Post by QPR Report on Dec 18, 2009 8:15:49 GMT
The article is written from a Scottish perspective, but would apply in England. (But really not a QPR matter. Since our "problem" is not signing foreign youth players - or our youth players moving abroad: And wouldnt apply to Parrett or O'Brien or Sterling
The Times - December 18, 2009
SPL clubs face changes to laws on worldwide movement of young talent Phil Gordon
Ross Wilson spent last week in Cologne on behalf of the Scottish Premier League but he was not in the German city to take in the charms of its famous Christmas market. In fact, what Wilson discovered there could soon take shopping abroad off the list of Scotland’s top clubs.
Falkirk’s head of football development attended a summit of Europe’s top leagues for the SPL and listened to proposals that will radically alter the way clubs such as Celtic, Rangers and Heart of Midlothian recruit foreign talent to their youth system.
If the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) has its way, no player will be able to move to play in another country until the age of 18. That would stop the Old Firm tapping into Scandinavia and eastern Europe, as they have in recent years, or even Australia, in the case of Hearts.
It will not just be incoming youth talent that will be protected. It will be outgoing, too. “Darren Fletcher would not have been allowed to move to Manchester United if these proposals had been around when he joined them,” Wilson said. “He would have to stay in Scotland and sign for a local club. The principal aim of this is to stop young footballers from being taken all over the place by clubs.”
Fletcher joined Manchester United in the summer of 2000 at the age of 16, having played for Tynecastle Boys Club in Edinburgh. He had already been on the radar of both Rangers and Celtic but the lure of Old Trafford was too great. If the EPFL, which is joining Fifa’s push to stem the trade in young talent, is given the go-ahead, Manchester United would have to wait until any new Fletchers reach the age of 18 before they take them from Scotland.
“What Fifa and the EPFL are trying to do does not really affect clubs like Falkirk,” Wilson said. “Our youth system is recruited almost entirely from local players. However, there are a few other clubs, such as Celtic, Rangers and Hearts, who have brought in youth players from abroad in recent years. The EPFL agrees with Fifa that the protection of minors is a big issue.”
Chelsea’s recent run-in with Fifa over the signing 17-year-old Gaël Kakuta saw a temporary transfer ban imposed on the London club and the English Premier League was among the 21 other leagues that joined Wilson in Cologne to try to shape clearer guidelines for the future.
Under the new system, Hearts would be a big loser. The Tynecastle club have made great strides in recent years to expand their scouting reach and have taken boys from Romania, Bulgaria and Australia into their youth academy at Riccarton. The midfield player, Ryan McGowan — whose brother, Dylan, is also at Hearts — played for Australia in the recent Under-20 World Cup in Nigeria. He signed for Hearts at the age of 17.
The most progressive of the Hearts youth academy’s foreign legion has been Eggert Jonssen, the Iceland international, who signed for the club before his seventeenth birthday, having been spotted playing youth football in his native country.
Celtic and Rangers have also recruited from Iceland in recent years, while the Old Firm have also sourced youth academy players in Scandinavia and eastern Europe. Of the current youth squads, Rangers have Thomas Bendiksen, the Norwegian midfield player, Kamil Witorski, from Poland, and Cristiano Kisuka, from DR Congo.
Celtic have two Italians in their under-19 squad, Daniele Giordano, the goalkeeper, and Luca Santonocito, the forward, who were both fixed up at the age of 17, and also have a several youngsters from England and Ireland on their books at youth level.
Celtic’s most recent high-profile foreign recruits are Filip and Patrik Twardzik, 17-year-old twins, who were born in the Czech Republic and spent their school years in Germany. The bothers have suspended their education, and their mother has moved to Scotland with them.
The brothers were born in Trinec, on the Czech border with Slovakia, and moved to Germany with their parents, because their father was a professional footballer. They were in Hertha Berlin’s youth academy when Celtic first took an interest and they have been at the club for a year.
Ironically, Germany could provide the role model for the other EPFL members. The Bundesliga’s most notable youth academy, at Cologne, which produced Lukas Podolski before selling the striker to Bayern Munich for £15 million, gave a workshop to Wilson and the other delegates.
“Germany is probably the league in the EPFL set-up that recruits the fewest foreign players into its youth academies,” Wilson said, “but that is largely because of their huge population and the fact that they have many other nationalities living in Germany, who they can tap into at youth level. Podolski’s parents are Polish. I looked at Cologne’s youth recruitment structure and we can learn from that.”
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/scotland/article6960930.ece
The Times - December 18, 2009
SPL clubs face changes to laws on worldwide movement of young talent Phil Gordon
Ross Wilson spent last week in Cologne on behalf of the Scottish Premier League but he was not in the German city to take in the charms of its famous Christmas market. In fact, what Wilson discovered there could soon take shopping abroad off the list of Scotland’s top clubs.
Falkirk’s head of football development attended a summit of Europe’s top leagues for the SPL and listened to proposals that will radically alter the way clubs such as Celtic, Rangers and Heart of Midlothian recruit foreign talent to their youth system.
If the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) has its way, no player will be able to move to play in another country until the age of 18. That would stop the Old Firm tapping into Scandinavia and eastern Europe, as they have in recent years, or even Australia, in the case of Hearts.
It will not just be incoming youth talent that will be protected. It will be outgoing, too. “Darren Fletcher would not have been allowed to move to Manchester United if these proposals had been around when he joined them,” Wilson said. “He would have to stay in Scotland and sign for a local club. The principal aim of this is to stop young footballers from being taken all over the place by clubs.”
Fletcher joined Manchester United in the summer of 2000 at the age of 16, having played for Tynecastle Boys Club in Edinburgh. He had already been on the radar of both Rangers and Celtic but the lure of Old Trafford was too great. If the EPFL, which is joining Fifa’s push to stem the trade in young talent, is given the go-ahead, Manchester United would have to wait until any new Fletchers reach the age of 18 before they take them from Scotland.
“What Fifa and the EPFL are trying to do does not really affect clubs like Falkirk,” Wilson said. “Our youth system is recruited almost entirely from local players. However, there are a few other clubs, such as Celtic, Rangers and Hearts, who have brought in youth players from abroad in recent years. The EPFL agrees with Fifa that the protection of minors is a big issue.”
Chelsea’s recent run-in with Fifa over the signing 17-year-old Gaël Kakuta saw a temporary transfer ban imposed on the London club and the English Premier League was among the 21 other leagues that joined Wilson in Cologne to try to shape clearer guidelines for the future.
Under the new system, Hearts would be a big loser. The Tynecastle club have made great strides in recent years to expand their scouting reach and have taken boys from Romania, Bulgaria and Australia into their youth academy at Riccarton. The midfield player, Ryan McGowan — whose brother, Dylan, is also at Hearts — played for Australia in the recent Under-20 World Cup in Nigeria. He signed for Hearts at the age of 17.
The most progressive of the Hearts youth academy’s foreign legion has been Eggert Jonssen, the Iceland international, who signed for the club before his seventeenth birthday, having been spotted playing youth football in his native country.
Celtic and Rangers have also recruited from Iceland in recent years, while the Old Firm have also sourced youth academy players in Scandinavia and eastern Europe. Of the current youth squads, Rangers have Thomas Bendiksen, the Norwegian midfield player, Kamil Witorski, from Poland, and Cristiano Kisuka, from DR Congo.
Celtic have two Italians in their under-19 squad, Daniele Giordano, the goalkeeper, and Luca Santonocito, the forward, who were both fixed up at the age of 17, and also have a several youngsters from England and Ireland on their books at youth level.
Celtic’s most recent high-profile foreign recruits are Filip and Patrik Twardzik, 17-year-old twins, who were born in the Czech Republic and spent their school years in Germany. The bothers have suspended their education, and their mother has moved to Scotland with them.
The brothers were born in Trinec, on the Czech border with Slovakia, and moved to Germany with their parents, because their father was a professional footballer. They were in Hertha Berlin’s youth academy when Celtic first took an interest and they have been at the club for a year.
Ironically, Germany could provide the role model for the other EPFL members. The Bundesliga’s most notable youth academy, at Cologne, which produced Lukas Podolski before selling the striker to Bayern Munich for £15 million, gave a workshop to Wilson and the other delegates.
“Germany is probably the league in the EPFL set-up that recruits the fewest foreign players into its youth academies,” Wilson said, “but that is largely because of their huge population and the fact that they have many other nationalities living in Germany, who they can tap into at youth level. Podolski’s parents are Polish. I looked at Cologne’s youth recruitment structure and we can learn from that.”
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/scotland/article6960930.ece