Football academies, in its own right, has been an El Dorado (the mythical lost city of gold) in football. For years, clubs were ambiguous to the potential that lay within their own club but with the globalization and commercialization of sport, managers within the club have been forced to seek innovative ways to cut corners while remaining competitive.
And this led to teams focusing on their Youth academies. Clubs have learned that with the right mix of training, patience and opportunities players can be successfully mitigated from a bucket of potential to a finished product.
And Milan is no alien to this concept. Famous for producing legends and even generational players the Milan Primavera (academy in Italian) were once touted as one of the best academy in the world and even to this day revered for its past.
But recently, the Primavera has been going through a dark time. The breaking point was breached when Milan were relegated into the second division of the Italian Youth League and alarm bells started ringing which perhaps was congruent to the situation that the senior team was also facing.
Here we take a look at the benefits of academy, How Milan could revamp their Primavera and enlist practices of some of the best modern day academies.
ADVANTAGES OF THE ACADEMY
So why have teams shifted their attention to Youth academies? Here is a list of advantages that come with focus on the academy
- Financial benefits: Benefits under this category can be branched out into 2. Benefit in terms of costs and advantages towards Financial Fair play calculation. While there is an initial cost to set up the right facilities to nurture the talent it is a one-time investment when considering investing millions on the transfer market and player salaries are riskier and more expensive. While smaller clubs cannot compete with the likes of the traditional clubs or with rich owner’s academy prospects help to keep them afloat.
For FFP Calculation UEFA encourages spending on Youth and academies and hence does not consider for FFP. Hence every player’s cost is considered 0. When selling players like how Milan sold Cutrone, the money that comes in to the clubs coffers is treated as pure profit and gives leeway for FFP and help the club out of the red.
- Passion for the club: Players who have been nurtured from the academy are associated with the club since their childhood and hence know the values of the club. While technical deficiency cannot be always present, fans can expect these players to stay loyal and give 100% of their efforts to the club during crunch fixtures.
REVAMPING THE PRIMAVERA
As mentioned earlier, Milan’s primavera has been doing rather poorly ever since its productive days in the 80’s and 90’s. A lot of it can be attributed to the fact that in these times Milan had an ultra-competitive team enjoying one of the best periods in its 121 year history. The fact that Aubameyang was a Milan academy product who failed to even get a run of games at Milan thanks to us having pato, Zlatan, Cassano and Inzaghi around the same period can prove it.
Milan however did churn out Gianluigi Donnarumma, Patrick Cutrone, Mattia De Sciglio, Gabbia, Davide Calabria and Manuel Locatelli in the subsequent season. However only Donnarumma and Calabria were able to make an impact at Milan while Locatelli doing well at Sassuolo after failing to impress at Milan.
However Milan Primavera hit rock bottom when they got relegated from the Primavera first division. Even though they rushed back into the top division next season thanks to Capanni, Maldini and Colombo none of these players have been able to make an impact in the senior team.
While Milan do have promising talents in the form of Roback, Coli Saco and Bjorklund results still continue to fluctuate.
Here are a few ideas that could help Milan primavera
- Align the primavera team to play with the same style and formation as the senior team so that making the transition from Junior to senior team is easier. If Milan play the same brand of football in the youth division it is easier for the young players to get used to the senior team
- Get the team to participate in UEFA Youth League: UEFA organized a youth league, in 2013, to pit youth academies of European clubs against each other and sadly no team from Italy has gone past the QF group. Chelsea have won the most titles (2) of the league where Tomori was a part of both campaigns while Kalulu was part of the Lyon academy that went on to the latter stages of the League last season. Playing the league helps players gain maturity and removes any stage fright or nervousness that players may face. You could see how Kalulu who was called upon against Parma fearlessly slotted in to the playing XI and held his own against Immobile and Sassuolo.
- Facilities upgradation: Milan have a top end scouting system which makes sure the best players play in Primavera. But a upgradation of equipment like the ones used in more advanced academies are needed. It helps player at their young age build physical and mental resilience at their tender age and this can go a long way when they progress to their careers. Equipment like th Soccerbot or the Footbonaut help players even gain experience, something that was unthinkable a few years back.
HOW SOME OF THE BIG ACADEMIES DO IT
Here are stories of 2 top academies and their secret to success
- Ajax Academy
The Ajax academy is one of the world’s best academy. They put down their success to 2 factors. One is training the players using the same module as the senior team i.e 4-3-3 formation. The second factor is their unique T.I.P.S model for recruiting players
Each player is evaluated using the various points listed under each heading and the final score helps the youth coaches the make a final decision on the player
2. Salzburg Academy
RasenBall Sport Salzburg and its sister concern has been a thorn in Milan’s recruitment plans. They raked away Dani Olmo, Dominik Szoboszlai and if the rumours are true Mohammed Simakan as well. Why do youth players all over the world seem to prefer RB Salzburg as a means to advance in their careers before making the step to a big club? The answer lies in Salzburg’s state of the art academy near the Salzburg River. The academy houses over 200 players from 7 different countries. Hi-tech equipment such as Soccerbot, a circular devise that helps players re-play moments from gone by games in-order to analyze their mistakes made.
Salzburg academy have an anti-gravity running track which was a technology used by astronauts to recover from injuries faster and hi-tech gymnasiums with machine-instructed diets tailor made to suit each player.
CONCLUSION
With Milan caught in a web of FFP and woeful finances it remains to be seen whether Elliot will invest in youth. Heinrik Almdstadt, Gazidis trusted man who successfully upgraded the Arsenal academy which has produced players like bennacer, Saka, Emil Smith Rowe, Milan have the requisite knowledge on how to approach this particular conundrum. With Elliot already said to have invested 500M into the club and more expenses upcoming in the form of a stadium whether the needful will be done is to be seen.
But as I have explained earlier investing on youth system is a onetime investment which can reap rewards in the long term. It all depends on what is Elliot’s goal for Milan
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