Instead of watching Leeds v Leicester , I watched the whole of this game instead between Chelsea and Man City , which was very entertaining and eventually won 3-2 by Peps up and coming youngsters. There looked to be a lot of talented youngsters on parade, but it’s my guess not many of them will come through the system to be given a chance at the higher level. One example being Phil Foden, whom Pep called “the best youngster he’s ever seen”, yet he cannot command a regular place at the Etihad. There is something mysterious about the ages between 18 and 21 , whereby a lot of good young footballers go missing for one reason or another. It’s been like this for years. What’s the point of spending money on developing someone, over a period of time, then not give them the opportunity to see what they can do. The only exception to this I can think of,is Frank Lampard who had to blood the likes of Hudson Odoi,Mount and one or two others , because due to injuries he had no other choice. These players haven’t done too bad since then, have they ?
I’d like to see more clubs give their youngsters a fair chance, but due to the pressure on current managers they all want success straight away and would rather spend millions on a player from abroad. Something not right somewhere. In my book, it was always”if you’re good enough, you’re old enough”. Whatever happened to that philosophy ?