Villa star catches the eye

Friday, 27/01/2012

by Steven Green, Shoot's Aston Villa blogger

The NextGen series sees fans of some of Europe’s top clubs have the chance to see their favourite team take home another piece of silverware.

The prestigious under-19 tournament is in its inaugural season and is already proving to be quite popular having attracted the likes of Inter Milan, Barcelona and Liverpool.

Founded last year by Mark Warburton, a former Watford coach and city trader and Justin Andrews, a former TV producer the tournament is designed to be a Champions League for youth academy sides across Europe to build experience and bond together for when, and if, they break into the first team.

The tournament is now into the knockout stages after a tough group phase, reducing the sixteen teams down to eight and both fans and founders have been pleased with both the quality of football and the success of the contest,

“It’s very much a steep learning curve for all concerned but hopefully it’ll be beneficial for all concerned. These are some of the best young players in Europe on show and it’s great to see it in fantastic stadiums, on great surfaces and it’s good football and these will be the guys who we’ll be seeing in the Champions League in two, three or four years time and it’s great to see them now forming that early bond,” co-founder Warburton said.

The rules are similar to those of Olympic football. The age cap is 19 but clubs are allowed three players who are one year older, but only two can be on the pitch at the same time.

In many ways it’s mystifying how this tournament has only just come into existence. The chance to expose young players to different football philosophies, travel and the chance to play in great stadiums is invaluable to the development of any club’s players.

Manchester City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa have all entered teams and all bar the former have qualified from the group phase. Celtic are also flying the flag for Scottish clubs.

Aston Villa this week host French side Marseille in the quarter finals.Villa are renowned for having an excellent youth academy, producing many players who have gone on to full international honours and this game was a great opportunity to see who is next in line to take the step up.

All eyes were on Gary Gardner. The Birmingham born midfielder recently made his first team debut against Wolves this and last year earned his first caps for the England Under-21 side. There are high hopes for the midfielder who could also work his way into Great Britain’s Olympic team this summer.

He certainly looks like a hot prospect, captaining the side and showing maturity beyond his years, dealing well against a tough side in tricky weather conditions, he also managed to get the club’s only goal as they crashed out in extra time losing 2-1.

Villa battled well and were unlucky not to have won, failing to capitalise on several chances and the 3,000 strong crowd did their best to spur the side on.

Next week sees Tottenham pitted against Liverpool where fans will get to cast an eye over other future prospects like Raheem Sterling and John Bostock.

The winner of the tie will go on to a tantalising semi-final game against either Barcelona or Ajax.

Whoever wins, there will still be English interest in the competition, and fans can hope that one of those clubs goes all the way to bring the trophy home in its first season.

To find out more, visit the website: www.nextgenseries.com

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