Barcelona and Real Madrid are top poachers too.
If anything it will sway more youngster to spain, germany and italy.
I mean at LFC the poached kids are mostly from other teams in the uk not many players from other nation.
The only french youngsters at the academy from recent memory are Koumetio and Laroucy.
And before that... Crickets. I don't have any name in mind.
That's not really true. They've had a long habit of taking Spanish kids, from Pacheco, to Nacho, to Luis Alberto (Though he was more straight transfer) to Suso, to Chirivella, and those are just kids who got a cup of coffee or made it to nominally the first team somewhere that I can think off the top of my head. There were a ton of others who didn't make the grade. There are others from different leagues, though many of them, they have relationships with the club (Polish kids especially). They have taken more kids from the UK, though that makes sense geographically. But, you've got your odd Portuguese, French (heck, Larouci is somewhere still around), and Dutch (Hoever comes to mind).
They've limited the volume in the last few years, but some of that was supposedly related to some heat they were getting for some of the deals, and also a desire to scale back contracts for young players. They've dramatically cut initial wages for some of the players. They attempted to curb wages and signing bonuses for young kids. I mean, like Elliott is an example, but his wage package is way lower than they would have offered in the past. There has been a real push to keep kids like him and Jones on lower money until they break in. I'm not saying it's right, but they feel that it keeps 'players hungry' and there might be something to that, but it's certainly also about keeping the cost expenditure down. But they've still taken a number of young kids into their academy. Look at the rosters for the u18 on transfermarkt for the past few seasons. Lots of kids from other academies move in and out. It's part of the process.
I don't really have a problem with some of it. I agree that development might be better in some situations, though that's not always the case. Some of the facilities, medical and training programs some of the bigger clubs can offer are better, even if playing time might be harder to get. It is an adjustment to making the move abroad, but some of the better clubs have improved in that area. I do also think there's a vast difference in coaching and training in some ways, but I do think there are some clubs who do it right. I personally think Liverpool have done a decent job of at a minimum getting a few players through to the big club, and at worst, getting players into a situation where, while they might not make the grade in the EPL, but they're having careers out there in other leagues. Heck, some of them quite successfully. I'm not saying you can claim Suso being a good player is down to Liverpool, but the academy time didn't hurt him either.
I do think for the generic footballer, staying at their local club, or a smaller club in their own league, it might make more sense for them to grow and get playing time. But, I also see the desire for some of these young kids to get a chunk of money to help take care of their family. It's really hard to pass up enough money that could take care of your family, and say, play for the local club, when dad might not have a job (or worse not be in the picture) or when your family is scrapping to put food on the table.
It's not a perfect situation, but there are some kids who do NEED the money that EPL sides offer.
