Ryan Fraser and Lucas Torreira are in action on Super Sunday
Wednesday 21 November 2018 21:34, UK
Why a shift in recruitment techniques coupled with a change in playing style could lead to shorter players not taller ones in the Premier League...
When Bournemouth take on Arsenal on Super Sunday, two of the shortest players in the Premier League will face off. But Ryan Fraser and Lucas Torreira also happen to be two of the biggest stars right now for the Cherries and the Gunners respectively.
Fraser, 5'4", was only 16 when he made his debut for Aberdeen. Torreira, 5'6", was one year older when he made the move to Italy. It wasn't until their teenage years were over that the pair made an impression on a major league but their patience and resilience was rewarded.
Unfortunately, these are the exceptions to the rule. The game has long been packed with stories of iconic players who were rejected as youngsters for being 'too small'. England forwards Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford both faced questions because of their size.
Tottenham hero Kane was released by Arsenal at 11. Rashford was ignored by Manchester City. "There were always question marks at the FA at the size of him," his former England U16 coach Kenny Swain told Sky Sports. "Why are we wasting time on him?"
Both Rashford and Kane emerged from the pack but their precarious route to the top also serves to highlight that many high-potential players might not be so lucky. For a number of reasons, there is now greater hope than ever that such a waste of talent might be avoided.
In the past, the problems of identifying talent began right at the outset because of what is known as relative age effect. Youngsters who mature earlier are inevitably perceived as more talented than their late-maturing peers as they tend to be stronger and quicker.
Steve Lawrence, a leading expert on the subject, explained to Sky Sports just how deep-rooted this is. "We are going back to Henry VIII here. It was always accepted that the start of the academic year would start in the autumn in the northern hemisphere."
Kane himself was a victim of this because he was born in late July at the end of the school year and was therefore the youngest in his age group. Lawrence saw Kane up close because his son Jamie, who was given his Wales debut in Albania on Tuesday, was also in that same Arsenal team.
When Jamie was released by Arsenal for similar reasons, it sent his father on a journey that saw him appeal in vain for the FA to take action. Lawrence has since worked on developing an app to help coaches select fairer teams - and others have taken action too.
Bio-banding is one solution to the problem of developing late-maturing players. This groups players by their biological age, based on attributes associated with growth and maturation, rather than their chronological age. It has been embraced by Premier League academies.
The first tournament came in 2015 and it is now commonplace. Players are banded based on a percentage of their predicted adult height. There will still be difference - Torreira must still face tall midfield opponents - but violent swings in maturation can be avoided.
The Premier League have taken their lead from work being done elsewhere in this area, notably Belgium where the football federation has run parallel youth teams for many years now in order to ensure the late-maturing young players are not forgotten.
According to Eric Abrams, who helped to construct that programme, addressing this issue is one of the reasons for their success in talent development. "When you look only at those who've had their growth spurts, you miss out on a lot of talent," he told Sky Sports.
With shorter players now being given the conditions to maximise their potential, they will also now find a Premier League that is more suited than ever to utilising their gifts. The technical and tactical aspects of the game have risen in importance.
Tom Vernon was Manchester United's Africa scout when he coined the term 'the Papa Bouba Diop template' to describe the obsession of Premier League clubs with recruiting physical players from the continent, such as the man nicknamed 'The Wardrobe'.
Speaking to Vernon last year, he explained why that has changed. "I think that physical element isn't enough any more," he told Sky Sports. "If you don't have a good tactical foundation it is extremely difficult to see how you are going to have a good career."
Perhaps there will always be doubts. According to former Leicester recruitment guru Steve Walsh, the initial reaction of Claudio Ranieri when encouraged to pursue N'Golo Kante was that the midfielder was not big enough. But physicality in the Premier League is changing.
It is now a passing league and that makes bully-boy tactics more difficult. The emphasis instead is on pressing the opponent and closing them down over short distances. That sort of sharp movement, typified by Kante, can be easier for shorter players than taller ones.
The six shortest squads in the Premier League - Manchester City among them - are all currently in the top half of the Premier League table. Only struggling Huddersfield are taller on average than Manchester United - this season's high-profile underachievers.
Coincidence? Perhaps. But more work than ever is being done to ensure that smaller players are not being stifled. It would be no surprise if the natural consequence of this is that those smaller players help to change the look and style of the football itself.
