Manchester City's Carrington training base is not large.
In addition to the first team and reserve team, there are also two youth training camps training here, all of which are over 16 years old.
Only on Saturdays and weekends, players between the ages of nine and fifteen will come to the training base to receive two football training sessions per week. The rest of the time, these children will still stay at home and
Going to school.
This is a requirement of the FA.
Their standard for youth training selection range is one hour's drive, which means that the club can only select within this range.
If the age group is older than 12 years old, that is, between the ages of 13 and 16, it can be appropriately extended to one and a half hours, which places considerable restrictions on the youth training selection of Premier League teams.
To some extent, this has even dragged down England's youth training.
Rich teams are willing to invest, but they are unable to expand on a large scale, and they have not introduced youth training talents beyond the scope.
Players in many regions are simply unwilling to invest in youth training, and the Football Association has also invested little in this area, resulting in very poor talent cultivation in England.
Of course, the reason for strictly limiting the driving range is that the children can stay with their parents.
The starting point was a good thing, but it had a negative impact on the development of football.
Over the years, with the explosion of talents in German football, especially the emergence of a group of young players such as Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller, the German youth training has finally reaped huge rewards after investing in reforms for ten years.
.
As a mortal enemy, England has also learned from the experience and is planning to carry out a vigorous round of youth training reforms. It is currently conducting research and inspections across England. The two options being discussed are to remove restrictions on the scope of talent selection and to classify all youth training camps.
Manchester City's training base diagonally across the Etihad Stadium is aimed at this reform. It also wants to build the world's top and most luxurious training base to attract the best youth from the UK and even the world.
Train players.
…
Every weekend, the youth team training area at the Carrington training base becomes extremely busy.
Children from all over the Greater Manchester area will gather in this small training base to receive training from Manchester City's youth training coaches.
They receive training in their respective schools and communities on weekdays, and only return to Carrington for classes on the weekends.
They are all carefully selected outstanding players, and they all have one goal when they come here, that is, after they turn sixteen and complete their studies, they may get a youth training contract from Manchester City and become official youth training camp players.
Before that, they were just young players registered for youth team training.
Every time after training, these children like to lie on the barbed wire fence and look across from a distance.
That's the training ground for the first team.
They can watch the first team's training at close range through the barbed wire fence. If they are lucky, they will occasionally be called over to help, such as picking up a ball or something.
For this group of children, it is quite an honor.
Especially this year, after Su Dong joined, it aroused enthusiasm in the youth training camp. Almost every weekend is the time when these children are most eager, because they can watch Su Dong's training up close.
Countless people among this group of children silently regarded Su Dong as their idol.
The highlight game against Chelsea is about to begin. Guardiola chose to train in a closed setting this time, using a curtain to cover the barbed wire fence. This made the children in the youth team feel very dissatisfied and disappointed.
But children are always a group of children, and they will soon forget these unpleasant things and make themselves happy.
They also discuss some team and football matters.
For example, Manchester City actually lost to West Bromwich Albion in the League Cup in midweek, which surprised many people.
"I read the Guardian's analysis and I think it makes sense. Our bench is still not thick enough, especially the goalkeeper."
"Joe Hart has had two consecutive sluggish performances. Against Chelsea, he is very worrying."
"In the League Cup, it's not Joe Hart, it's Given, and Karius is the substitute."
"Karius? That German goalkeeper who is eighteen years old?"
"In 2009, the team spent 200,000 pounds to sign him from Stuttgart. He seems to be only 17 years old now, right?"
"That's him. He has now been transferred to the first team and is officially training with the team. He is considered the third goalkeeper."
"Hey, our young head coach likes to use young players."
"The main reason is that I am dissatisfied with Joe Hart and Given. I think if Karius performs well in training, he will definitely be able to play in the cup. If he seizes the opportunity, he might really have a chance to appear in the first team."
"You said it went well, but now the League Cup has been eliminated. If we really want to play in the cup, it can only be the FA Cup. That will be next year. What a pity!"
"Who says it's not the case? We lost the League Cup."
"The team has been playing double matches for a week since the start of the league. Against Chelsea, they probably wanted to rotate. Who knew that the bench players were so incompetent that they lost immediately."
"Tripier also played in this game, but his performance was quite average."
"Micah Richards is playing as a central defender this time, so he is responsible for the goal conceded."
"Michael Johnson can't even make the roster now, and he probably won't be able to stay for long."
The kids were talking to each other, they were all players from the Manchester City youth academy.
Those who can stand out from the youth training camp and appear in the sight of first-team coach Guardiola are basically the best in the youth training camp. They are the talents and bosses that all the children are familiar with.
But this group of big guys they thought were great, when they got to the first team, they performed like a mess.
You don’t need to think about it to know how cruel the first-team competition is!
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! And how difficult and powerful is it for all the players who can gain a foothold in the first team?
Not to mention those famous players, and superstars like Su Dong, to this group of children, are god-like existences, enough for them to worship him.
So much so that many people are particularly envious of the caddies in those clubs.
Manchester City has played three home games so far this season. Three young players from the youth academy were lucky enough to hold Su Dong's hand when they were serving as ball boys. This made them all extremely excited. Two of them were even so nervous that they couldn't say no.
After speaking out, they were "ridiculed" by others, thinking that they had missed a good opportunity.
It's hard to get close to Su Dong. It's okay if you just want a souvenir or something.
They are all a group of ten-year-old kids who have played football for many years. They admire stars like Su Dong to an extremely high degree. Naturally, they are all proud of being able to get in close contact with Su Dong.
Among this group of children, there was a child who looked thinner than his peers. He had been silently listening to the discussions of the people around him and seemed very focused. Then he looked in the direction of the first team training and hesitated for a moment.
, he quietly left the crowd and ran towards the coach's office.
Knock knock knock!
The kid knocked on the office door.
Working inside are two youth training coaches, and the head coach of the 18-year-old youth team, former Premier League player Scott Silas.
The other one is his assistant, the younger Steve Ell.
Steve Eyre is only thirty-eight years old, but he has been working in the Manchester City youth training camp for eighteen years. I heard that he is from Salford and later joined the Manchester City youth training camp, but at the age of twenty
After getting injured in 2006, he joined the youth training camp and has been working there until now.
In addition to being the coach of the 18-year-old youth team, he is also responsible for other tasks, such as managing the youth team.
"Phil, it's you, what's wrong?" Steve Earl recognized the coming child at a glance.
"Mr. Earl." The kid named Phil panted into the office and came to Steve Earl's desk. "Can you let me also participate in the weekend game?"
After hearing this, Steve Ell and Scott Sellars looked at each other and smiled.
This is not the first player to come and say this. In almost every home game, there will be a group of children rushing to be there.
For example, the talented young player Sterling who just joined this season ran to the sidelines to pick up the ball in every game. It is said that once again, when Su Dong was celebrating a goal, he ran into the middle of the players.
I celebrated with them and had Su Dong touch his head and hug his shoulders, which was captured by the live broadcast camera. After he came back, this kid showed off to everyone he met.
In return, he promised Silas that he would try his best in every game and work extremely hard in training and competition.
So, this can be regarded as some kind of reward.
"I'm sorry, Phil, you're late, we're already full." Scott Earl said apologetically.
In fact, he was very optimistic about this boy.
"I know, but someone has to be a backup, right? That guy Smith is always late. You know that. What if he's late again?"
"We have a substitute..."
"I know, but I don't think it's enough. I will be very punctual. You let me substitute!" The kid named Phil raised his head and looked at Scott Earl very firmly, with a pair of bright eyes that seemed like
I'm saying, if you don't agree, I won't leave.
Scott Earl was a little helpless, "If I remember correctly, you live in Stockport, right?"
It is a city south of Manchester, not too far or too close, slightly closer than Wilmslow.
"I will convince my father. If possible, please help me buy two tickets. I will use my pocket money to buy them and let them go to watch the game." A flash of light flashed in the eyes of the boy named Phil.
sly.
Scott Earl and Silas both burst out laughing.
A little kid but a big kid!
"Okay, then I will arrange for you to be a substitute, but there is no guarantee that you will be a caddy, especially if you are Su Dong's caddy. This is a very popular job!" Scott Ell could only agree.
For him, this is actually just a matter of words.
"Thank you Mr. El, I will take care of the other things myself." The child said confidently.
Scott Earl and Silas watched the kid turn and leave, leaving them full of wonder.
