Milan Management

[ACMILAN1983]

I love the quote though

lol, the quote is fine, just who he's talking about means it's meaningless

Anyway, I was on youtube on Copa90's channel and just watched this video about Germany's revival in football.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tSR8e_6PV0

It really got me wondering as I'm a huge advocate of youth development, but as a club can we make big investments in the youth academy from ownerships (whether it be Yonghong Li or someone else) and avoid FFP sanctions. The point is, with FFP limitations there's a clear need and massive incentive to build our own talent as much as feasibly possible.

Personally, on watching the video I was wondering if we could take what the German model did (Italian football needs to do this anyway, but who knows if it will ever happen) and localize it to work in a club entity. We already do this to an extent, as is seen in the results of our youth development in recent years. However, rather than just invest heavily in talent development, set up the academy to help grow the coaching staff and build a model which works as a complete and structured system rather than constantly shifting personnel around to accommodate changes at the senior level. It would be something that I think should be done with a holistic view in mind that would need a lot of time and patience, rather than what I see now, which is still too short term, inconsistent and vulnerable to destabilizing overhauls to really provide the value that we should be aiming for.

This isn't something new, youth development has gone hand in hand with some of the best sides in history. However, I think many clubs will find success but then almost turn their back on what got them that success to begin with. Take La Masia of Barcelona, which created the foundations for probably the club's greatest side ever under Guardiola. Yet today, with the exception of Sergi Roberto, the only youth players in the first team squad are those who are reaching the end of their careers.

My point is I think as a club, regardless of who the owner is, we need to develop an academy that will help create and produce a long term solution to building Milan sides. This can't be something we fail to maintain after some success, but rather success and further investment would be needed to build and evolve the academy in the club.

I find it bizarre that so few clubs are able or willing to maintain their youth academies and trust in the talent they develop internally. I know why owners or directors don't do this, but at the same time there still more reasons to invest in youth academies as there are not to.