Since the start of 2020, I have been researching career pathways of current under-23 players across Europe’s top five leagues. As a result, I have so far distinguished five different routes into professional football. This post is dedicated to the fifth and – at least for now – last of them, which I called the unconventional route. It is about players who broke through into senior football having been released by another club at an earlier stage or those whose development pathway took an unusual shape.
Route number 1. You join a professional club academy no later than at the age of nine and progress all the way through into the same club’s first-team. This is the English route.
Route number 2. You join a professional club academy no earlier than at the age of 10 having spent several years at a local club(s). This is the French route.
Route number 3. You join a foreign club without having made a senior debut in your home country. This is the international route.
Route number 4. You start your senior career in non-league, amateur or semi-professional football. This is the amateur route.
Route number 5. You break through into senior football in any other way than any of the four listed above. This is the unconventional route.
CIRCUMSTANCES
“They just said they had other players here at the time who were ahead of me”, remembers Dwight McNeil who moved to Burnley having been released by his boyhood club Manchester United at the age of 14.
“I got told I wasn’t the best at crossing at the time.”
McNeil was not the only one, of course.
The likes of West Ham United’s Declan Rice and Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah were released by Chelsea aged 14 and 16 respectively.
Meanwhile, Southampton’s Michael Obafemi even took a year out of the game after being told he was leaving Watford as a teenager.
Perhaps naturally, not every young footballer could be deemed good enough by a top club academy.
The competition is fierce. Sometimes a player may not yet be ready to handle the pressure or simply does not fit well enough into the environment he has found himself in. He may, though, flourish elsewhere. Other times, he decides for a move to another top club, domestic academy.
This is what, for example, Rhian Brewster did when swapping Chelsea for Liverpool at the age of 14.
There could be personal circumstances, too. Sampdoria’s Ronaldo Vieira was a 13-year-old Benfica Academy youth player when his family opted for a move to England to search for more job opportunities. Via several local clubs, he joined Leeds United four years later.
OBSTACLES
My research could yet see more different routes into senior football becoming established.
For now, the unconventional route could be regarded as one that provided young players with unexpected obstacles.
For more of my findings next season follow me on Twitter.
In the picture: Dwight McNeil, who was released by Manchester United at the age of 14, started every Premier League game last season (photo courtesy of Burnley FC)
BREAKTHROUGH 