Moratti, Branca and the fallacy of their "youth" policy

[n4l]

I've been thinking about this for a long time but I think it is time I put the thoughts in writing. Many see me as being an unjust critic of our management team but out of all the things the management does, the youth "policy" that initially started with Facchetti and now continued by Branca, is extremely puzzling and strikes as either complete naivety or complete incompetence. Based on the current state of Inter, I tend to lean to the side of complete incompetence.

In business (or in life), prior to making significant decisions, it is prudent and wise to perform due diligence. It is prudent to study, research, and investigate what has been successful in the past, what is successful now, and what has failed. Only then can a business decide on a strategy that has a higher chance of success. Conversely, without such due diligence, the probability of failure is much, much higher.

Branca and Moratti have made the strategic decision to invest in young, talented, cheaper players who are ready to contribute. While not a revolutionary or new concept, it is a wise concept. Key word being CONCEPT. As I've said above, I've thought about this for a long time and came up with the 3 essentials for such a concept to work.

(1) Culture
A look at past and current teams that have been successful at implementing this concept have a culture around the club regarding developing youth. This culture comes from a clear and consistent message that developing youth players comes before anything else and that the everything about the club is geared towards ensuring that youth players develop and become successful at the club. Most importantly, this message must be real and must manifest itself in tangible ways (and not just words):
- Constant stream of youth players being promoted to the senior squad
- Youth players getting consistent on-the-field opportunities with the senior team
- Actual youth players becoming mainstays on the senior team
These are just to name a few. Doing these 3 things give young players coming in a vision of their future. It shows them that they actually have a chance to breakthrough to the senior squad and can even be mainstays on the squad. Essentially, it attracts the best youth players. It is why some of the best young players want to play for Arsenal or Porto. We can look at teams like Arsenal, Ajax, Barca, and Porto, who've taken the time to develop this culture at their clubs. You look at a team like Dortmund and Napoli, who, in a short time, have been able to create that culture at their club.

Does Inter have a culture of youth development? Have Inter taken strides to develop such a culture?
Many would argue with this, but the answer to both questions is no. We do not have a culture of youth. We may want to say it, but we actually don't implement it. An important part of the "culture" is that youth development is first. That cannot be said about Inter. Over the past 10 years, how many consistent, starting players on the Inter team came from the youth team?

(2) System/Philosophy/Framework
Remember that culture cares about youth development first and as such, making it easier for the players to transition to the senior squad is vital. As such, having a uniform, consistent playing system/philosophy throughout the ranks (from youth all the way to senior squad) is key to having a successful youth program. One of the first things Wenger did at Arsenal was implement a system for the entire club to follow. All his coaches will teach within the framework. It is the same thing Ajax has done since the 70s. It is what Cruyff stole and brought to Barca. It is something that Porto has been doing for years. It is something Germany as a whole did after World Cup 1998 (and we're seeing the benefits now with Ozil, Gotze, the Benders e.t.c). This facilitates greater learning, greater mastering of positions, greater tactical understanding and easy transitioning to the senior squad. It is why players like Cesc, Ramsey, Wilshire can, at a young age, be very, very good. It is why Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, and now Alcantara can be very good. It is why Porto can sell all their players and still be successful the next year. It is why those players, who have individual differences, all play similarly.

Does Inter have a consistent system or philosophy?
No. And far from it. It is not even worth it to go beyond that. Our revolving door of managers with vastly different philosophies is enough to prove this point.

(3) Scouting/Talent Evaluation
Even with the above 2 in place, vital to any youth program is excellent scouting and talent evaluation. How is it that Barca can keep producing talented mids? How is it Porto and Sporting continue to produce attacking players? (Have you seen James Rodriguez? Kid is amazing). The answer is simple. Scouting. You want to make a quality cake? No matter how nice your baking pan or the oven is, or how fancy your timer is, you need quality ingredients. And like it or not, like with everything else in life, there are good scouts, mediocre scouts and bad scouts. It's why everybody in your high school class didn't get 90% in math. Some people are good at it and some are not. All these clubs with a successful youth policy have excellent scouts.

Does Inter have excellent scouts?
Our track record speaks for itself. No.



So, what does this all mean? It simply means Inter does not have the infrastructure to implement this so called "youth policy". It means that after all the talking up by Moratti and Branca, the final result will be the same; no quality youth players breaking through. It means this who youth policy is a fallacy.

This is why it amazes me when Inter fans "grade" our mercato or our youth players. It amazes me because the infrastructure is the same, yet people expect different results. We have the same lousy culture, no system in place, lousy scouts but expect different results.

I remember last season people were praising the "long term project" of Branca by signing Mariga, Biabiany, and Coutinho. We sold Biabiany in 6 months. We loaned Mariga after a year. The best ever from our youth team we sold before he could be a starter (Balotelli). We sold our 2nd best (Santon). We've loaned/sold countless others. We've sold half of Obi. This is the reality. This is representative of what youth means to Inter. Yet, Branca still goes and signs Castagnos, Alvarez and Poli and tells Inter fans "this is the future!".

This is why I am so against our management. Don't try to convince me things are looking good, when all Branca has done is taken shit off the ground and put it in a gift-wrapped box. It's the same shit Branca.

I am all for a youth policy. But to do this, Inter needs a complete overhaul. Sadly, this overhaul has to come from the President all the way down the scouts. We just need people who are BETTER at doing their jobs.

 

[The Wall]

WOW. Just wow. I said some of these things today but it was nowhere near well said comparing to this.

I'm going to print this and put it on my wall. And we should direct people on FIF to read this every time a discussion about Inter's current situation occurs.

Fuck...it should be one of the forum rules. Can not join FIF if you don't read this.

 

[Darren]

Great post N4l, very well put together. I agree completely with your statements.

Like you said, this policy can only be successfully implemented through rigorous changes to various aspects of our club. The problem with change is: it usually comes slowly. Imo Moratti, Branca and co. are making weak attempts at implementing the youth policy right now. Conservative and weak as they are, they will continue to do this, until something drastic happens to show them that this approach is definitely not going to work. Then we run the risk of having partially implemented a new policy, only to drastically change course again. Which can only result in continuous failure.

This whole approach is understandable: MM and co. don't want to change things too much, because that might be met with even more opposition than what they are doing now. They are conservative people: look at every fucking interview for the last 2 years. What did Moratti, Branca and every coach say: 'We dont want to change too much. The core of this group is strong. Bla bla bla'.

But eventually hard decisions will have to be made regarding the future of this club. I just hope they are smart decisions. Otherwise we really will go back to 90s Inter.

Due dilligence and research are indeed very important in this aspect.
These are big reasons for why Mourinho was so successful with us. Lol.. this whole saga really illustrates just how important Jose was to the treble. He is always focused on making the choices that will guarantee success whereas Moratti and Branca do things half-heartedly. Which shows in the results.

 

[Suneet]

Very good post but we have to start somewhere dont we? I dont mean no offence, but had we started developing our squad earlier, we woudnt have won what we did. This is the only time to start this and now we are forced into doing so. There is always a pro and con for everything.

 

[n4l]

Very good post but we have to start somewhere dont we? I dont mean no offence, but had we started developing our squad earlier, we woudnt have won what we did. This is the only time to start this and now we are forced into doing so. There is always a pro and con for everything.

Of course we have to start somewhere. That somewhere should be INFRASTRUCTURE, meaning we start by changing our culture, implementing a uniform football philosophy and system, and looking to hire better scouts.

What has Branca done to make you believe that this so-called "strategy" will eventually yield consistent and sustainable success?

 

[Suneet]

Consistent and sustainable can be possible to acheive in 1 summer?

I know you dont rate Alvarez, but I have the belief if he's played correctly he can add a lot to the team. I know you dont rate Coutinho, but there is some improvement, you can already see he's quicker for starters amongst other things, there is some hope. Rannochia, Nagatomo, Obi, Pazzini, Castaignos are all young and have yet to peak.

What the management is trying to do is to build an environment for the youngsters to flourish in obviously that also cant be done in one summer especially if we want to win every game as well. What the management is also trying to do is ensuring that the club has enough money to survive in the future and get our books in order for the upcoming UEFA regulations. We have made a couple of sponsorship deals in the last year or so too. We have atleast 2-3 players ear marked from our youth team that will get a chance in the upcoming future in Crisiteg, Bardi, Bessa, Tassi, Alborno etc. So there is a plan but again Branca is not the man for this. As you well know I really dont prefer him making all transfers.

Again, there is no culture of bringing youth players up to the first team at Inter because we simply havent tried it at all in the past.

We are starting with this season and that is the gamble we are taking. The youth team has been playing a similar formation to the first team since Mourinho, it was mentioned in a few articles before too. We are buying talents that are highly rated and gambling on them, by playing them with Primavera and hopefully a couple of them atleast turn into good players or if not that just squad players is a lot of money saved. If we balance our books, there will be enough to sign players for positions that we lack in.

What I agree completely is the scouting part, that is where we have to improve, MASSIVELY. I thought all was well because even in 2009 we signed players to complete our lineup properly and we saw the results, but after that things broke with Balotelli and I dont see what Santon has done to be this highly rated. Scouting doesnt only mean signing 16 yr olds who become Ballon d'or winners... I'm sure you agree. A few of our recent signings have been sucessful, I mean look at the signings of Nagatomo and Pazzo for about 20million is not bad at all. They have it in them to be starters for years to come. Yes we also loaned Kharja, realised it and sent him back so we are reading players abilities well.

Obviously all this is long term, but to keep our team at high level it will mean some oldies will stay here and keep contributing every season albeit at reducing levels, simply because its soo difficult to send them away. I dont think we rejected any bids for Muntari and he;s in the squad for the Roma game..... We cant have everything, but what the club needs now is some belief in the players abilities. One cycle has ended and one more needs to begin. We cant complain about youngsters failing a game here and there if we want to bank on them for long term. Even Wenger has had crap players come through. At the same time we if we dont want to turn into Arsenal, we have to have players who have been there done it all and tactically get the best out of them and sign players to replace them summer after summer...

 

[Ronaldo]

Great post N4L.

That's what I've been saying all summer, our mercato sucked this year but most of people on this forum disagree.

I don't get why everybody is excited about Alvarez! We paid 12 million for him while Juve and Roma buy players like Vidal and Pjanic for 10 million.

I agree with you completely, we need an overhaul from the smallest person in the club to the biggest person.

Everything in our club is slow! buying players, selling players, new stadium, hiring staff members, our style of play.. etc. For this to change we need to change the mentality of the club, change the philosophy. We need young ambition people with new ideas not old outdated conservative people.


Why can't we have a B team to play in Seria B? I think that could really help our primavera and that's one of the reasons why Barcelona is successful at developing youngsters.

 

[n4l]

Consistent and sustainable can be possible to acheive in 1 summer?

Why are you limiting it to just this summer? This has been going on since Facchetti days. He realized the overspending on players was not sustainable and wanted to focus on youth investment. Unfortunately, he died when it was just a concept and it was left in the hands of Branca and Moratti.

I know you dont rate Alvarez, but I have the belief if he's played correctly he can add a lot to the team. I know you dont rate Coutinho, but there is some improvement, you can already see he's quicker for starters amongst other things, there is some hope. Rannochia, Nagatomo, Obi, Pazzini, Castaignos are all young and have yet to peak.

This is exactly what I am saying though. What Branca has done is just sign some young players and hope one (or some of them) work out. We relied on the same scouts we've used for years.
What makes you think THIS CROP of young players would be better than the last crop of young players? What has changed? More importantly, even if say one or two of them turn out to be successful, would you view that as a systemic success (i.e. A system in place that can be dependent on to repeat success) or a lucky success? Are you sure that the next set of players the scouts bring will be just as talented?

As to the players themselves, again, there is the problem. I am not going to go into whether or not I think they'll be good but why did we even buy them in the first place and what is the actual PLAN for them? You see, we have no system, thus what is the criteria for signing these players? Alvarez was bought to play where? Coutinho was bought to play where? Where was Castaignos bought to play? This is the point. They see some talent, buy the player, then just throw the players to the wolves (no different than signing Arnautovic). Think for a second about how Porto, Barca, Arsenal e.t.c. run. They buy players for SPECIFIC roles. It's not guess work. They are not buying a player and then thinking about where he may/may not play. They didn't bring in players for their youth teams and not know where they're going to play. They have a system. We don't.

And please let us not talk about Obi. FFS, we sold half his rights to Parma. That right there is action speaking louder than words. That right there shows our "culture" toward youth. Our best youth product out of primavera gets half his rights sold.

What the management is trying to do is to build an environment for the youngsters to flourish in obviously that also cant be done in one summer especially if we want to win every game as well. What the management is also trying to do is ensuring that the club has enough money to survive in the future and get our books in order for the upcoming UEFA regulations. We have made a couple of sponsorship deals in the last year or so too. We have atleast 2-3 players ear marked from our youth team that will get a chance in the upcoming future in Crisiteg, Bardi, Bessa, Tassi, Alborno etc. So there is a plan but again Branca is not the man for this. As you well know I really dont prefer him making all transfers.

As I just said above, buying young players and throwing them to wolves cannot be considered a plan or a strategy. That is not an environment for young players to learn and grow.
And I don't care who is "ear marked". Based on our history with our primavera, they are primarily used for trading for other players. You follow our team so you know. We've had tons of players who were talented and "ear marked" for first team yet they were eventually sold or traded. So I don't get why you suddenly feel that this crop is any different. Same scouts, same system but expecting different results. And like I said, even if we manage to get 1-2 super talents that turn out well, that is not SUSTAINABLE.

Again, there is no culture of bringing youth players up to the first team at Inter because we simply havent tried it at all in the past.

We have tried for a long time. For years. The problem is, the infrastructure is not there. Young players get thrown to the wolves and are expected to fend for themselves. They play in primavera for years in one position, then get sent to first team somewhere else. As soon as they don't impress, they are used for trading or sold.

We are starting with this season and that is the gamble we are taking. The youth team has been playing a similar formation to the first team since Mourinho, it was mentioned in a few articles before too. We are buying talents that are highly rated and gambling on them, by playing them with Primavera and hopefully a couple of them atleast turn into good players or if not that just squad players is a lot of money saved. If we balance our books, there will be enough to sign players for positions that we lack in.

Football philosophy throughout the ENTIRE CLUB. Think about it Suneet. Arsenal, Barca, Porto e.t.c have the exact same philosophy and formation from youth all the way to senior team. They don't hire random coaches either. Coaches all have philosophies that are tied to the club.

What is FC Internazionale's football philosophy? Can we see a playing style throughout our club? It is irrelevant if Flavio Pea is coaching 4-3-3, yet the senior squad is a revolving door of managers in different tactical setups. THAT is the point. These are the things that need/needed to be done FIRST.

 

[Suneet]

Why are we comparing our youth academy or even expecting a similar level to Arsenal and Barca??? How many clubs have that good an academy? Why are we expecting our management to invent the same level of philosophy in 1 summer? And I made it clear that before there wasnt an opportunity to do this earlier because our sole aim was to win the CL.

Also, Alvarez was bought for the various roles he plays in. We can see where he settles in best and play him there. CM, AM are his best roles but as we've seen in the past, certain players dont really play the same way when they reach at a high level. Coutinho is a longer term project, he is brought in to play in his best role which is left sided forward/attacking mid. We cant decide from now on itself that Tassi has to be a SS, we have to wait and see how he develops, its not that simple.Btw, I'm pretty sure if we lost out on signing Alvarez a lot of people would be complaining that we coudnt beat Palermo to signing him.... including me.

What is the issue with signing good players? I dont mind what position they play, if they are good they will come through and find space. If they arent, we'll sell them on. Theres nothing wrong in doing that considering our financial situation.

What is different now is before signing a young player at Inter meant getting someone Tassi's age and hoping he would develop. Examples of success stories include Santon and Balo. Now signing young players means buying players under 23-24 and slowly integrating them into the team. The difference is I believe in them a little more than you ,nothing else.

We use Primavera players to trade for other players true, but now since we arent signing anyone for the first team, we have no other options but to move these players to the first team. I'm pretty sure we wont spend 2m or so on half of Tassi for that. It is very obvious that this is going to be the policy.

Obi deal might have something to do with payments, something similar to what happened with Mancini's deal with Bbilan, we sold them 3 players for the amount they promised us. It doesnt mean we dont believe in our youth. We started him in the last game and in our next one and he played a lot of the pre-season. We shoudnt complain of what we dont know. He's still playing for us and buying him back wont be an issue if he performs.

I completely agree about the revolving door of coaches though. Ever since Mou left, we have been in trouble on that front. First Rafa, who had to go, then Leo who wanted to go and now Gasp whom some Interisti want out. That is the reason why I want him to basically get his tactics thrown out of the window(which looks like it has happened) and second he needs to find a way of motivating our players(I'm praying for this)

Moral of the story, lets not call it a failed policy yet. Its too soon to shoot this down, lets see the players first. From what I've seen, I believe we will have a few gems in our youth team and the difference is now that we will promote them, have some faith in the management who started the previous cycle. Have some faith in MM who actually hurts as much or probably even more when we lose. Its much more difficult this time around, but MM has always found a way and he will again.

 

[The Wall]

Why are we comparing our youth academy or even expecting a similar level to Arsenal and Barca??? How many clubs have that good an academy? Why are we expecting our management to invent the same level of philosophy in 1 summer? And I made it clear that before there wasnt an opportunity to do this earlier because our sole aim was to win the CL.

Sorry for cutting your post like this but just one question. You don't have a problem with this kind of strategy?

Why does winning the CL needs to exclude the idea of implementing an identity?

I am going to overstate this but those guys are smart people not monkeys so I'm pretty sure it could have been done simultaneously. And should have from very practical reasons. We had a lot of money, Moratti was spending like there is no tomorrow and now....we are broke. We are not Real Madrid or City or Chealsea which can afford not to have a long term strategy, or identity, or developed scouting network.

But we can not if we intend to be a top club. If we intend to compete not only with the best in the Europe but domestically.

So, all those years in which we failed to implement the idea presented make a huge minus in my book for all the people in charge. It just seems they deal with stuff as it comes. It seems the rebuilding and FFP just caught them by surprise. It shows them being short sighted.

 

[blackmore]

Lol @ this thread.....We have like 4 running like these simtaneously. Anyway I'm not going to post anyhthinhg, it would be like speaking to the wall (pun intended). All I have to say is nice post sun....spot fucking on! It's hard to talk to those who have no idea, but I efforts are praised.

 

[Suneet]

Sorry for cutting your post like this but just one question. You don't have a problem with this kind of strategy?

Why does winning the CL needs to exclude the idea of implementing an identity?

I am going to overstate this but those guys are smart people not monkeys so I'm pretty sure it could have been done simultaneously. And should have from very practical reasons. We had a lot of money, Moratti was spending like there is no tomorrow and now....we are broke. We are not Real Madrid or City or Chealsea which can afford not to have a long term strategy, or identity, or developed scouting network.

But we can not if we intend to be a top club. If we intend to compete not only with the best in the Europe but domestically.

So, all those years in which we failed to implement the idea presented make a huge minus in my book for all the people in charge. It just seems they deal with stuff as it comes. It seems the rebuilding and FFP just caught them by surprise. It shows them being short sighted.

Whatever we did before was all patch up work. What we are doing now is trying to build from scratch. It was not possible then because even if you developed a player, you had a better option in the first team already and the whole point of developing someone was retarded then. We then started trading them for any players that we could get.

FFP wasnt in the pipeline for 10 years or so, it came what a couple of years back. And even then we had not acheived MM's holy grail. The moment we did, we started balancing our books. I agree that its difficult to compete with the likes of Barca with this policy, but even if we spent 100's of millions, we wouldnt be able to do that, ask Real.(And guess what even they announced a profit)

The fact is we have to accept this and pray that our young players turn out to be what we expect them to be and give them the environment to suceed. We cant keep chopping and changing now because they wont really enjoy the turmoil, they are soft minds. If it means we have a couple trophy less seasons albeit with minimal profits, it has to be done to survive. Once we start making profits, MM will invest all the money earned into the team, he will never pocket it, which is the popular belief here. He has financed us for 15fucking crazy years financially. Fucking bonuses have come out of his pocket too. He never ever has taken back any money from the club.

Now he wants the club to support itself because his other source of income isnt doing well either and also because its necessary to participate in the CL. The difference is I believe that we have bought good players and in time they will come good, maybe not all, maybe some wont make it. Just dont expect them to shine from day 1, because that is not reality. I dont mean no offence but we used to buy the best we could get in the past, now if you want to follow a club with that sort of policy, please click here: www.mcfc.co.uk

Our scouts havent been the best always as N4L pointed out, but it was also because we never really gave talent a chance to suceed. We are venturing into the unknown but if you are going to say 2 weeks into the season that all our new younger players are crap then you are basically being negative.

What we should be worrying about is why we cant get our current batch of players to be pumping with adrenalin when they are playing. What we should be worrying about is why the coach insists on playing the wrong formation. What we should worry about is why the fuck was the whole CL rulebook not read before we signed Forlan. These are the mistakes that the management has made. We are instead worried about something we cant predict as a fact and complaining about it right now when we have seen barely 90 mins from all of our new ones. It's good to be negative, but its wrong to be shooting down things before they have even happened.

---------- Post added at 22:07 ---------- Previous post was at 22:05 ----------

@black. Why cant you post here? This thread is quality, thanks to n4l, the wall. I dont mind 50 such threads at FI. Its good debate and even if we dont agree thats always welcome at FI.

 

[blackmore]

i cant post because whatever i wanted to say you already said it asshole!

 

[n4l]

Why are we comparing our youth academy or even expecting a similar level to Arsenal and Barca??? How many clubs have that good an academy? Why are we expecting our management to invent the same level of philosophy in 1 summer? And I made it clear that before there wasnt an opportunity to do this earlier because our sole aim was to win the CL.

Nobody is comparing the END RESULT of Arsenal/Barca/Ajax/Porto youth system to ours. We are studying their systems, trying to determine why they're successful, and then try to copy it.

Nobody expects that in 2 summers (it's really 2 summers since we technically started last year) the END RESULT will be the same as those clubs, but that at least in 2 years, we'd see a foundation and system either in place or being put in place. Hence I also put in, teams like Dortmund, who totally revamped their system not too long ago (less than 5 years ago).

What is the system in place @ Inter right now?

Also, Alvarez was bought for the various roles he plays in. We can see where he settles in best and play him there. CM, AM are his best roles but as we've seen in the past, certain players dont really play the same way when they reach at a high level.

Please name me a top team who's star buy of the summer is a player who they're going to try in different roles and see where he's best?


Suneet, you're arguing my points for me. This is the whole point. The top teams who have a proper infrastructure have a system in place and hence, they buy players to fit that system. And while some players may play in 2 or even 3 positions, it is not a fucking "discovery mission" like it is with Inter.

Coutinho is a longer term project, he is brought in to play in his best role which is left sided forward/attacking mid. We cant decide from now on itself that Tassi has to be a SS, we have to wait and see how he develops, its not that simple.Btw, I'm pretty sure if we lost out on signing Alvarez a lot of people would be complaining that we coudnt beat Palermo to signing him.... including me.

So let me ask you. Why do you think Coutinho is tactically struggling to adapt? Do you think the fact that he's played in 3 different systems, in different roles e.t.c. in 1 year has any impact on his development? Do you think a player like, say Wilshire, has found it easier to adapt and show his quality since he's been playing in 1 system all his life?

As for Tassi, again, I don't care about the players' talent. Our infrastructure is not conducive to player development and as such, Tassi, along with all our other youngsters will be thrown to the wolves; thrown into big games in unfamiliar positions, unfamiliar tactical instructions and expect to perform. Don't perform well and it's off on loan, co-sell, or 100% sell. Again, the history is there to see and since the infrastructure hasn't changed, then I don't understand how we expect to see different results.

As for Alvarez, my opinion on the player is not valid in the framework of this discussion. This has nothing to do with the player's talent. My post has to do with the infrastructure within the club to allow a player like Alvarez or whoever we buy, to develop and flourish.

What is the issue with signing good players? I dont mind what position they play, if they are good they will come through and find space. If they arent, we'll sell them on. Theres nothing wrong in doing that considering our financial situation.

This is bordering on mercato strategy and I don't want to derail my own thread by going off topic. But if you have limited resources, then you are BANKING on whatever you buy to succeed; meaning maximization and no waste. Buying a good player only to not play them in their best position is pretty counter-productive for a team with limited resources.

What is different now is before signing a young player at Inter meant getting someone Tassi's age and hoping he would develop. Examples of success stories include Santon and Balo.

You cannot call those successes. None were permanent starters for the first team, which is the primary aim if you're developing a youth program at a big club. Of course, if your objective is like a Udinese, then sure, we had TWO successes out of the MANY youth players through the ranks. So accordingly, if we want to be like Udinese, then we have to expect Udinese level competitiveness on a year-to-year basis (i.e. mid table club).

Now signing young players means buying players under 23-24 and slowly integrating them into the team. The difference is I believe in them a little more than you ,nothing else.

It has nothing to do with believing in them or not or if they are talented or not. That is another topic. The infrastructure at the club is just not conducive to development. Throwing players to the wolves and hoping that one or two succeed might be considered a good strategy, but it is just not a smart one for a club on supposed budget constraints and that wants to compete on a high level.

I hope you can see this is what we're doing. Branca is basically banking on our scouts to deliver exceptional talent who can fend for themselves when thrown to the wolves. And that my friend, is not a sustainable strategy.

We use Primavera players to trade for other players true, but now since we arent signing anyone for the first team, we have no other options but to move these players to the first team. I'm pretty sure we wont spend 2m or so on half of Tassi for that. It is very obvious that this is going to be the policy.

Suneet, throwing players to the wolves is NOT DEVELOPMENT. So even if it is "obvious that this is going to be the policy", it does not mean that the policy is going to magically produce results now.

Obi deal might have something to do with payments, something similar to what happened with Mancini's deal with Bbilan, we sold them 3 players for the amount they promised us. It doesnt mean we dont believe in our youth. We started him in the last game and in our next one and he played a lot of the pre-season. We shoudnt complain of what we dont know. He's still playing for us and buying him back wont be an issue if he performs.

You have got to be kidding me Suneet? If you sell any portion of your player, it means you don't believe in them. PERIOD. And no, you can't just buy back. That's what happened with Viviano this summer. It's called BLIND AUCTION.

Moral of the story, lets not call it a failed policy yet. Its too soon to shoot this down, lets see the players first. From what I've seen, I believe we will have a few gems in our youth team and the difference is now that we will promote them, have some faith in the management who started the previous cycle. Have some faith in MM who actually hurts as much or probably even more when we lose. Its much more difficult this time around, but MM has always found a way and he will again.

I call it like I see it. I see it as a failed policy because it is not sustainable. There is no infrastructure or system in place. Branca is 100% depending on scouts to deliver top quality players at low prices. I think I don't need to really explain why/how this cannot be a sustainable practice.

 

[Suneet]

Well theres nothing I can add to what I posted earlier. I just want to know what infrastructure is needed, what can really be done to players for them to be prepared for the real games apart from just playing them, I dont know. They can play 1000's of primavera games but still be unprepared for the big time. Its something in their mind, yes we can mentally condition them a little bit, but that is like 1% of what is needed for them to suceed. Agree or not, that to me is the fact.

And to me n4l, you always like to see things in black in white, but reality is that a lot of things are in grey. You cant say we dont believe in Obi by the number of starts he's making and considering mostly below par performances.

Again your point about us changing tactics/coaches is 100% right. But Mou, Rafa, Leo were forced changes for us, that is also a reality. Leo would have stayed on as per plan in June. Good discussion, but its going nowhere and it only makes sense to discover this a couple of years down the line.

 

[n4l]

Well theres nothing I can add to what I posted earlier. I just want to know what infrastructure is needed, what can really be done to players for them to be prepared for the real games apart from just playing them, I dont know. They can play 1000's of primavera games but still be unprepared for the big time. Its something in their mind, yes we can mentally condition them a little bit, but that is like 1% of what is needed for them to suceed. Agree or not, that to me is the fact.

So then why does Arsenal and Barca have a better youth setup than us? Do you think it is just down to luck? They buy young players, just like us, then just put them in matches and hope they succeed? Clearly you cannot believe that Suneet, cause then it would be pretty impossible for a club to constantly produce talent.

My first post kinda detailed what I think is the right infrastructure, based on what I see at the successful clubs. They all have a football philosophy or playing style, and they all have a basic formation and tactic from which all the teams play. This is why it seems so seamless, when Busquets or Alcantara can come straight from the youth team to senior team. They are basically playing the same role with the same tactical instructions. They are just playing on a higher level. It gives them confidence.

It is something Dortmund did very recently. They setup the whole club to run 4-2-3-1. They have their own style and they play that style throughout the club.

I think that is something Inter could've done these past 2 years. Really think hard and settle on an "Inter identity". Even if it is 4-3-1-2 and ultra-defensive with fast countering, that is ok. We then recruit specifically for this and make all our teams play the same thing. We recruit only coaches who are proponents of the tactic. So then, say a player like Obi, if he plays LCM in primavera, when it is time for promotion, he will be playing LCM with the senior squad. No new positions or new tactics to ADD to the already big task of competing against better players.

It cannot be a coincidence that the clubs with successful youth programs all share this in common.

And to me n4l, you always like to see things in black in white, but reality is that a lot of things are in grey. You cant say we dont believe in Obi by the number of starts he's making and considering mostly below par performances.

In this case though Suneet, you need to understand the situation. We sold 1/2 of Obi's card. Therefore, if, let's say he turns out to be old school Essien, the only way we can retain him is
(a) if Parma willingly sells 1/2 his card back to us or
(b) we go to blind auction and we could lose (50% chance)
You are a smart guy. You have to admit that both those situations carry a substantial risk that you can lose the player. Now, if you have full confidence in a youngster and believe that he will turn out big, is that a risk you will ever take? For a measly couple mils payment? Think about it. There were many options for the management to take. You can:
(a) Pay the couple mils
(b) Loan Obi
(c) Loan another youngster
(d) 1/2 sell another youngster
(e) Full sell another youngster
e.t.c.
There are so many options, yet the option the management took involves substantial risk that they may lose the player. To me, if you are willing to take that risk, it means you are not really convinced.

 

[jamaican_inter_fan]

Great post n4l I totally agree wit u