Originally Posted by
MOZZER2
i have read this thread with great interest .My lad was taken on at 7 years old and like those in the report signed for a year .
Just to point out don't mix an academy with a development centre like one or two are doing here .
Yes kids do get spotted at 6 and 7 years old and get invited to trials and they pick a squad of 16 at the start of the season . Not all kids make it the full season either even at that age . The debate is , is it too young to sign for a pro club at that age . I say an emphatic YES .
The kids get taken out of local football and expected to train at least twice a week with games on Sunday .I,m all for pro clubs taking on kids that age but not taken out of local clubs as the figure is now less than 1 per cent with actually go on to make it at pro level
out of the 16 kids at my lads age not 1 made it to pro level , and only looking at some photos last week only 4 of them still play football at some kind of level . when you look at thousands upon thousands of kids go through this process in the UK I have come to the conclusion it's a mugs game