Jombi, do you get my point about hindsight and a % of success with youngsters?
And how it is easy to say today how we should have bought Eriksen while he was at Ajax?
While, my answer is: when Eriksen was at Ajax, there were 5 or 10 players like him.
And then 1 out of those 5 or 10 turned into Eriksen and other 9 guys turned into Andre Gomes and Gai Assulin.
In 2018, it is easy to be smart and say: I knew that Eriksen will make it.
But in 2010, it wasn't clear at all. He was 1 out of 10 guys with the similar potential.
For example, from the list which I posted above, from Manager in 2010 (let's say that player's prices are somewhat similar to a transfermarkt or their real value back then).
http://www.truefootballmanager.com/2009/10/football-manager-2010-wonderkids-and.html
Look at this:
19 years:
Dzagoev (Cska Moscow) 7,5M
18 years:
Bojan Krkic 11,5M
Ballotelli 11,5M
Karadeniz (Besiktas) 6,75
Abel Hernandez (Palermo) 5,75M
Hazard 5,5M
Levan Kenia (Schalke) 5,5M
Douglas Costa 4,3M
Delfouneso (Aston Villa) 4,3M
Tafer (lyon) 3,9M
Aquino (Murcia) 3,1M
17 years:
Macheda (Man Utd) 7,5M
Wilshere 5,5M
Coutinho 3,4M
16:
Matos (Fiorentina) 3,9
Babacar (Fiorentina) 3,8M
So, it is easy to say today: we should have bought Hazard when he was cheap.
But apparently, in that moment, guys like Krkic, Ballotelli, Karadeniz (lol, plays in a midtable Turkish club today), Abel Hernandez (plays in a 2nd English division) and Levan Kenia (plays in a 1st Georgian Division today) were rated higher than Hazard. (When we bought Quaresma in 2003, he was rated higher in world football than his poor teammate CR7, lol).
While on the other hand Lewandowski was worth only 1,8M aged 20.
Way less than 20 years old Brasilians:
Dentinho from Corinthians 6,5. Plays for Shakthar today.
Guilerhme 6,75M. Plays for Legia Warsawa today.
Keirrison, Barcelona's wonderkid... 9,5M (maybe we just tried to buy a wonderkid back then, and this guy seemed good. But as always, buying youngsters is insane hit and miss risk)
N'Gog from Liverpool 6,5M. Plays in Panionis in Greek today.
Arnautovic from Inter 6,5M. Plays for West Ham today.
Carlos Vela from Arsenal was worth 8,5M back then. Played for Sociedad, now has moved to MLS Los Angeles.
So, again, it is easy to be smart today and say: we should have bought Lewa, Hazard and Eriksen.
While, back then, they were ranked as the 10th (or even lower) best player in their age.
So, I am still quite sure that for Frenkie De Jong and similar guys, chances are like 1:10 that he will turn into a squad level player for Barca.