Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa feels South American players are leaving the continent too soon.
Bielsa has long lamented the globalisation of the game and the loss of local club loyalty.
The Argentine has now weighed into the stagnating of youth development in South America, where he believes the continent's best young players are leaving their clubs for Europe at too young an age. Indeed, Bielsa believes a young player leaving for Europe as a teenager works against their individual careers.
Quoted by Bold, Bielsa said, "If you look at the South American leagues, they deliver fewer and fewer players to European clubs because the players leave their home countries before they have performed for their childhood clubs.
"It hurts everyone. If you buy a player at 15 years old, the formative process that the player has to go through, where they were born and raised, in a league they know, is disrupted."
Bielsa also highlighted the involvement of agents and investment companies in the ownership of individual players. As such, there's often pressure for clubs to sell these players by outside forces.
Commenting on registration ownership, Bielsa added: "It is not something that is investigated so much, but often the South American clubs do not own the players. They play for the clubs, but are not actually owned by them."
Beyond his success in club football across Europe, Bielsa is also a former national team manager of Chile and Argentina.
- updated September 14
