Aspire in the World Fellows Book - 2023

/19 Furthermore, we often observe at modern football organizations that early excitement and urgency to get young players to make early debuts is following by long-term lack of believe in that same player and early dismissal in favour of the next novelty. It can feel the goal is to present the new “flavour of the month” only to discard it quickly. Statistics show that across the Big- 5 European Leagues a growing number of young players who make an early debut decrease participation during their next season. In those same leagues, the percentages of roster changes from one season to the next also indicated that there is no commitment to maximizing performance of a player over time, the same player who seemed a “perfect fit” when recruited just a fewmonths back. Over the years, our community has undertaking challenges that address different realities around player development. While we often highlight and “brag” about so-and- so player we worked with and who “made it”, we hardly talk about the many who did not arrive, with whom we also worked, and for whom we invested heavily. Addressing and closing the gap between players reaching to the professional level but not getting established there, and trying also to increase the number of players who arrive vs the ones who do not are tasks I encourage our Aspire Fellows to tackle. For the benefit of the players, and as importantly, for those of the organizations that trust that we understand the duality of the coaches’ goals and objectives. THE GLOBAL SUMMIT