Who Produces the Best Youngsters?

[MightyBees]

There are plenty of clubs out there who bring youngsters through their youth system and bring them in to the games. For instance Raul at Real Mardird. But who do you think has the best youth system? Who has produced the best youngsters?

Ajax have a great academy linking with Africa and bring bright stars through there.
Liverpool has a very famous Academy, recently built; through that they have produced players like Owen, Carragher, Gerrard, etc.
For me it would be Man Utd. They have brought players such as Beckham, Scholes, Butt, the Nevilles, through their system and are still going.

[Excape Goat]

1) Ajax: From Cruyff onward.... almost every other Dutch players started off at Ajax. It is easier to name players who are not from Ajax. Let's see Gulit, RVN, Hasselbank, etc.

2) River Plate: keep coming up star players whom they sell to big European clubs for big money year after year.

3) Man Utd: highest % of starters came from other own ranks.

[lond2345]

river plate: some former river players include aimar, crespo, ayala, d'alessandro, saviola, zanetti and there are many more which i forget.

[minorthreat]

Hold the phone for a minute, here.

Manchester United produces one good crop of players from their youth team and all of a sudden they have one of the best youth setups in the world? Yes, the Giggs, Scholes, et al generation are very good, but what has that youth setup produced before or since? Who were they turning out in the 80's? Who have they turned out recently besides O'Shea?

Ajax has consistently produced great players since the late 60's, while River have turned out world class talent since di Stefano and even before him.

[Frank Cunha]

one of the best Sporting Academy in Portugal,

to mention a few, Figo, Ronaldo, Quaresma, Dani, Beto etc.

[Excape Goat]

Originally posted by C-towner


Manchester United produces one good crop of players from their youth team and all of a sudden they have one of the best youth setups in the world? Yes, the Giggs, Scholes, et al generation are very good, but what has that youth setup produced before or since? Who were they turning out in the 80's? Who have they turned out recently besides O'Shea?

Ajax has consistently produced great players since the late 60's, while River have turned out world class talent since di Stefano and even before him.

I did put River Plate and Ajax before them. So we are on the same page.

But I do think MU right behind them. Besides the Giggs/Beckham generation, they also had Bobby Charlton, George Best, Duncan Edwards, Dennis Law and others.

I could not think of another team to match their records. Liverpool? Besides Owen, most of their mega superstar -- Rush, Dalgish, Souness, Hansen, Barnes, Beardsley, Aldridge, and McDermott -- were bought into the squad. McMananman and Fowler are not up there with Best, Charlton or Law.

[gento]

Real Madrid:Raul,Iker Casillas,Guti,Pavon,Portillo,Ruben,Raul Bravo,Miñambres,Nuñez,Borja(They are in Real current first team).
Not bad.
Before them,Real Madrid youth system produced Butragueño,Michel,Sanchis...
By the way,Zannetti is not from River.He played for Banfield in Argentina,not River.

[Sildegil]

France's youngster system have be analysed and copyed for the last 10 years by most of european and asian nations.

Notorious french club for youngster : Auxerre, Nantes, Cannes.

[comme]

Originally posted by gento
Real Madrid:Raul,Iker Casillas,Guti,Pavon,Portillo,Ruben,Raul Bravo,Miñambres,Nuñez,Borja(They are in Real current first team).


Wasn't Raul at Athletico before they closed their youth academy?

Also only Casillas,Portillo and Pavon stand out from the current crop, Minambres,Ruben and Raul Bravo all look pretty poor.

[gento]

Originally posted by comme
Wasn't Raul at Athletico before they closed their youth academy?

Also only Casillas,Portillo and Pavon stand out from the current crop, Minambres,Ruben and Raul Bravo all look pretty poor.
Yes,Raul was at Atletico Madrid's youth teams until he was 13.
Atletico closed their youth teams and Raul joined Real Madrid.
But he was just 13,so I think he may be considered a Real Madrid youth system player.
There are players from Real Madrid youth academy all over La Liga teams:Victor(Deportivo),Victor(Villarreal),Fernando(Betis),Dani(Barcelona),Garcia Calvo(Atletico Madrid),Cañizares(Valencia),Urzaiz(Athletic Bilbao),Fernando Sanz(Malaga). etc. etc. etc.
Real Madrid youth system is quite prolific.

[Finch_Lover]

Ajax, PSV Eindoven and Feyenoord have produced many great players and are still doing so with the likes of John De Jong from PSV and Rafael van der Vaart from Ajax.

[minorthreat]

Originally posted by Excape Goat
I did put River Plate and Ajax before them. So we are on the same page.

But I do think MU right behind them. Besides the Giggs/Beckham generation, they also had Bobby Charlton, George Best, Duncan Edwards, Dennis Law and others.

I could not think of another team to match their records.Not, say, Boca Juniors? Flamengo, Fluminense?

[Green Tabasco]

It's quite refreshing to read this post. The posters so far are knowledgeable and know football.

Ajax is the number 1 team in the world for development, bar none. all the rest are second fiddle.

River develops excellent players, My opinion is that they are in the top five world wide, but alot of you forgot Boca, they too are a world power in development.

My personal opinion, aside from Holland and Ajax is that Argentina and River-Boca are without a doubt the two countries and the top three clubs in the world for player development.

I can't wait for the Brazilians and British to read this, all hell is gonna break loose.

:D

[MightyBees]

Its interesting to read everyones thoughts. Most people believe it's between Holland and Bazil who produces the best youngesters.
I dont follow South American football that much so its interesting to see where alot of those South Americans who play in Europe start their carrer.
But its also interesting to see how many of them stay at those clubs. It seems to be only Real Madrid and Man Utd who keep those youngester on for a fair amount of time.
Perhaps it has something to do with the financial side of the clubs, many clubs have to sell on these players at a great profit.

[comme]

Not in the same way as some of the clubs already mentioned but Crewe have brought through such England internationals as David Platt, Rob Jones and Danny Murphy. Dario Gradi does an amazing job there, and the resources available are minimal in comparison to the top clubs. Ipswich and Notts Forest also have verygood youth structures.

[Excape Goat]

Originally posted by C-towner
Not, say, Boca Juniors? Flamengo, Fluminense?

Yes, Boca produded a lot of top players. I admitted that I am not familiar with their players. They did produce a few of biigest busts in recent memory. And besides Maradona, who did they produce that are considered to be the top 50 players in the history of the game? MU got Charlton, Best and Law..... may be even Beckham.

[comme]

Maradona didn't even start there did he? I thought he was at Argentinos Juniors first.

[Quaresma]

sporting lisbon-ronaldo, quaresma, viana, martins, lourenco, figo, pinto, etc.
benfica-r costa, tiago, periera, eusebio, coluna etc
porto-caravalho, postiga

[centrocampista]

Probably have to say River Plate, as much as I don't like them - they have brought through some tremendous players over the years

[centrocampista]

And by the way, Maradona was at Argentinos Juniors AND Newell's Old Boys before he went to Boca :D