On Saturday lunchtime, unbeaten Chelsea came back from a goal down to win at Anfield and maintain their four-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, ahead of surprise-package Southampton. Then on Sunday afternoon, Arsenal went in front at the Liberty Stadium only to eventually lose and let Swansea City leapfrog the Gunners in the league standings. As the season approached the November international break, bottom of the Premier League were Burnley, despite recording their first win since returning to the top-flight.
Just a few days earlier, 21-year-old West Bromwich Albion forward Saido Berahino had received his first call-up to the senior England squad that were still licking their wounds following a disastrous World Cup performance in Brazil under Roy Hodgson (who was still in charge). For the Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia and a friendly match with Scotland there were returns to the team for 33-year-old Michael Carrick and 30-year-old Stewart Downing after their respective one- and two-year long absences from the squad.
Five years later
After Tom Heaton was ruled out of the England squad ahead of their final Euro 2020 qualifiers against Montenegro and Kosovo, not a single player in Gareth Southgate’s 27-man team was now in their thirties. On average, an England international is currently aged 24. As many as 13 players are 23 years old or younger. Jadon Sancho and Callum Hudson-Odoi are both still teenagers.
The previous weekend had seen 33 young (i.e. aged 23 or younger on the day of the game) English players feature for their Premier League clubs. Most of them (23) started games while the rest (10) came off the bench. There was also another group of young English players (12 of them) in matchday squads.
As many as four young Englishmen – Reece James (19 y.o.), Mason Mount (20), Fikayo Tomori (21) and Tammy Abraham (22) – made the starting line-up for Chelsea for their home game against Crystal Palace. Another one – Hudson-Odoi – came on in the second half. On the same day, Harvey Barnes (21), James Maddison (22) and Ben Chilwell (23) all started for Leicester City against Arsenal while Demarai Gray (23) was first to come off the bench. On Sunday, Brandon Williams (19), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (21) and Marcus Rashford (22) all helped Manchester United dispatch Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford. That weekend, English players aged 23 or younger also featured from the start for Bournemouth, Everton and Norwich (two for every club) as well as Aston Villa, Brighton, Burnley, Liverpool, Sheffield United, Tottenham and West Ham (one). Only Crystal Palace and Watford had no young local talent in their 18-man squads on Premier League Matchday 12.
Breakthrough?
Would it then be justified for English football to boast about a clear upgrade in the quality of their youth development system – the number of English players aged 23 or younger featuring on a Premier League matchday being an indicator of the progress – over the last five years?
Yes…
… and no.
On the same weekend half a decade earlier, Arsenal had Calum Chambers (then 19 y.o.), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (21) and Danny Welbeck (23) all in their starting eleven for the aforementioned encounter at Swansea. Jack Wilshere (22) came off the bench. Meanwhile, Harry Kane (21), Andros Townsend and Ryan Mason (both 23) all started for Tottenham in their home defeat to Stoke. Eric Dier (20) was an unused substitute.
Overall, across all Premier League teams, there were just two young English players, who started games, fewer than five years later (21 to 23). Another six players came off the bench. Additionally, a subsequent nine players were in their teams’ matchday squads. In total, English players made up 45% (36 out of 80) of all Premier League players aged 23 or younger to feature on the team sheets – compared to 46% (45 out of 97) on the second weekend of November 2019.
The average age of a senior England international between November 2014 and November 2019 does not differ much either. Five years ago, it stood at 25.35 and included 10 players aged under 24 in which Chambers, Luke Shaw and Raheem Sterling formed a strong teenage contingent.
What has changed for young English players in the Premier League, though, can be seen when taking a careful look at the top teams’ matchday squads.
Five years ago, table-topping Chelsea beat Liverpool with 22-year-old Thibaut Courtois as well as 23-year-old Oscar and Eden Hazard in their starting line-up while 20-year-old Kurt Zouma was on the bench. However, none of those four players is English. Meanwhile, Southampton, who were then second in the league, had three young players in from the start in their victory over Leicester City, but out of them only 23-year-old Nathaniel Clyne was English (19-year-old Harrison Reed then came off the bench). Manchester City and West Ham, third and fourth respectively, had just 22-year-old Carl Jenkinson… between them in their first elevens.
And while neither Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool (only Trent Alexander-Arnold from the start and Joe Gomez as a substitute that weekend) nor Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City (Phil Foden on the bench) currently have loads of young English talent on their first-team books, Leicester and Chelsea do indeed. There are also fewer teams these days not to have any English players aged 23 or younger in their matchday squads. In 2014, apart from Chelsea and Manchester City, there were Hull and Stoke, too.
Perhaps it would not then be justified for English football to boast about a revolution.
At least for now.
But has some progress been made?
Yes, it can be argued indeed.
This post was originally written in Polish and published on 14 November 2019.
BREAKTHROUGH 