The fallout rate begs questions of the game’s duty of care. Around half of one per cent of the boys who enter academies at the age of nine will make a living from the game.
Only 180 of the 1.5m who play organised youth football in England at any one time will play in the Premier League, a success rate of 0.012%.
Southgate is admirably realistic: “We can spot a talent, get an idea of the stability of the family, but the path is so complex. The defining factor in a successful pro is mentality. You’re assuming he is at a high level technically, but there is something very important about the ability to learn, to keep wanting to learn and improve.
It’s about dealing with the constant setbacks, the constant need to adapt and adjust.”
That is Sancho’s challenge. Hailed as “one of the biggest talents in European football” by Dortmund’s Michael Zorc, his departure from City, and consequent withdrawal from Cooper’s under-17 squad, was messy. As one of four England youth internationals in the Bundesliga, he embodies football’s institutionalised impatience and opportunism.
The biggest push internationally involves the identification of leaders. Players are consciously placed in uncomfortable situations, such as standing up in front of their peers to manage video analysis of set-piece plays. Their personalities, performance principles and belief systems are investigated in one-on-one sessions with coaches and support staff.
They interact seamlessly with their seniors; Harry Kane spoke to Cooper’s squad about the importance of taking what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Jack Butland did a one-hour Skype session with the goalkeepers. Everton’s Tom Davies will share his experience of breaking into first-team football.
“A large percentage of these boys are fresh out of school,” Cooper explained. “They are athletes and look like footballers with the England kit on but there are so many things swirling around them. We are working for the here and now, with one eye on the long-term vision of being successful at senior level.
“I am really proud of them, the way they speak with adults, the way they get each other up when they are down, the way they represent themselves. They are a credit to their generation. They have a commitment to learning, to performing under pressure and delivering when it counts. If you haven’t got that I don’t think you will do the distance with us.”
Starlets go abroad to make their name
Jadon Sancho Manchester City’s England Under-17 forward moved to Borussia Dortmund on transfer deadline day for £10m. The 17-year-old, who joined City from Watford in 2015, had refused to train in an effort to force a move. He will wear the No7 shirt vacated by Ousmane Dembele, who signed for Barcelona for an initial £96.8m, rising to £135.5m. So, no pressure then.
Chris Willock The 19-year-old joined Arsenal’s academy when he was five, but after only two substitute appearances totalling 25 minutes in League Cup ties, the winger, who has played at England Under-16/17/18/19 levels, signed a five-year deal with the Portuguese champions Benfica.
Reece Oxford Made a big impression when West Ham won at Arsenal on the opening day of the 2015-6 season. Now 18, he has represented England from Under-16 to Under-20 levels and moved on loan to Borussia Monchengladbach.
Kaylen Hinds Another Arsenal product, the 19-year-old England Under-16/17/18 striker joined Wolfsburg in July on a three-year deal.
Michael Calvin
England’s youth players had a summer of love but their passion will be tested in the harsher confines of their clubs
At times like this, when criticism is fierce and the familiar flaws of another World Cup qualifying campaign cannot be camouflaged by results, Gareth Southgate would be forgiven for coveting a return to development football, where England teams operate in a bubble of best practice and earnest intentions.
His new world is harsher, infinitely more judgemental, but not entirely without hope, since the struggle for consistency and credibility at senior international level is balanced by the burgeoning promise of age group squads which have carried on where they left off in their summer of love.
England’s under-20 team, the current world champions, set the tone on Thursday evening with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Holland. Tottenham’s Marcus Edwards, rashly compared to Lionel Messi by Mauricio Pochettino, scored with a sumptuous free-kick.
The under-19s won 7-1, easing up, against Poland at St George’s Park the next day. Their quality of movement and poise on the ball were so impressive that hat-tricks by George Hirst, of Sheffield Wednesday, and Arsenal’s Edward Nketiah seemed almost incidental.
Ipswich Town’s Tristan Nydam announced himself as a beautifully balanced left-footed midfield player. The creativity of Sunderland’s Elliot Embleton, scorer of the other goal, compensated for occasional coltish clumsiness. Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson seized the eye as a second-half substitute.
Seven of the team that won the Under-20 World Cup featured in the opening match of England’s European Under-21 Championship qualifying programme on Friday night, a 1-1 draw in Holland. Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin maintained the momentum of a breakthrough season with a goal on his debut.
Arguably England’s most naturally talented group began their preparations for next month’s Under-17 World Cup finals in India with a goalless draw in an under-18 friendly against Brazil. England even won the penalty shoot-out, 5-4.
Steve Cooper, their head coach, preferred to highlight collective virtues rather than individual contributions. He was reflecting the conservatism of his trade; others, with less altruistic motives, were more prepared to name names and, quietly, estimate market values.
A Juventus scout came to assess Brazilian striker Yuri Alberto, who also interests Arsenal, Manchester United and Inter Milan. By half-time he was telling his superiors about the dynamism of Tottenham’s Tashan Oakley-Boothe and the game intelligence of Manchester City’s playmaker Phil Foden, the defensive qualities of Chelsea’s Marc Guehi.
Foden fits the Barça blueprint. His instant control and instinctive appreciation of space is matched by discipline out of possession. His tactical maturity enabled him to play across a front three supporting a lone striker, Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster.
My companion suggested he is already worth double the £8m Borussia Dortmund paid for Jadon Sancho, his disaffected City colleague, on Thursday.
At 17, he has made City’s first-team bench in the Champions League and starred in a friendly against Manchester United. He will doubtless be Pep Guardiola’s first Premier League debutant from the club’s £300m academy, but the system needs more than token opportunity if its pretensions are not to be exposed.
The depth of England’s talent pool is highlighted in a password-protected room on the top floor of the National Football Centre. The names and passport-style photographs of England’s best young players, arranged in seven squads from under-15s upwards, are posted vertically on the walls. Each features an optimal starting 11 in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Dan Ashworth, the FA’s technical director, classifies 459 youth players as England’s elite. Of those, 175 are female, and have a less cluttered pathway since statistics suggest 19% will become full internationals.
Only 5.28% of the 284 male players will progress to the senior team.
The fallout rate begs questions of the game’s duty of care. Around half of one per cent of the boys who enter academies at the age of nine will make a living from the game.
Only 180 of the 1.5m who play organised youth football in England at any one time will play in the Premier League, a success rate of 0.012%.
Southgate is admirably realistic: “We can spot a talent, get an idea of the stability of the family, but the path is so complex. The defining factor in a successful pro is mentality. You’re assuming he is at a high level technically, but there is something very important about the ability to learn, to keep wanting to learn and improve.
It’s about dealing with the constant setbacks, the constant need to adapt and adjust.”
That is Sancho’s challenge. Hailed as “one of the biggest talents in European football” by Dortmund’s Michael Zorc, his departure from City, and consequent withdrawal from Cooper’s under-17 squad, was messy. As one of four England youth internationals in the Bundesliga, he embodies football’s institutionalised impatience and opportunism.
The biggest push internationally involves the identification of leaders. Players are consciously placed in uncomfortable situations, such as standing up in front of their peers to manage video analysis of set-piece plays. Their personalities, performance principles and belief systems are investigated in one-on-one sessions with coaches and support staff.
They interact seamlessly with their seniors; Harry Kane spoke to Cooper’s squad about the importance of taking what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Jack Butland did a one-hour Skype session with the goalkeepers. Everton’s Tom Davies will share his experience of breaking into first-team football.
“A large percentage of these boys are fresh out of school,” Cooper explained. “They are athletes and look like footballers with the England kit on but there are so many things swirling around them. We are working for the here and now, with one eye on the long-term vision of being successful at senior level.
“I am really proud of them, the way they speak with adults, the way they get each other up when they are down, the way they represent themselves. They are a credit to their generation. They have a commitment to learning, to performing under pressure and delivering when it counts. If you haven’t got that I don’t think you will do the distance with us.”
Starlets go abroad to make their name
Jadon Sancho Manchester City’s England Under-17 forward moved to Borussia Dortmund on transfer deadline day for £10m. The 17-year-old, who joined City from Watford in 2015, had refused to train in an effort to force a move. He will wear the No7 shirt vacated by Ousmane Dembele, who signed for Barcelona for an initial £96.8m, rising to £135.5m. So, no pressure then.
Chris Willock The 19-year-old joined Arsenal’s academy when he was five, but after only two substitute appearances totalling 25 minutes in League Cup ties, the winger, who has played at England Under-16/17/18/19 levels, signed a five-year deal with the Portuguese champions Benfica.
Reece Oxford Made a big impression when West Ham won at Arsenal on the opening day of the 2015-6 season. Now 18, he has represented England from Under-16 to Under-20 levels and moved on loan to Borussia Monchengladbach.
Kaylen Hinds Another Arsenal product, the 19-year-old England Under-16/17/18 striker joined Wolfsburg in July on a three-year deal.
