BBZ8800
Senior Member
I don't think that is the reason.
I remember reading "Sportske novosti", those are daily Croatian sport's newspapers, the same as Marca, As, Sport, Mundo deportivo.
I started to read them as a kid around 1995' and I was always supporter of Dinamo Zagreb.
Anyway, oh boy, and this is why I am "against" La Masia kids and why I don't believe in younger players too easily:
= from 1995 till now, I have seen/or read about probably 100 of young players from Dinamo Zagreb (Dinamo is the biggest club in Croatia, also the richest, and we are always buying almost ALL good youngsters from Croatia, something like La Masia, except that Dinamo monopolizes the whole area...) who were supposed to be the next Davor Suker or Zvonimir Boban
-- and yes, eventually 2 players turned into the next big, and they are Modric and Kovacic
-- but during that era, there were at least 20-30 young midfielders who were hyped that they will reach the similar heights
-- but you see, over 20 years, 1 out of 10 or 1 out of 15-20 hyped kids eventually turned into a world class players
-- further, about forwards, lol, our papers had 20-30 players who were supposed to be the next Davor Suker (the best scorer at the World cup 1998 and he played in Sevilla and Real Madrid for years), only Mandzukic turned into a good player
-- so, 1 out of 30, or 0 out of 30 reached those heights, even though we had 10s of boys who were banging goals like crazy in junior or even in senior levels
But anyway, this is how the story went, and this is why I see the same pattern in La Masia/Spanish papers/Barcaforum etc:
-- year 1995:
-- papers are writing about 4 new gems from Dinamo's school
-- I was a kid, I am buying a story how these 4 players will play in Dinamo, NT team and Milan/Barca/Real one day surely
-- one year later, 3 of them stagnate/get sold/loaned/forgotten, one guy turns into something
-- year is 1996:
-- paper suddenly "discover" 4 new gems from our youth academy
-- this time they say: these new players are even better than those 4 from the last year, who failed
-- I was a kid, and again, I "bought" that story
-- one year later, the same happens, one guy turns into a squad player, 3 players fail
-- year is 1997:
-- papers are again writing about 4 new gems
-- guess, what, this is the best generation EVER, and of course, these guys are even better than guys from 1995 and 1996=who failed, lol
-- since this was my 3rd year of following young players, I was slightly sceptical this time, but I still had faith
-- anyway, you know what happened, the same story every year
-- we can jump into a timemachine and go to 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, the same story each season:
= this season we have 4 new gems, who are even better than before, and this time the club has learned on mistakes from the past (with players who failed) and these guys will be better than any other generation
The sad part is, you always have younger fans, who don't know the full story, and they are believing in that bullshit and hype.
But also, I have a friend who is following youngsters for 20 Seasons, but still, even after 20 years, he still believes that EVERY new player is the next Modric or Boban.
Lol, insane...
People always love to look forward, towards the future.
This is why this forum is obsessed with young players (Arda is too old, Bravo is too old, everyone older than 23 is too old, lol) and with La Masia.
People are desperate for new stories, future stars, something bright to look for in the future, and that's it.
So, from my experience, 2-3 Dinamo's players out of 100 hyped gems turned into a next Boban/Suker/Modric.
And in Barca, out of 200 kids in the last 20 years, 10 players turned into good players.
And then some fans here are pissed at me when I have zero faith in Adama or Halil, lol.
Ontopic:
Unlike Dakt, I am not buying a hype on this kid.
He is good, but currently, he is only one out of 3-4 gems "invented" this Season.
Dinamo will have 4 hot gems in the next Season. Then new 4 in the Season after that. Then another 4 in the Season after that.
Barca will have 10 new Messi's and Xavi's in the next Season, etc.
Then 10 even better players in 2017.
Then 10 even better than 2017's guys in 2018' etc...
Please, be careful with buying the hype...
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