Why is it that Sokratis had a fond time at AEK, but Kyriakos Papadopoulos languished at Olympiakos? Why did Ninis lead PAO to a double, but Fetfatzidis only played when Olympiakos had already won the double? Did you know that Fortounis, too, was an Olympiakos youth product? Isn't it strange that three of Greece's best talents in the past five years could not effectively make the leap from the Olympiakos' youth academy to its senior team, the best club team in the country? At which point do fans stop blaming prospective players for failing to make the grade and start wondering where the club's management has gone wrong? For starters, did fielding Fetfatzidis ever jeopardize Olympiakos' title hopes? Is he really not good enough to play in the Superleague, yet he's good enough for the Series A? Just to put things into perspective, the man who was ahead of him last season in the pecking order, Abdoun, now plays in England's second division and he was considered one of the Olympiakos' best players. Was Abdoun really better? Was there something he did Fetfatzidis simply couldn't? And how do we explain Kyriakos' wonder game against Benfica in the Champions League only two months after leaving Olympiakos? Kyriakos had 18 starts in his first season with Schalke and he featured in 30 games total. Not even a year after leaving Olympiakos, he was playing in the Champions League semi-final after helping his team beat the defending champs. This was a player who was informed by his former club that he would not be assured of much playing time, the reason that ultimately pushed him to leave. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. What happens when Greek youths start looking for their opportunities elsewhere in the droves. More young players than ever before are already doing so and many are being pushed to do so because their clubs need the funds. Moreover, why join the Olympiakos youth academy when their only graduate to have featured in at least 10 league starts for the senior team was Eleutheropoulos? And no, I'm not exaggerating, he's the only one ever in the past 20 years at least. What happens when the only players left to sign are the likes of Abdoun and second rate Greek players who aren't talented enough to play outside the Superleague? Long gone are the days of Giovanni, Karembeu, and Rivaldo. Long gone are the days of Tsiartas, Kostis, Saravakos, and Karapialis. With Greece's UEFA co-efficiency falling, that means no guarantee of Champions League action. That means the money will start to dry up, too. That means players contemplating a transfer to Greece won't have the added attraction of Champions League soccer. In five years, Olympiakos will be the new Dinamo Zagreb. We're becoming like Croatia.