AC Milan's chief of the scouting department, Geoffrey Moncada, has released an insightful interview to those at French newspaper L'Equipe:
"I saw Strasbourg-Troyes , there were young players like Wilson Odobert (18), Habib Diarra (19) and Ismaël Doukouré (19) who were starters. It's not a normal thing. I travel a lot as a recruiter, and what I see is that the strongest market is French. I'm not crazy about Brazil: it's too expensive and it means adaptation difficulties. In France, the market is monstrous: in each club, in each generation, there are interesting players. I see that the clubs recruit a lot from abroad, but it doesn't work that much and they bring in young people from their academy. Rennes bought Jérémy Doku and Kamaldeen Sulemana, who are good players. But in the end, it's Désiré Doué (17), Arnaud Kalimuendo (20) and Lesley Ugochukwu (18) - in a more defensive position - who play. Monaco have recruited Myron Boadu and Takumi Minamino, but Eliesse Ben Seghir (17) is playing. In Lyon, fortunately they have Malo Gusto (19), Castello Lukeba (20) and Rayan Cherki (19): they are the ones foreign recruiters come to see, not their partners. We cannot imagine the number of recruiters who come to France. Quite a few foreign clubs have two scouts in the country, one for the North and one for the South."
What more do young French players have compared to their neighbours?
"In France, clubs want to get players out more than to win youth competitions. A club like Angers will put its best young people directly into the first team. The example of Gambardella is striking. This is the Cup for the best under 19s. But most of the time, it's not the biggest clubs that are represented: they miss each other and it doesn't matter. In Italy, the big ones always have to be there."
Geoffrey Moncada added:
"La Gambardella, you hardly see the final anywhere, while the Italian Under-19 Championship is filmed. There is pressure. Juve, AC Milan or Inter, they have to win it, otherwise they get destroyed in the press. In Youth League, this season, Marseille was demolished (4 defeats and 2 draws). We, at AC Milan, we did not lose a match (4 wins and 2 draws) and there were plenty of articles to say that we had respected the competition and given a good image of Italy. In Italy, if the youngster makes a mistake, they will immediately say that he is not ready."
Are the French players more prepared than the others?
"I don't know, but, in general, they are not afraid. A Spaniard, an Italian or a German, he will be afraid of missing out. When I speak with Mike Maignan, he has no pressure, he plays and that's it. Perhaps that's our mentality. In Italy, if a young player makes an error, they say immediately that he's not ready and then, he sits on the bench for a good period, but not in France."
maybe in France it is understood that players need and can express their best qualities in environments free of pressure.
competition matters but must matter on an elite level only.
and big clubs need to give space for smaller clubs to display and take credits
You make a valid point!