Is too much expected of young players?

18 November 2015 10:57

As you may have seen this week I’ve written a series of articles that talk about young footballers. The players that are dubbed ‘wonderkids’ have a lot of pressure dumped on them at a young age but if you read my article on the top 10 failed wonderkids you would have seen that sometimes those players don’t live up to the hype.

I would argue that this is more often than not the case for one reason or another. Maybe its injury, lack of commitment, bad attitude, they aren’t as good as everyone thought, family reasons, a victim of circumstance, and the list is endless.

Personally, I feel that the main reason is that they can’t cope with the pressure. In the era of social media football clips are shared constantly from obscure leagues and lower division.

This was the case with Real Madrid youngster Martin Odegaard. I feel like many football fans and internet knew about him before any top scouts did. That’s only a guess rather than an observation but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s true.

Odegaard is a prime example of the point that I’m trying to make. He’s a 16 year old and is paid £80,000 (reportedly), which must massively boost his ego. He is on so much as he is supposedly the sole provider for his family but that is simply ridiculous.

Many Real Madrid youth players were outraged at his extortionate wage packet but their complaints were made in vain.

This week Norway played Hungary in the Euro 2016 Qualifying play-off and Odegaard controversially made the starting line-up. When Hungary went through, instead of pointing the finger at the team or the manager all eyes were focused on Odegaard.

I definitely feel like this is unfair because I’m not sure how much of an impact a 16 year old can have on a team, never mind in a match as important as that one.

This was the beginning of the end for Freddie Adu who turn professional at age 14, being the youngest ever US sportsman in the process. Adu featured on the top 10 failed wonderkids and I’d hate for Odegaard to in ten years’ time but unfortunately he’s going straight down at road.

I want to stress that I Odegaard isn’t the only example but he is one of the players who is most under threat to be a flop. I’m certain that he will be a fantastic player one day but needs to keep a cool head and focus on his football rather than the press or the fans who are jumping on his back because he isn’t carrying the national team.

Source: DSG