By David Gold
September 19 – A deal has been agreed between the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and French Ligue 2 side Le Mans as part of the “Future Star” programme, which looks to give Chinese teenagers the chance to hone their skills abroad.
A similar initiative in Portugal was launched last month, with Chinese players heading to Iberia to join teams in the country’s lower leagues.
CFA vice-chairman Wei Di says that 20 to 30 youngsters between the ages of 13 and 17 will join the French side in the coming years, and it looks to also agree similar arrangements with other clubs in the country.
Le Mans has a youth system which has seen players such as Ivorian stars Didier Drogba and Gervinho pass through in recent years.
“Le Mans had a Chinese player from Liaoning Province before,” Wei Di said.
“Therefore, it has confidence in Chinese teenagers and is willing to cooperate with us.
“Le Mans will send youth development directors to China to select players, who will spend three to five years in France.”
Henri Legarda, President of the French side, said: “Our partnership with the CFA is more about technical cooperation than business.
“Our youth development directors have been to China four times in the past 10 years, and we found there are many talented players here.
“We will select about two dozen players to join our youth training system, which has proved to be successful, and hope more outstanding players from China and Asia can play on the international stage after three to four years.”
French football is a prolific developer of talented youngsters, with a number of youth training centres, most famously the Clairefontaine academy just outside of Paris, which has trained the likes of Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka.
It is also an ideal stepping-stone to Europe’s top leagues, with French football being something of a balance between the faster, physical nature of the English Premier League and Spain’s technical, possession-based La Liga.
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