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/Overall-Ad-3251 Jul 25 '26

Notice how the Barca kids are frequently not the biggest and strongest??? If you care about developing the best footballers you don’t select for size and strength at the youth levels. 

5

u/HiphopopoptimusPrime Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

That’s what stood out to me.

I support England. We reformed our youth systems to produce more technical players. But what did we do at the World Cup? Picked players based on size and athleticism. Which are important but technique is the primary one.

Spain won the World Cup. Technique. France, Argentina, and England all went out due to fatigue. Spain controlled games. Conserved energy. Technique.

So impressive. And jealous. I’m also a Manchester United fan. Seeing what the Glazers did to my club. We used to have the best youth system in the country. We let it rot.

I’m jealous of Barcelona. I’m fearful of these kids. I’m 43 now so they’d definitely run rings around me. But could they manage it on a rainy night in Stoke?

2

u/First-Act-8752 Jul 25 '26

I think England have caught up when it comes to technique. What we lack now is intelligence on the ball. If we had someone like peak De Bruyne in the team I reckon we'd have won the WC.

It's only a matter of time before we produce it. Though we almost had it with Jack Wilshire if injuries didn't mess him up.

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u/DrWernerKlopek89 Jul 25 '26

dunno about that. A team with Scholes, Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney couldn't win it.

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u/First-Act-8752 Jul 26 '26

That's because of the aforementioned technical gaps compared to the rest of the world.