5 teams who have found success with youngsters this season
Football today is all about results and it is quite apparent that most clubs would rather go with the tried and tested method of recruiting established players to fill their team as they set their sights on trophies. Only a handful of youth talents gets a look-in, especially when you look at teams near the top of the table.
However, a few clubs have managers who are willing to take a gamble on the potential and skills of youngsters to form a team. We’ve seen it before with the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger investing their faith in inexperienced youth who eventually came good to varying degrees of success.
We look at five such teams who have had youngsters make up the core of the team and deliver in the 2016/17 season.
5) Borussia Dortmund: 3rd in Bundesliga
After winning two consecutive Bundesliga titles prior to Bayern Munich’s dominance, Borussia Dortmund have failed to establish themselves as a force to reckon with in both Germany and Europe. Three consecutive losses in the DFB-Pokal have not helped their cause either.
Bayern Munich have also repeatedly thrust a dagger between their ribs time and again by signing their best players and last summer was also no different. While it’s impossible to blame Mats Hummels for moving back home, Die Borussen also saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan move to Manchester United following his finest season in a Dortmund shirt with 11 goals and 15 assists in the league.
But Thomas Tuchel has kept the ship from sinking and last summer saw Dortmund quietly sign a number of so-called squad players to create a team capable of competing at the highest level. While a disillusioned Mario Gotze returned, Ousmane Dembele (19) and Raphael Guerreiro (23) were signed from Ligue 1. The signings of Marc Bartra (26) in defence and Andre Schurrle (26) in attack also added some experience to the squad.
Dembele is one of the most exciting teenagers in Europe this season and already has 11 assists this season – the second-highest in Bundesliga. He is capably supported by Julian Weigl (21) in central midfield, whose pass accuracy is nearly 90%, and American prodigy Christian Pulisic (18), who has three goals and six assists in the league. And let’s not forget young Emre Mor (19) on the wing.
Matthias Ginter (23) and Guerreiro have also impressed in defence and midfield respectively. And the future looks good at Westfalenstadion with Mahmoud Dahoud (21) arriving at the club and Alexander Isak (17) set to play more first-team football under Tuchel next season.