In Spain we are used to seeing subsidiary teams fight against veteran players, hardened in a thousand battles, that force to mature based on intensity and, sometimes, blows. Barça and Atleti B, without going any further, played the promotion phase to LaLiga Smartbank last season. However, in England the format is different and has been giving a lot to talk about for a long time The last to speak was Ferran Soriano, CEO of City, who believes that a change could prevent the escape of stars like Jadon Sancho, who left the set citizen to grow up in Dortmund. Before getting into the matter, let's contextualize. Those who know the subject can skip the next paragraph.
The so-called 'Premier League 2' encompasses the 'Division 1' and the 'Division 2', while below we find the 'Professional Development League' (divided, in turn, into two regional categories) in which the 'subsidiaries' of the English teams play. Unlike the Spanish case, there the age limit is 23 years and it is a totally independent competition from the adult Premier League. There are promotions, relegation, they have their own Cup and League Cup, in addition to the existence of the Premier League International Cup. Under-23 teams from all over Europe participate in the latter and Villarreal can boast of a winded, in 2015-16, with goals from Leo Suárez and Fran Sol in the final. The competition prior to the 'under 23' is the 'under 18', whose age limit is obvious.
Flight of talent
Let's go back to Soriano's words in LeadersWeek.direct and collected by the English press. “Developing players in England is a problem. B teams are not allowed and we have a developmental gap in boys who are 17 and 18. They do not find the right place for development and they are caught by German teams, who try to sell them back to us for a price ten times higher than what they paid for them. This is wrong, it is something we need to resolve. “
Jadon Sancho, in his time at Manchester City.
Manchester City FC (Manchester City FC via Getty Ima)
As we said before, the case that comes to mind is that of Jadon Sancho. The now Borussia Dortmund winger, for whom they ask United for 120 million euros, came out of the quarry citizen in 2017 for about 8 million euros. In his case, Soriano's value multiplier falls short. The presence of Sané, Sterling, Bernardo and David Silva closed the door of the minutes in the first team with just 17 years. And he proved to be more than ready to play with professionals. Now 20, he is a world star.
And they are not the only pearl losses in the set skyblue. Rabbi Matondo went to Schalke, Noah Ohio to Leipzig and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to Borussia itself, as well collects The Sun. That void that Ferran Soriano talks about is the one that he hopes they can solve as soon as possible: “Perhaps, the Covid crisis will give us the opportunity to get together and solve this problem“.
Talent drain and the middle cushion
The biggest victims are the big English clubs, since Players belonging to teams of a lower average level could open a gap with the older ones, but it is much more complicated if your opponent is a star of the first world level. This does not mean that they are not ready to make the leap to professionals and, this is where the problem flourishes. If they had a B team as such, that could compete in Championship or League One (the second and second B English), perhaps, young people eager for opportunities would think twice when it came to leaving.
Real Madrid is an example of this and he has used the B team to shelter his future stars. A cushion of intermediate talent. Massive transfers like Vinicius, Reinier and Rodrygo or others more modest in their day, but whose potential was similar, such as Fede ValverdeThey were able to play hard at Castilla to, when the time came, make the jump to the first team. Is a case completely different from that of Sancho, or that of Pogba in his day, who left United for Juventus to return as the most expensive signing of the moment. However, serves to shed light on Soriano's demand. The flight of talent is inevitable and not only happens in the Premier, but adding an intermediate step could cushion the blow. More, considering the high level of the English Championship. In the same way that there will be those who think the opposite and that a league of subsidiaries is the most appropriate. The debate is on.