Key Point #1. Play on the Best Youth Team you can. If you have to travel an extra 30 minutes to play on a more competitive team that is playing against the best teams in your area then do it. To go pro you need to regularly be playing against the best and becoming one of the best players on among those players.
Key Point #2. Join a Pro Team’s youth academy. You want to play on a pro team’s youth academy because you will have access to pro coaches and you will be in there funnel to the first team. Most pros teams in Europe are great at developing youth talent into 1st team players. They look at you like an investment. Play well, become the best on your under 12’s team and they will move you to under 14’s. Do well there and they move you to U-15’s. This trend continues until you are training with 1st team as a teenager.
Key Point #3. Get Seen. Each player from different parts of the world have their own unique challenges to getting seen. No matter how hard you train in your garden if scouts aren’t seeing you then it’s like you don’t exist to them. It doesn’t mean your training doesn’t count for you because it counts very much.
Key Point #4. Create your own Luck. Don’t sit around waiting to get lucky, waiting for scouts to find you. Go find them. Scouts are at big tournaments. Scouts are at academy games. Follow the key points above to try to get in front of them.
Key Point #5. Be ready for your opportunity. When you do get the chance to play in a big game or attend an Academy trial make sure you are ready. Yes, you might be not training that hard in your garden thinking I’ll never get my shot and then 6 months later you get a shot but you are not ready. You need to think, “I will get my shot, I will make my “it” happen. I’m going to train hard now to be ready for when it comes.”
Key Point #6. You never know who’s watching. Football is the world’s game. Regular looking people are walking around football pitches with massive contacts and you may have no idea. Just because someone isn’t titled an official scout doesn’t mean they don’t know pro coaches who value their opinion.
What Player Could Be Doing Wrong:
Some things that could be going wrong. If you are playing bad regularly it could be because you are putting too much pressure on yourself to go pro. This process takes a lot of time. Enjoy the journey. Yes, dream big but focus one day at a time. Remember small improvements daily equal big improvements over time.