Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Let's not get overly dramatic, on the street? never to be heard from again? I'm sure his parents love him. If he does get dropped from Barcelona he's coming back to the US system he can thrive in. Or get dumped to Arsenal or Espanyol. Of course we have no way to know his future but to be blessed with his young talent and for that talent to be recognized by Barcelona will allow a life experience for him to grow upon - success or not. He's in fact alot further ahead in his desired life adventure then most. Life should be about pursuing your dream and not worrying about success or failure.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Seriously, what is the percentage of 12 year old Barcelona academy players who have professional careers? Is it like 100%? I'm seriously asking.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia That would be one interesting statistic. But its almost impossible to follow each 12 yr old over a 10 yr period. If they bring in approx 60 and drop 80 every year that's approx 1400 players to track most at various clubs around the world. I doubt 100% just due to normal attrition of injury, burnout non soccer related. I bet its higher than most of the top 10 clubs in the world.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia I remember the 4-4-2 story that said 95% of academy players in England don't end up playing professionally. The "failure rate" of most clubs, including Barcelona, is probably very high when it comes to youth players. The story in 4-4-2 dealt with the fact that a large number of these failed youth players haven't done the necessary studying/training to do much else after they're dumped out of football as 17-18 year olds. They barely went to school. They don't have a plan. They suffer from significant levels of depression. And on and on. We just need to let Ben percolate over there free of expectations for a few years. For Christ's sake........he's 12.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia If you're so concerned about Ben being discussed then why did you start this thread?
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia There are always arguments in England about kids being released from clubs too early. Most of the kids in academies are studying some type of sport related course (usually coaching) which is great but its also pretty hard to break into coaching. Jon-Paul Pittman was in Aston Villa's Academy as a youth player for 4 years before spending the majority of his youth career including his "scholarship" at Nottingham Forest. He then bounced around on loan until going to the 5th division and working his way back into the Football League. I've been seeing a lot more kids released going down to League Two, Conference Level, or sometimes even lower just to get guaranteed playing time.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Here's a huge list of where ex-Barca academy players played last year. Unfortunately it doesn't say how old they were when they left Barca. I think the bolded players are ones that made it to the first team: http://www.blaugranas.com/ex_canteranos-itemap-69-1685-58.htm The whole thread has a lot of info as well. Here are Barca youth rosters down to U10 from nine years ago, if anyone wants to do a where are they now: http://www.oye-comova.com/Chiquito/Futbol_Log/09_LaMasia/07_Presen/02_03_Presen.html
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia It might be more relevant to only compare him to other foreign players. I'm sure the vast majority are locals, as with most academies, it's far more rare for someone to be brought in from another country.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Percentage wise I don't know, but on reputation, Barcelona produces great youth players for Barcelona, that don't necessarily do well elsewhere. This is a generalization subject to obvious, notable exceptions, of course (and let's see how Bojan does this year). Madrid otoh has a reputation for the opposite. None of its youth players make it through to the senior side, but become stars for other teams. Also some more Spanish updates on Lederman: http://www.sport.es/es/noticias/barc.../1105146.shtml Lederman is the only new face from the U.S.: "En cuanto al origen de las 79 caras nuevas de la cantera, hay que destacar a seis llegados directamente de tres continentes diferentes. Desde EE.UU., el medio Ben Lederman se unirá al Alevín A procedente de la Academy PB Los Angeles; desde Corea del Sur reforzarán al Infantil A Lee Seung Woo y Chang Hee Kyul y desde Japón será Takefusa quien haga lo propio con el Alevín C o D. Quienes vieron a los dos coreanos durante su prueba en la Ciutat Esportiva dicen que son dos fenómenos." (just a list of where the new canteranos are from) http://www.mundodeportivo.com/201108...194829266.html
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia This really stands out and I think it can only be view in a favorable way for Ben.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia hope it will work for him ,he is a spaicel kid and hope he want let the presure get into him. this is an unbelivble oppertunity for him.his game is perfect for the barca system and for them to offer him to join the academy over 1000s of kids who live in spain should be unreal
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Lederman mentioned in ESPN the Mag NEXT issue: http://espn.go.com/espn/next2012/story/_/id/7302529/neymar-brek-shea-espn-mag-next-issue
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia The last I've heard about him (about 2 months ago) is that he's playing with the Alevin B team. The team above Alevin C where he was supposed to start. The word was that he's scoring and assisting in just about every game this year.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia I found an interesting stat on the La masia wiki that said of all the players to have stayed at La Masia(meaning those not from the surrounding area, only those that could not commute), 10% have made the first team. Thats not including those that have made it elsewhere.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Correction: He's with the Alevin A team. They just won a tournament in Poland this month. http://www.mundodeportivo.com/20111...del-barca-triunfa-en-polonia_54241033369.html
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Is the Alevin level his age group, or multiple with his being one of the younger ones?
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia I'm glad he's doing well there, but including any kid that young on a next list is ridiculous...
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia It's his age group. The Alevin A/B squad is mainly 2000s, the C/D squad is mainly 2001s. Next level up would be Infantil B.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Normally, the Alevin A squad doesn't have photographers waiting for them in the airport after a tournament in Poland. They shared a plane back with some Spanish swimmers though.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Thanks. And how unusual is it for a player at the academy to play up in age at Ben's age? Does it ever happen?
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia It's very rare for a player that young (Alevin)to play with Cadete B, for example. However, as the players get a bit older there is more movement.
Re: Ben Lederman at La Masia Thanks again. And from the examples I've seen, even at the Cadete level movement is rare outside of a move from B to A. For example, even Messi played half a season with Cadete B, then moved to A. However, the next year he played on every team from Juvenil B( for one game) to the senior team in friendlies.