Youth Football Quotes

Juventus is a huge club. I followed the team since I was young.

The Champions League is massive. I've had so much experience. I'm only 23, and yet I've played so much in the Champions League, and not many players my age would have had that experience.

There is a big emphasis at Liverpool to have an academy that brings through young players.

I know other people who have started their kids in tackle football for, like, four- and five-year-olds. So I think it's up to each individual's parents, but for me personally, no I wouldn't. But would I be OK with him playing in seventh or eighth grade? Yes.

I started when I was in sixth grade, playing Pop Warner. I played running back, quarterback, cornerback... all over the place.

My first club was FT Gern. I joined through my parents and friends. My father played for them and a friend from nursery school took me to training once. I was five at the time.

I started playing full-equipment football when I was 6 years old. My mom actually got me started in it.

I just remember playing in my school and then getting invited to go along to train with a development squad at Reading. My first training session, the manager said, 'You have to come and play with the academy girls,' so that would probably be my first footballing memory.

When I first arrived at Napoli, I was the ball boy, which meant that I got to watch as the legends trained. Then, once I joined the youth team as a young teenager, I was a midfielder just like Tardelli.

At West Ham, I was the last person to be offered a scholarship. I remember an Under 18 match against Fulham. I was 16 and had to prove myself. Everyone else already had their scholarship. It was probably one of my best games. Knowing that every day I'd have to fight has made me into the person I am today.

I've practically grown up with FC Bayern Munich since the age of 11. In my case, a talent scout noticed me when I was playing for a local youth team at Gern in Munich.

I was at a local club, Penketh United, and Mike Glennie, a Manchester United scout, came to watch me. He spoke to my grandad and offered me trials, but there was also interest from Liverpool, and I had to pick - I was only young, but obviously my heart was with United at the time.

Obviously, everyone looks at whether we bring young footballers into the first team, that's one of the goals. But I wouldn't discard someone who is successful in life, that's big. The hall of fame in the academy should be a wide variety of stories.

From United's point of view, it is always difficult to tell just when a young footballer is going to mature into a first-class professional ready to play at the highest level, but the story of how Pogba slipped away from United has more than one strand to it.

The Cowboys have done a good job at developing young players.

As a young Scottish footballer growing up - I always used to follow Scotland and watch the games - Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, and Joe Jordan were players I looked up to.

I was at Arsenal as an 11-year-old. I really enjoyed it but I was at school and my dad used to drive me there after work. Sometimes we were in traffic for two hours. They wanted to keep me but I wasn't getting home until nearly 11 P. M. I loved it there but it wasn't right, so I came to West Ham and haven't looked back.

I started doing well at Villa when I was six or seven.

Snoop Dog is the Phil Jackson of youth football coaches. He ain't going to accept nothing but a winner.

Kids are learning to play. That's why we're seeing an emergence. That's why we're seeing the Under-17s and Under-20s doing better in international football.

Young boys must be taught to play football without leading with or lowering their heads. Young players must be drilled over and over and over with Heads Up Football skills until that skill set becomes muscle memory and second nature.

I'm a great believer in the lower leagues, the pyramid system, but there is mileage in having B-teams in England with young players playing competitively.

I didn't play organized football until I was in the seventh grade. Up until that point, I only played at recess and in the backyard.

I started playing at six. I was at a school always playing football with my friends. But I was always bored at home. I asked my father if he could start me in a football team. He took me to a team called Rupel Boom, who were playing in the fourth division in Belgium, and I stayed there for four years.

I've been lucky enough to experience some big tournaments at Under-21 level and would love to be part of a World Cup in England.