The Messi Mire

New Contributors Week continues on Just Football with a debut article from Joe Steppel. He’s here to focus our attentions on the futility of the Premier League Academy system:

Ahhh… the Premier League Academy system: a clandestine, costly and complex animal that many fans cannot even begin to understand. The rule of thumb in recent seasons appears to show that the better the side, the less need for an Academy of any description.

In light of the above, why do clubs persist with a system that seems an exercise in futility? It appears to be nothing more than a token gesture, a spin of the roulette wheel to see if ‘0′ finally does turn up. The lesser sides merely bide their time waiting for their graduates to be sold (Jack Rodwell: you’re next). Most clubs are trapped in the Messi Mire. Why Lionel Messi?

You’ll see.

The Messi Mire can be applied to any club in the Premier League, from the Champions to those destined for the Championship. The two distinct classes in the Messi Mire are the haves (Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool & Tottenham) and the have nots (everyone else).

The Academies of the haves, have in recent seasons, barely developed a genuine top class player amongst them. For every successful educated punt (Gaël Clichy), there are ten that don’t (Jérémie Aliadière is club-less as I type). The reason behind the failure to produce a First XI calibre player is a painfully simple, yet repeatedly overlooked one. To play for a have you need to be better than who is occupying your present position, i.e. 11 internationals. When x journalist states that y club do not give youth a chance, there is no plainer reason. When the object is to win games and your job hinges on that object, do you entrust marking Fernando Torres to two international centre-backs, or an 18 year old?

Where does Messi fit into all of this? Simply put, he is the justification for the Academy system. The club must live in hope that one of these punts develops into a world class player, quickly. Otherwise it makes no business sense. If we assume that most Academies now operate at a similar standard as the first team, the costs are astronomical. A young player from overseas will have transfer costs, extortionate wages, a large signing on fees, agent fees, parent relocation and/or a host family costs… it goes deeper than the proverbial rabbit hole.

Paying off?

The free spending, however, is justified by a player like Messi: commercially and as a footballer. Most clubs casting their rod for Messi are more likely to end up in a mess than find another player of that ilk. Messi has set the bar for a youngster at a top flight club almost out of sight. The status quo in football will always mean a have can purchase a young player rather than produce their own. It’s simple business practice. Why waste millions per season taking random punts on very good teenagers, when you can buy Fabregas at 16 when anyone in world football and their Aunt saw he was a special talent? When you can essentially cherry pick from any Academy, domestic or abroad, where is the incentive to nurture your own?

Moving on to the have nots we see the other end of the spectrum. Here, through necessity, clubs must develop players to remain competitive. Had West Ham managed to keep their academy players, they would probably be winning the league. Terry, Ferdinand, G. Johnson, Lampard, Carrick, J. Cole and Defoe have all at some point played or spent time in the West Ham system. West Ham fans must wonder where all that money has gone, considering some of the fees received for the above. That notion is the crux of the matter. The have nots never can truly replace their developed players so that they, as a team, are as competitive as if the talent were still in the side.  Jack Rodwell will soon be another case in point.

There is very little to be done about the circle in place. The developers use their players as prized assets, with the haves using the Academy as an exercise in vanity. It is a system that never truly rewards the feeder club, perpetuating the all too familiar chasm. Many youngsters are promised the world when they sign for a have and while they receive the best training money can buy, their efforts appear ultimately futile. There will always be someone out there with experience, the same age, that can be bought without the risk factor. The closest 95% of these Academy players will get to the first team is that longing gaze across the training pitch, dreaming of what could and probably will never be.

They can blame Lionel Messi for that.

Pointless

Ultimately there is no economical justification for a have to operate an Academy. There are far too many variables concerning teenage footballers to make an Academy a logical necessity. A player who dominates as a teenager may have done so due to size; he will more than likely lack the technical prowess to play against adults. For all the aforementioned costs, only the production of a Messi standard of player seems justifiable. Chelsea’s Gael Kakuta is a highly promising talent, whose cameo against West Ham recently left Chelsea fans feeling he could be a real player if given the chance. Given the fact the club more than likely know his ability, why did they pursue Neymar, a player of undoubted ability, but of a similar style and age to Kakuta?

It would suggest that not even the U19 Golden Ball Winner is above the Messi Mire threshold. In fact, Alex Ferguson would rather have a punt on an unknown Portuguese player than let Tom Cleverley stay amongst the squad. When you estimate the costs of an Academy running into the tens of millions, you could theoretically have bought Mesut Özil for a third of that. It makes you wonder.

In reality there is no panacea to my question. The loop of necessity, for big clubs to have the best talent and for smaller clubs to use their players as a means of raising capital, seems entrenched in the Premier League. Enforcing an age cap on transfers would be an approach to consider. Though this is unlikely to stand up to even the flimsiest of legal challenges.

Conversely, there must be a way to halt the stockpiling of young (English, as at Spurs) players, while allowing the likes of Ramsey, Rooney et al to flourish on a grander stage. I have toyed with the idea of a loan system, where an automatic purchase is triggered if a player plays a certain amount of games before his 18th or 21th birthdays. If the hurdle is not met, the player does not complete the transfer. This would mean the poaching of teenagers was less likely to happen, as a 16 year old centre-back is unlikely to play first team football; whilst allowing for special players like Fabregas to benefit from the move. Just a thought, of course – the truth being that no such system will ever be adopted due to the vast sums of money involved in the Academy transfer game. Sadly it seems that the status quo will persist.

The Academy system is a lottery even Derren Brown cannot predict.

Read more from Joe on Twitter ( @joetweeds ) or on his own personal blog Garrincha’s Left Peg. And if you want to get involved with New Contributors Week on Just Football, read more here and get in touch!

(pic via giveawayboy on Flickr)

England, English Premier League, Football and Finance, Lionel Messi, Politics and Society, Youth Academies