Young English stars look to Germany for a future

Bengaluru, June 7: In January, the then Everton and ex-England manager Sam Allardyce had admitted that he was facing difficulties in convincing Ademola Lookman to go on loan to Derby County where Everton considered the £7.5m signing would be able to develop further.

Lookman had played for the Toffees only twice since Big Sam took over. He wanted a move to German Club RB Leipzig, considered a bad choice by his manager. However, Lookman proved his manager wrong by scoring five goals in 11 games after joining Leipzig in February and had the second-highest goals per minute ratio in Bundesliga only behind Robert Lewandowski.

A few years ago, Lookman would have been a rarity. But more and more young English players are now joining German clubs, the latest of them being Tottenham winger Keanan Benetts who has moved to Borussia Monchengladbach.

The most significant of such transfers was that of Jadon Sancho from Man City to Borrusia Dortmund in October, 2016. Sancho has been anointed even by Gareth Southgate to be the next big thing in English Football calling him a 'super young player’. Sancho made 12 appearances for Dortmund this season scoring his first goal in April’s 4-0 victory over Leverkusen and contributed to four others.

West Ham’s Reece Oxford had a loan spell at Monchengladbach this season, Kaylen Hinds moved to Wolfsburg from Arsenal, Olivier Burke had come to limelight playing for Leipzig before the Scottish winger joined West Brom, but the way 19-year-old Kevin Danso has shaped his career at FC Augsburg best illustrates the reason why so much of young English talent is moving abroad at such a tender age.

Danso whose allegiance lies with Austria, had an English upbringing. At the age of six he was rubbing shoulders with Delle Alli at the MK Dons football Academy. Danso’s potential was noticed by German scouts when he played at the junior level for Austria. The defender moved to Augsburg in 2013 aged 14. Today, he is a regular starter in the Augsburg backline and even scored in a 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich.

When speaking to Sky, Danso had said, “the way football is played in Germany is very different, there is a lot of focus on tactics while in England more focus is on the physicality. Other than that schooling is an important part, football is an unfortunate sport where one bad injury can end a career, Here, you're readied for life aside from football.”

Germany had revamped its youth set-up completely a decade and a half ago and it has resulted in the searing success their national team has had. In Germany the young players are given time to develop and if there is belief in their potential, persisted with long enough so that they can start performing at the highest level. Andres Christensen breaking into the Chelsea starting line-up after two years at Gladbach is a prime example.

In England, the managers are under more pressure for results, hence they are less likely to persist with youngsters. A young talent is swept aside in the very limited opportunity he is given. The case of Luke Shaw is a study in contrast to that of Danso; tipped to be a future England left back, Shaw’s marker has fallen since his move to Manchester United where partly due to injury and partly due to poor man management he has never fulfilled his potential.

After the recent success England’s Under-17, U-19, U-21 sides have had, many believe the Three Lions have the brightest crop of young footballers around. It is vital to nurture and polish these players at club level for their proper development to make the future of English football brighter.