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Lessons Can Be Learned From Germany’s Finest

After an absolutely stunning win over Argentina, BBC’s commentator made a striking comment when he pointed out that the impressive Thomas Muller had only 7 caps for the national team and managed to establish himself in Louis Van Gaal’s plans at the age of 19. Muller hasn’t been the only youngster given a chance at the Allianz Arena in the past year, Holger Badstuber also established himself as a regular in the Bayern side last season and he had just turned 21 when Joachim Low called him into the World Cup squad.

Muller in action for Bayern

Van Gaal’s confidence in the Bayern youngsters was also shown when he handed left-back Diego Contento a start in the Champions League Semi-Finals against Lyon in France. The 19-year-old had only made 7 previous first-team appearances but caught the eye with an impressive performance in a 3-0 win for the Germans. On the bench that night was another product of the Bayern Youth team, 17-year-old David Alaba who has became a regular feature in the Bayern squad and made his Champions League debut against Fiorentina in March. 20 year-old striker Toni Kroos wasn’t involved at all at the Allianz Arena, but on loan at Bayer Leverkusen the striker hit 12 goals in around 40 games as he built a strong relationship with strike-partner Stefan Kiessling. This confidence in youth isn’t just a feature of Bayern, you can look at the Werder Bremen pair Mesut Ozil and Marko Marin, who are both 21.

The Bundesliga model is something which can be learned from across Europe and in Scotland this confidence in youth players is something which just has to replicated. With a very empty wallet, I would rather see Rangers giving some of the youth players a chance in the first team rather that signing 30-year-old bosmans or whatever. The demands of Rangers and Bayern Munich are similar because the League Championship is expected at the end of the season, otherwise the season is pretty much a failure. 18-year-old Danny Wilson was the prime example of a success in breaking into the first-team when he was handed his debut in the Champions League against Unirea Urziceni and produced a very solid performance. Wilson went on to feature in an Old Firm derby and another Champions League tie, and was outstanding in both matches.

Fleck is a player capable of winning matches

We only have ourselves to blame to an extent – £1m Velicka, £2m Naismith, £3.5m Lafferty, 20k a week for this player and so on. There is absolutely no doubt if we employ a strict policy of giving youth a chance then we would not have to suffer the pathetic mis-management of the club’s finances which has seen no player signed at Ibrox in over 2 seasons. What does John Fleck need to do to get a start? I mean, rewind back to New Douglas Park last season when it looked like we’d only take a point from Hamilton in a lacklustre performance and Fleck comes off the bench to change the game in our favour. Two or three weeks later, he’s back on the bench. Rewind back again to December at Ibrox, Hearts were on the verge of stealing a 1-0 win and Walter brings on Gregg Wylde and Andrew Little – both have telling impacts on the final 5 minutes. Wylde was excellent, finally, a left-footed player who wasn’t scared to take someone on despite being out of position and Andy Little showed more instinctiveness on his pinky than Kyle Lafferty has shown all season.

Despite being groomed in an excellent footballing environment, the Germans have shown what a strict youth policy can actually reward. Champions League finalists in Bayern and potential World Cup winners for the national team isn’t bad going is it?

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