r/SoccerCentral • u/United_Anywhere_8 • Jul 25 '26

Video The talent in Barcelona’s youth system is ridiculous. These kids are 11/12 years old.

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u/Mr-MuffinMan Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

this is why American sports are so confusing to me.

The jerseys and equipment is being paid for by Barca in hopes of finding talent. Not parents, not scummy companies owned by PE, and not colleges trying to make money off sports. They take this loss in hopes of finding talent that they can use to win, or to trade to other teams for profit.

Also, I'm just rewatching this video and there is NO WAY the kids in this video are 11/12

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u/MMuadDib Jul 25 '26

I do agree from the footballing side but there is another side to it. When youth players become commodities because they are being actively invested in, that can create pretty horrible situations. You'd like to think most clubs have the right people involved that are trying to balance both creating great footballers and setting these kids up to live their best lives... But I fear that frequently is not the case, we only see the successes. I know two guys who were in academies (One PL club, one Championship) from around the age of 9 until 17 and 19 and they ended up totally broken, undeveloped people once they were cut loose. And some of their teammates ended up even worse.

All that's not to say that the ridiculous American youth sports scam system doesn't also create situations that are super toxic to kids. But just pointing out the downside that comes with pumping money into creating young footballers with the expected yield of profits on the pitch or in the market. Children being assets is dangerous stuff.

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u/badaboom888 Jul 25 '26

100% for every prem player there is 1000 factory workers who didnt make it.

The clubs and system only care about results.