Why football’s talent ID needs more than a calendar and a ruler

Clubs know what they are looking for in a young player, but they are still to easily swayed by the biggest, fastest and often oldest

• Brentford’s brave new world is already working in Denmark

A few days ago James Bunce, the head of sport science at the Premier League, asked this simple question to a roomful of coaches: what chance does an under-nine who joins a Premier League club’s academy have of graduating to its first team? No one was left shocked by the answer: just 0.5% – or one in 200. Or when Bunce admitted that “as an industry, football still doesn’t know a lot about what it takes to become a top player”.

Of course it doesn’t. Bringing through young players remains a bit like pin the tail on the donkey: clubs know what they are searching for, but success remains dizzying and often elusive. Intriguingly, though, Bunce believes that box-fresh Premier League projects, based on sports science and data, could help clubs better identify and nurture young talent – and get more players making the grade.

Continue reading...





source Sport | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1He897Z