29 Mar 2017 13:51:31
Ed I see Chelsea have a successful affiliation with Vitesse in the dutch league as they send their young players there to get experience playing with teammates.
I was wondering if liverpool have any affiliates like this? I think I remember seeing us signing an affiliation with a Uruguayan club after buying Coates forgive me if I am wrong. Is there any Clubs in England we are affiliated with and do you think it is a good option to send our youngsters to these clubs to play competitive football?

{Ed002's Note - No, Liverpool has no affiliated clubs that they send players to on loan. Some clubs have one or more agreements (Chelsea have several such agreements).}

1.) 29 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 14:48:13
I think it would be a great idea it gives the youngsters experience playing competitive football alongside teammates on loan from the same club. I think a team like Huddersfield under Wagner would be ideal. Cheers Ed.

2.) 29 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 15:10:14
A season in the championship doent prepare a player to be in the PL. If we had such a deal we would need to follow Chelseas moodel and have it in a league that's at least top of their country.

3.) 29 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 15:38:11
Doesn't Klopp have a manager friend at Huddersfield where something similar might be possible?

{Ed002's Note - It is not something that is the responsibility of the manager to sort out with his friends.}

4.) 29 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 15:43:28
The championship is a much harder league than the dutch league hjikle.

5.) 29 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 16:13:44
Just out of interest, how many of Chelsea's loan players who went to Vitesse are now playing in their first team?

It is not a trick question, I genuinely do not know. I am just skeptical of there actually being any benefit to this "affiliation".

It is just that from where I am sitting their entire starting XI and most of the subs bench are signed players at an average cost of about £25-30m. Correct me if I am wrong though.

6.) 29 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 17:43:37
I'm tending more towards Adam (and Ed001) on this. At first I really envied Chelsea's loan system, and from what Ed002 has said, they properly kept in touch with their loanees, not like we have done in the past.

However, it does seem to be hoarding young talent for profit rather than developing players for your first team. Correct me if I'm wrong but the only loanees of recent times that have made the first team are Courtois (courtesy of AM rather than Vitesse) and Zouma? The rest seem to be filling the profit coffers once they have worked through their apprenticeship, a prime example being De Bruyne who was sold on for a large profit following a loan spell.

I would rather more players broke into the first 11 and then you are building an academy system, with loans where appropriate, which makes your club more financially secure in the future, and with an ethos being built at every youth level.

Of course, you could argue that making £5-£10m profit off each player whilst they spend their late-teens on loan is equally beneficial, financially, as (for example) 3 sale profits would pay for a ready made first teamer to be bought in at their peak.

However, it just doesn't seem quite right to do it that way (albeit its a great way to accumulate wealth in Champ Manager! ) .

7.) 29 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 19:51:39
Out of curiosity. What's the point in keeping the youngsters at U23 level? What would benefit a player like Stewart who is 23, Bench role or proper league appearance on loan? Let's look from the players point of view and not club!

8.) 29 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 20:45:13
Zouma doesn't count. St Etienne sold him to Chelsea in the Jan period but kept him on loan for rest of season. Whereupon he joined Chelsea first team the following season.
However Ake will probably make the grade so he should be included
Problem is it apparently takes around 10 years for changes to an academy to actually show. So would expect players to start coming off the conveyor belt now.

{Ed025's Note - conveyor belt phil?..its full of cobwebs mate.. :)

9.) 29 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 22:30:36
Good point Phil, not Zouma but Ake looks good.

I know what you mean re the 10 year horizon, Rafa made the changes 10 years ago. This is where a DoF would come in useful to provide continuity, as in the intervening 10 years we have had 5 managers, so plenty of chopping and changing.

10.) 30 Mar 2017
29 Mar 2017 23:52:55
I genuinely hate it when people say "youth" and "profit" in the same sentence. any club should have a vested interest in developing their youth for profit. the people with red mist in their eyes are missing the fact that if their investment is good enough to improve their own first team then that is obviously very very good. and if they end up being duds but someone will buy them for more than you paid then that is obviously very very good too!