Former Liverpool and Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez has revealed that he was left shocked by how neglected the academy set-ups at Tottenham and West Ham were when he had a chance to see them up close during his developmental years as a coach.
The English footballing landscape has changed tremendously over the last couple of decades, with the Premier League becoming the most powerful football competition in the world.
The landscape has thus become extremely competitive, with the league now boasting the best facilities, the best coaches and the best young players in the world.
However, that was not always the case, with England football lagging behind Serie A and La Liga at the turn of the century.
Benitez revealed that he was surprised by how little attention was being paid to youth development at clubs such as Spurs and West Ham when he had a chance to visit these sides back in 1999.
The Spaniard told Stick to Football: “When I came to England I went to see Tottenham, West Ham and Manchester United’s first-team. But Tottenham and West Ham I went to see the academy, I was surprised at West Ham at this time, they have a multi-station machine [weights].
“They were doing the same exercise, all the players with the same kilograms, you had the keeper and the winger like that. In Spain that’s impossible. I was surprised. Tottenham also surprised me.
“It was a rainy day in London, and they were indoors doing some crosses from the right side. They invited me to have a coffee afterward, the players were polite. The day after I was expecting them to do crossing from the left side but they didn’t do it.
“Why do you do they keep crossing from the right side in a session of one hour? In Spain you work both sides, when you have to start coaching players at eight to 12-years-old, that’s when you start learning football.
“In China for example they don’t have football in schools until 13, so that is the reason why they don’t have the coordination.”
Spurs Web Opinion
There is no doubt that English football has come a long way since the 1990s, with the influx of top foreign coaches in the 2000s, starting with the likes of Benitez and Mourinho, playing a key role in making the environment much more professional.
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