Brexit has a lot to answer for and you can add to the mix Cardiff’s chances of producing the next Rubin Colwill or Isaak Davies. Actually, to correct that statement, Cardiff’s chances of producing and retaining future first-team players. Legislative changes have seen clubs at the top of the food chain start to hoover up all the best available talent from below and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
I’ve been looking into academy structure and speaking to as many people as possible about it recently because I’m fascinated by how it all works and I think it’s probably best to start at the very beginning. I had a vague idea of how it all fits together, as I imagine most football fans do, but this is something resembling the full picture.
Premier League regulations stipulate that an academy or satellite centre cannot take on any kids until they are old enough to play at under-seven level. Clubs may be aware of talent earlier than that, but they would have to hold fire until that stage. There are age ranges right up to under-21, which is the highest within the academy structure. At that point, you are deemed ready for the first-team or ready for the exit.
As has ever been thus, talent is identified at grass roots level, by local scouts watching parks games and liaising with schools. Between under-seven and under-11, there is a one-hour travel radius, which pits Cardiff against Swansea, both Bristol clubs, Newport and some Welsh Premier League club academies. Between under-12 and under-16, the radius increases to 90 minutes. After that, you are free to recruit throughout the UK.
At each age range, most groups will consist of about 16 players, to allow for some flexibility to add late bloomers or anyone that may move to the area. Also, there is a stipulation stating that everyone in the group has to play in at least 50% of fixtures. Emerging talent may be offered an eight-week trial for assessment and added to the group, if successful and space permitting.
If you are particularly good, you may play up an age range and conversely, if you start to struggle at that higher level, you can also step back if required. Between under-nine and under-12, you will be registered for a full season, which then increases to two years between under-13 and under-16. It’s at this point where the sharks start to smell blood.
Pre-Brexit, Premier League clubs would routinely scour the world for the finest young players they could lay their hands on. Once the UK left the European Union, their hands are now tied until players reach the age of 18 and since then, they have trained their sights on the Football League. Ultimately, they have everything to gain and very little to lose.
For example, to sign a player that has yet to agree scholarship terms, the maximum compensation, decided by tribunal, would be £134,000. If a player is on a scholarship, a transfer fee will need to be mutually agreed. If a transfer fee cannot be agreed, as was the case with talented Welsh youth international midfielder Charlie Crew, who recently left Cardiff for Leeds, then a tribunal will mediate.
Crew is currently 16, but when he turns 17, he will sign a two-year professional deal that will likely put him on a comparable salary to Cardiff’s current first-team academy graduates. It is difficult for a Championship club to justify that sort of expenditure for a player that is unlikely to feature for the first-team during that period, whereas it’s relatively small potatoes for an established Premier League club.
Sharp-eyed observers will have noticed that 16-year-old Lewys Benjamin made the Cardiff bench for the recent FA Cup tie with Leeds. Benjamin also started for the under-21’s on Tuesday, rather than the under-18’s, who also played, but he has yet to feature for. He was one of two reserve goalkeepers and there is one of two ways to read his sudden promotion. Either he is likely to leave and offering him first-team exposure will help increase the amount of money the club receive for him, or he is a prodigious talent deserving of such rapid progression, but that will likely invite interest too.
This encapsulates the dilemma now facing academies. Going forward, what are they for?
The dream was always for the club to produce their own players because it helps form a bond with supporters and can potentially save you, or generate you, a fortune. Cardiff had Joel Bagan and Tom Sang as their full backs against Leeds, with Davies and Mark Harris twinned in attack. Harris and Colwill also recently went to the World Cup with Wales, which was a very proud achievement for both and the club. Will that become a thing of the past though?
The reason those players made the progression through the ranks at Cardiff is due to a combination of it being pre-Brexit and also because they were relatively late bloomers. If you look at someone like Gabriele Biancheri, a talented 16-year-old striker in the academy, who has recently piqued interest, the word on the street is that he is set to link up with Cardiff’s former Head of Academy Coaching, David Hughes at Manchester United.
Bianchieri has already featured for the under-21’s, whether deservedly or cynically, but is some way away from first-team contention. At United, the bar is set incredibly high in terms of ever making the first-team, but he may represent their best available option until they can start shopping internationally, when that age range progresses to under-18 level. In the meantime, he will play against the best opposition with elite players. It will raise both his profile and his career prospects.
Chances are that Cardiff will lose Benjamin and Bianchieri before they get anywhere near the senior set-up and maybe Morgan Wigley, who impressed in a brief cameo against Aston Villa recently, won’t be far behind them, whereas pre-Brexit, interest might not have been quite as intense and Cardiff might have had a fighting chance of retaining them.
It’s encouraging that Cardiff are clearly producing very good players, but it’s soul destroying that it’s for other clubs, even if they are generating income that can be reinvested in the academy. If it’s becoming increasingly impossible to fend off category one academies though, maybe it’s time to in turn start raiding those at category three level?
In terms of what Cardiff can do about all this, well the odds are very much stacked against them, but it’s not a hopeless cause. The new training facility in Llanrumney is nearly ready and that will make Cardiff more attractive. It will not run as a category one academy, but is category one ready, should the club decide to upgrade.
Some of the problems that have dogged the senior side in recent years, primarily a lack of joined up thinking or any thinking at all, are likely to affect the academy too, so a clear plan for the future is a must. Being more proactive, rather than reactive. The lack of a director of football to aid Gavin Chesterfield and provide a link between the playing staff and the board also remains a gaping hole at the heart of the club.
It feels unfair that recent changes in legislation has made it difficult for Welsh clubs to loan players from their English counterparts because it is now effectively considered as an overseas transaction. Should that be the case, then surely they should also enjoy the same protection afforded to international clubs when it comes to losing their academy prospects. You shouldn’t suffer on both fronts and that is surely something that the Welsh FA should investigate.
Rather than accept their fate, Cardiff need to box clever. Evolve, change with the times and try to find an edge because the production line clearly works, even if they don’t always reach Cardiff’s finishing school. Hopefully they can find a way, or receive a boost in their efforts to continue enjoying the fruits of their labour.