Sunderland's youth strategy has evolved - is it time to say goodbye to the Academy?

Perhaps it's time for Sunderland to do away with the youth system in place for so long

Sunderland's academy has been open for approaching 20 years, having opened in 2003. In that time we have seen many great talents emerge and go on to great things. But for every Henderson and Pickford, hundreds of youth players go on to non-league obscurity, generally leaving on a free. The academy hasn't produced a Southampton-esque conveyor belt of talent so what is its value?

Henderson and Colback. Both products of Sunderland's youth system, only one of which we have a great deal of affection for

One positive (you've really got to be looking for one) of Sunderland's drop through the leagues is that it has opened the door to young players breaking into the first team, players that wouldn't have got a sniff of the first team if we'd lingered in the Premier League for a few more years. 

The likes of Gooch (the exception to the above rule, featuring occasionally for the Black Cats in the club's last Premier League campaign), Patterson, Neil, Embleton, have more than made their mark and continue to feature despite our (relatively) lofty position in the Championship. 

It won't have escaped your attention, though, that our transfer strategy has taken a lurch seemingly away from developing players from the age of 9 right through to the first team, and instead plucking the best talent from the fringes of the Premier league and abroad. Kristjaan Speakman recently spoke on Sunderland Unfiltered - the official club podcast - further explaining our strategy for future talent acquisition. 

Noteworthy from his explanation was the omission of how we will blood homegrown talent, instead focusing on the talented players he's brought in. Not all have been successful (Hoffman, Alves, Dajaku) of course, but a good proportion (Clarke, Cirkin, Ballard, Alese, Amad) have been hugely impressive, while others (Ba, Michut, Bennette, Hume) slowly start to find their feet. 

Dennis Cirkin has impressed in his first season at Championship level, putting in some very mature performances for someone his age

Jack Clarke beats his man v Cardiff, a game that wasn't a great advert for the youthful approach

The data-led approach to the transfer market looks to be working wonders on early evidence, since Speakman arrived at the club in late 2020. The approach, Speakman revealed, would also include selling players to further fund our ambitions to get back to the Premier League. 

Players brought in are ambitious; some arrived from Premier League clubs and aspire to get back there, be that with Sunderland or by being sold on via buy-back clauses etc. Young hungry players are the order of the day, a far cry from journeymen on their last legs after one last pay packet during our Premier League exile.

At a recent Q&A featuring the club's top brass, in which Kyril Louis Dreyfus took part, further light was shed on our current and future operating model with regard to talent acquisition and development. We already had a good idea of how this might look, but a candid Speakman in particular spoke of the prospect of selling talent: the likes of Ross Stewart, Jack Clarke and Cirkin possibly attracting the attention of clubs at a higher standing than Sunderland currently are, the latter linked with a move back to Spurs. 

Indeed, rather than it being a bad thing, there's a strong argument that being a "selling club" could actually be seen as a strong positive. Clubs and players alike might see us as an attractive proposition in terms of player development. 

Being a selling club might, in the past, have been an image we'd want to avoid, but that certainly seems to be the plan, even though selling the likes of Ross Stewart sends a shudder down the spine! 

"You have to sell players to convince players to come to you"

Non-Executive Director David Jones made a strong case for this approach at the Q&A, arguing that when people see Sunderland give opportunities to young talent, develop them and sell them on then this suddenly means joining Sunderland is quite appealing for a young ambitious player. In an ideal world, we sign top talent and the club progresses with those players to the promised land - another prospect that might encourage the best young talent to ply their trade on Wearside.  

Speakman agreed with this, showcasing Callum Doyle as a prime example of the faith we put in youth, pointing out that "We signed Callum Doyle to show clubs that we’re willing to start a 17-18 year old if they’re good enough.” Although apparent flaws in this strategy were brought to bear last season - we were left rather short in defensive positions - meaning the 18 year old wound up burnt out, playing far too much football for one so young. Hopefully we treat such young players with a great deal more care in future. 

The youth approach is commendable but balance is needed. We've shown we're still a little wet behind the ears when experienced players aren't on the park. A 'work in progress'; the club still in the growth phase, warned KLD at the event.

The thought of selling Ross Stewart is not a pleasant one, but this may happen in the current model of buy cheap, sell high. The money must be re-invested which seems to be the plan

Moneyball

Jones, expanding on the new strategy, dropped the term "Moneyball" which was an intriguing angle. A "lesser" club (yes, I know, we're massive but we ain't a Man Utd or Liverpool) using data/analytics to give themselves an advantage over its rivals, an angle of approach that seems out of leftfield (to continue the Baseball lingo) and has seen us land players that in the past would not have been on our radar. Jones went on to add that Brentford are a club to aspire to. 

Despite being of relatively small stature, you can't argue that their decision to operate differently (closing its academy, including youth teams) hasn't had a dramatic effect. At the time of writing they sit 11th in the Premier League, something most thought unthinkable. A more glamourous side to adopt data and analytics was Bayern Munich, another club adopting this approach to recruitment and Louis-Dreyfus cited the German giants as a model he aspires to. Now that's more like it!

The Academy

All this begs the question, then, where does our own youth academy fit into all this? The so-called "teens in jeans" have started to find themselves featuring in both the first team and U21 setups. Sunderland's youth side that took the field in a recent fixture vs Leeds featured no fewer than eight (nine if you include Bailey Wright) players that have made at least one first team appearance this season. 

This did seem to be an outlier numbers-wise, but fringe first-teamers have featured in several U23 games this season, keeping their hand in, and aiding their development while they await bigger opportunities with the first team. Is this inclusion of first team players (and as a result excluding u21 regulars) an indicator of things to come? Could the academy system's days be numbered at the club? The lack of talent coming through to fruition in the way of regular first team appearances or high sell-on fees could be an argument in favour of scrapping that setup altogether. 

Elite Player Performance Plan

In addition to that, the club's continued retention of Category 1 means adhering to the "Elite Player Performance Plan" which requires obligatory staffing structures, minimum coaching hours, rules on qualifications and the costs associated with that, while the club seems to rarely profit from this enterprise via transfer fees. 

On the flip side, the EPPP places restrictions on players moving from Category 1 academies to lower categories. This potentially flies in the face of our strategy of plucking talent from Premier League clubs and our ability to present that "attractive proposition" I talked about earlier.

Category 1 status does bring with it that prestige and our facilities are still right up there with the best of them. Keeping a state of the art academy would surely sit front and centre of that. If the "tin pot" operation of the Madrox days didn't consider scrapping the academy, then KLD et al may be reluctant to dispense of it too quickly, if we're to reach that ambition with a long-awaited return to the big time.