English youth football - Why isn't this a bigger deal?

On the 11th June 2017 England reached their second ever men's World Cup final and their first since 1966. However unlike that famous day at Wembley, this final saw the under 20's take on South American side Venezuela... and they won! That's right, England are world champions! So why isn't this everywhere? Why do so many people not seem to care about history being made in English football? Simple. In this country, we don't take youth football seriously.

Now this isn't everyone, I for one am a firm believer in youth internationals and think they should be taken just as seriously as senior internationals. They help to prepare younger players for international football, where a mesh in styles makes it a completely different animal to the domestic game. Also preparing the future first team players for the travelling involved with qualification for major tournaments and the tournaments itself will make the experience much let daunting. Most of all however the experience gained by youth internationals is one which could set the precedent for the years to come, it could be a sneak peak into the countries future successes on the world stage.

Now with the FIFA U20 World Cup and the UEFA U21 European Championships you would expect to see the winning nation's senior side mirroring it's youth systems success a few years on, and on plenty of occasions that is correct. Italy perhaps being the prime examples, between the years of 1992 and 2004 Italy won 5 out of 7 under 21's European Championships. The next competition they won? The 2006 FIFA World Cup. The best way to look at this is to see the group of players that featured in Italy's youth successes leading up to their 4th world cup win. Starting with their 1996 tournament success, the man named player of the tournament that year was none other then Fabio Cannavaro, the future Italian captain who would lift the World Cup for Italy a decade later. In that same side we saw great AC Milan centre back Alessandro Nesta, who played a crucial role in the Azzurir's senior defence for 10 years to come. And of course, Francesco Totti, the Roma striker who has just announced his retirement a very impressive 21 years after scoring the winner in the semi finals of the 1996 Under 21's European championship on the way to winning the competition. Now to the year 2000, straight out of the block can you guess the scorer of a brace in the final and winner of player of the tournament as well as the golden boot? Andrea Pirlo. The midfielder went on to have an incredible career at the top, playing for the likes of Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus, during the 2006 World Cup Pirlo was voted as the third best player in the competition, showing his success on the national stage. Much like Pirlo a future anchor in Italy's midfield featured in the before mentioned tournament, Gennaro Gattuso. The hard tackling midfielder went on to feature 73 times for the senior side and was named man of the match in the 2006 World Cup quarter final, proving to be a very important part of that side. And finally onto Italy's 2004 Under 21's European Championship win which saw Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Gilardino and Andrea Barzagli all starting in the final two years before playing a part in Italy's World cup win, with Gilardino, much like Pirlo 4 years prior, winning the golden boot and title of best player of the tournament.

Italy are a prime example how success on the youth level can translate to success at the senior tournaments, but they aren't the only example. Germany are the current World Champions after winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, just 5 years prior at the 2009 Under 21's European Championship, they managed to roll over England 4-0 in the final (We'll get back to that later). In that final Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Mesut Ozil, Howedes and Manuel Neuer all started, these same five players also started the 2014 FIFA World cup Final. Sami Khedira also started in the youth final and despite not featuring from the start in their World Cup winning performance, was a big part of their overall campaign. During Spain's most successful period in their history, winning three major senior tournaments back to back to back and making history in the process, their Under 21 side also won the European Champions in 2011 with Juan Mata staring. The current Manchester United midfielder won player of the tournament, and just one year later scored in Spain's 4-0 win against Italy during UEFA 2012 European Championships final.

Italy, Germany and Spain are the three most recent sides to translate youth success into senior titles. Until Portugal's European Championship win in 2016, the previously mentioned nations were also the only three sides to win a major international competition in the previous decade, proving that success at the youth level can be a sign of things to come. So why aren't more Englishman sighting the Under 20's World Cup win as a look into the future? Why, do we not have the confidence that this group of players can end what is now over 50 years of hurt? Simple, England and the FA don't take youth internationals seriously. Remember the U21's 2009 European Championship I mentioned earlier? When a German side made up of 5 future world champions beat England 4-0? This was the first final ANY England side had reached since the 1980's, which is a major achievement. Well lets look at that England side. Now at the time of writing this, 14th June 2017, England have just faced and lost 3-2 to France in a friendly in Paris. Do you know how many members of the 2009 under 21's side were a part, not of the starting eleven, but of the twenty three man squad? Zero. Overall nine of the German players from the match day squad in 2009 featured in their most recent squad, but zero for England. The players who were seen as the future of English football have, in the most part, done nothing of real note since their losing effort against Germany in 2009, with only 6 of them ever playing for the senior team, three of which playing within the last 12 months but as of right now, not a single member of the 2009 Under 21's side is a part of the England squad.

Okay but a bad history of translating youth success into senior success isn't everything, a lot of very talented youngsters break through the ranks every year around the country, the likes of Marcus Rashford and Dele Ali are two prime examples. Recent research has valued Ali as the second most valuable player in Europe (trailing only to Neymar) and the Spurs midfielder is the current PFA Young Player of the Year! Now Marcus Rashford, despite a relatively slow season, scored 5 goals in his first 11 league games for Manchester United and shot to stardom very quickly, being touted as the leader of England's next generation of front men. However this is my problem, Ali and Rashford are 21 and 19 years old respectively, and yet despite the Under 20's World Cup taking place, as well at the Under 21's Toulon Tournament both of which England won, neither Ali or Rashford were featured in the squads. Also in two days (16th June 2017) the Under 21's European Championships for 2017 gets under way, the tournament which has shown a bigger glimpse into the future then any other, and yet again, neither Rashford or Ali are featuring. This takes it right back to my very first point, neither player is going to these tournaments because the FA do not see youth football as a priority. Now with Dele Ali it is different, he is a guaranteed starter in the England team so to some degree you can understand his involvement being solely with the senior team. But Rashford does not start for England and rarely features at all, so you'd think the opportunity to win some silverware and be a focal point for the youth sides going into competitions would be a great opportunity for the teenager to get some experience on the international level, putting him in a much better position for the future. But no, instead he sits on the bench for the senior team. And this is why expectations are virtually none existent coming from the Under 20's World Cup win, yes it's a great achievement, but how can we tout these players as the 'future of English football' if the best young players in England right now don't even feature in the squad despite being eligible?

As soon as a player is seen as 'good enough' he is forced into the senior squad whether he's ready or not. Player for the senior sides at a younger age is fine, there is nothing wrong with that, what is wrong with it however, is if sitting on the bench watching a senior friendly takes precedent over playing in a youth world cup final. Players being made unavailable by their club, the FA or simply not being interesting in featuring in youth internationals is exactly why winning the Under 20's World Cup means nothing. The 'next generation' of England players will likely have a handful of Under 20's and Under 21's caps between them purely because it isn't treated with the respect it deserves, which is the respect other countries treat it with. Footballing giants like Germany use the youth systems to build teams, to build players and to give them the experience that will help them drastically in the senior competitions to come. England use youth football as something for EFL players and Premier League kids to feature in who will likely never get a real shot at the first team.

But yay... England are world champions.

Chinese Super league - What Just Happened?

It's been threatening to for a while, but it appears the Chinese Super league is finally making its claim to become a new power house of world football. As another rather uneventful January transfer window in England has drawn to a close, the window in China is still open, and the incredible list of player who have taken the journey to China is continuing to grow. After Didier Drogba signed for Shanghai Shenhua in 2012, the Chinese league appeared to calm down for a period, with only a few top name players moving to the country, and much like the MLS, these players where heading towards the back end on their career, which makes this January's transfer spectacular even more incredible!

With still two weeks to go in their winter transfer window, the top tier of Chinese football has seen a staggering £105,445,598.18 spend on incoming players so far, comfortably topping the English Premier Leagues spending for this window and making it the highest spending league in the world for the winter window. As well as this, four of the top five spending individual clubs in this window have been Chinese, with only Norwich City bucking the trend. Now, we have seen obscure leagues spend incredible money on a lot of big name players in the past, the most recent examples being the MLS, bringing in the likes of Kaka, David Villa, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo all in a short space of time, the reason why this Chinese spending spree is so different and is making the whole football world take note is that, these players are not only big names, but still in the prime of their career and could force their way into some of the top teams in world football. Former Arsenal winger Gervinho made the jump this window, as did Colombian midfielder Fredy Guarin and the ever present, now former Chelsea deep lying midfielder Ramires. However, the two biggest deal of the window both broke the record transfer fee for Chinese football, and both 100% made the world of football stand back and watch, especially those in England!

The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil saw a lot of players showcase their talents on the biggest stage of them all, and one striker who certainly took advantage of this was Jackson Martinez, despite stiff competition from team mates restricting his time on the pitch, when he started the group game against Japan, Martinez scored a very impressive brace, and showed the world what he could do! Alongside an incredible goal scoring record of 67 goal in 89 games for FC Porto in Portugal, in the summer of 2015 Jackson made a 35 million Euro move to Atletico Madrid, turning down long term suitors Arsenal in the process. Martinez has been on the radar for the London based club for quite a while, so when things failed to click at Atletico for Jackson, it was widely rumored that Arsenal would make another attempt to sign the front man. However, almost out of no where, 3rd February 2016 saw a Asian transfer record fee of 42 Million Euros agreed to bring Jackson to Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao. This deal shook the world of football, seeing such a big name, coming from one of the worlds elite in Athletico, moving to China, however this wasn't the biggest deal of the window. 

Liverpool Football Club, the five time champions of Europe, 18 times champions of England, one of the world recognised super powers of the beautiful game, so who'd of thought they'd ever lose out in signing their number one target to a side from China? Well that's what happened. Brazilian attacking midfielder Alex Teixeria has spend the last few seasons letting the world of football know about his ability! With 46 goals in 62 games over the last two season for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, it appeared the Brazilian was to follow in the footsteps of fellow former Shakhtar stars such as Douglas Costa, Willian and Fernandiniho to make a big money move away from the club. When Liverpool approached the Donetsk based side about signing Teixeira in January of this year, they where turned down, and told they would have to offer upwards of 50 Million Euros to sign the Brazilian, despite trying to lower the price for most on the month, the English transfer window closed with the deal dead in the water. Alex Teixeira came out and said he wished for the deal to go threw to increase his chances of representing his national team. When the deal didn't happen, it appeared as if Teixeira was very disappointing with this decision and his comments hinted at a move to the club the following summer. However, no more then three days later, the 50 Million Euro price tag set on the Brazilian by Shakhtar had been met, not by Liverpool, but by Jiangsu Suning for a record Chinese transfer fee, meaning the record fee had been broken twice in two days! This deal ran riot in the English media, and made many people who has tried to ignore the Chinese Super League's spending stand up and take notice! A player with such high potential, has moved to the league, after failing to secure a deal to a traditional giant of the game! 

The back to back record transfers saw the Chinese Super League burst into the spot light, with many people questioning how and why this had happened! And then, days later it was revealed that Chelsea had declined a 60 Million Euro bid for Brazilian midfielder Oscar, which would have made him the third most expensive transfer in English football history (After Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, and Fernando Torres to Chelsea). When this offer came to light, you certainly have to wonder what has caused this sudden influx of talent and this, almost obsession with the game which hasn't been seen before from the Chinese league. Chinese president Xi Jinping announced a goal to create a domestic sport economy worth $850bn by 2025. At the heart of this goal and the accompanying plan is the aim of hosting and winning the World Cup. The influx of money being pumped into Chinese football is of course going to attract many players to get involved in this country wide push, as well as top players coming to China, former England and Manchester City boss Sven Goran-Eriksson, and World Cup winning manager Luiz Felipe Scolari have started managing in the top tier of Chinese football. The increase in both playing and managing staff will see the standard of the league grow drastically, now the overall goal of the Chinese national side winning the World Cup may be very, very, very far in the future but the increase in talent in their top flight can only lead to good things for Chinese football. 


Well the Leicester City owner said he would invest to ensure a top five finish for the foxes, and now they're six points clear at the top of the table, so you never know, in 2026 we may be seeing China win their first ever World Cup!