Shame to because englands u-21 has a great deal of talent.. Didnt catch Holland/russia but did see Germany/Spain. Game was decent but last 20 mins were very entertaining.. It kills me how much talent spain has in the MF.
You really think the U21 has that much talent outside of 2-3 players, maybe 4? I'm actually mystified at how FIFA has England ranked 9th or 10th.
In fact I think outside of perhaps 2 clubs in the EPL, the state of youth futbol in England is in sad shape. It's no wonder EPL teams are raiding the youth academies of other leagues especially La Liga & more specifically of Barcelona's.
is asking the Spanish FA for help in protecting EPL teams from taking their players.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/transfer-news-barcelona-want-spanish-1942321
Barcelona want Spanish FA to stop talent drain to the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool
9 Jun 2013 22:30
Premier League clubs have been snapping up wonder kids before they have signed professional terms – it's a loophole and Barca want it CLOSED
Furious Barcelona have written to the Spanish FA after they lost three more teenage gems to the Premier League.
The Spanish giants have complained they need “support and defence of our rights against English clubs” after Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool snapped up starlets from their academy.
Liverpool are set to sign teenage winger Sergi Canos, 15, before he signed terms to stay at the Nou Camp.
Chelsea have beaten off interest from Arsenal and Tottenham to sign Spanish under-15 prospect Josimar Quintero.
Arsenal boss Wenger has won his battle with Tottenham and Manchester City over 16-year-old defender Julio Pleguezuelo, as revealed in Mirror Sport on April 16.
Barcelona want the Spanish FA to close down a loophole which allows their best youngsters to escape before signing professional terms. They claim the English FA gives clubs the same protection.
Arsenal have a long history of snapping up Barcelona’s best youngsters after signing Cesc Fabregas, as well as Fran Merida, Hector Bellerin and Jon Toral, from the Nou Camp’s famous academy in recent years.
Barcelona's director of football, Andoni Zubizarreta (Zubi – ex goalie for the club) has a tough task ahead of him. In addition to getting a CB at a suitable price, he’s got to figure out what to do with the likes of Villa & Cesc. It looks like Valdez will play out his contract deferring the need for looking for a goalie for a year.
Zubi & the rest of the folks at Camp Nou must also decide what they’re going to do with the glut of young talent they gave. It’s really going to take an architect/master manager to figure this all out.
First off to bat, they have to address the likes of forward Cristian Tello, CB Marc Bartra, midfielder Thiago Alcantara, midfielder Gerard Deulofeu, & RB Martin Montoya.
They also had several players out on loan like CB Andreu Fontas to Mallorca, midfielder Ibrahim Afellay on loan to Schalke, & forward Bojan Krkic on loan to AC Milan. It’s been reported AC Milan doesn’t want to pay out €15 million for him.
You also have Rafinha Alcantara (can play any position from the midfield onward) & midfielder Sergi Roberto, forward Gerard Deulofeu, & midfielder Jonathan dos Santos (Mallorca Giovani’s brother). This is just some of the notable names I can think of but I know there’s like at least 10-15 more that are on the B team & lower squads. Then you have the young teenagers that are starting to come up.
Some might say it’s a nice problem to have but like I said, it’s going to take some heavy engineering to figure out who you’re going to keep & who you will let pass/go because I don't think there is any way to keep all these players.
I remember Johan Cruyff built his side using almost all La Masia graduates like Pep Guardiola, Luis Milla, Guillermo Amor, Sergi Barjuan and Ivan de la Pena…
I can’t think of any team that has the youth system Barca has though. Am I right?
Man U fans, what do you think the impact of the loss of Rene Meulensteen will be? He's done a lot with the youth academy & a ton of the players on Man U's side credit him with his training methods & how it keeps them fit. I have a feeling this will be a huge loss.
besides his coaching methods(he's an admirer of the Coerver technique),Rene is a person that the players all look up to...
his presence in and around the dressing room/training grounds will be missed for sure,but if you're talking about training/conditioning i think United will still do well without him...
Moyes focuses a lot on fitness and i'm curious to hear the United players talk about his infamous "horseshoe" drills soon...
what concerns me though is Eric Steele's departure from the club...
the GK coach has been responsible for De Gea's progress,even learning Spanish before DDG moved to United...
the Spaniard himself has mentioned how much he enjoyed working under Steele and i fear his future at United could be in jeopardy if Chris Woods cannot continue to get the best out of De Gea...
You're right about Steele. I forgot about his work with De Gea. Maybe that will help facilitate De Gea coming home to Spain & play for the Blaugrana.
Looks like Mike Phelan and Rene Meulensteen may be in the running for the Wigan job.
