What's the Future, for the Future?
With the current World Pandemic, all football has been called off, which could now show a massive impact on the young rising stars in club’s academies across the globe.
Thousands of players come February will have been waiting for information on whether or not they would have their apprenticeships extended, or if they were to be offered a pro deal with their clubs for the following season.
Most clubs will have already made their minds up on their younger players, but there will be those prospects who’s deals are up in May, that possibly needed that last few months to justify why the club should offer them a new deal.
What happens to Prospects who are let go?
You would expect the bigger clubs to have done their research on their younger players and know every inch of their youth to have made their own minds up about who they are keeping and who they are letting go.
However, it’s the players who now can’t do anymore to show these clubs why they deserve either an extension or a pro deal, it’s going to be a very testing time for them all.
It’s easy to say “let clubs keep them for another year.”
This can be the case for players Under 17 and Under 18 - but what about the players who are now past the U18 threshold and would have been looking to secure pro deals?
These players now must wait to see what happens and if they are released - how long must they now wait until they can get a trial at another club?
I know a few scouts will already work with clubs to get released younger players into clubs at lower levels and this is how this process should work.
A player who might have had a fantastic last 2 months and earned a pro deal, before the season was halted, might now be a gem for a club at the lower levels - but only time can tell.
I have spent time around non-league clubs for many years and have seen players at Steps 4-6 that have left clubs from the Premier League. You think; why have they been released? they have talent.
With this current situation we are in, I expect to see more of these players playing and learning their trade at the lower levels and struggling to get back to where they might have been if they would have had that final two months of trying to earn a pro deal.
At the other end of the spectrum, we will see players who have been in and around a clubs reserve teams for a while - possibly sent out on loan to clubs in a league or two lower, that will now also be in the uncertain land of whether or not they have had time this season to show what they can offer to their parent club.
For example, a twenty-something player may have been loaned out in January to a club in Leagues one or two and might have only had a month so far with them.
This has hardly been long enough for the scouts and evaluation teams at Premier League clubs to get a good reading on how the player will fair at a higher level in the pro game.
So with this data, if this player is due for re-negotiation, how will this now play out for them?
One thing is certain - clubs who plan for their future with youth players will now be looking to take a different direction in the coming season due to the difficult situation we find ourselves in.
How should Youth Academies respond to the situation we find ourselves in?
Have your say in the comments section below.
Article by: Shaun Rogers
Formatted by: Samuel Slaney
Thumbnail by: Samuel Slaney
Images interpreted from: Getty Images, Newport County, Brentford FC and Nike Academy.