Mourinho has a point about young players – but he should trust them more | Eni Aluko


Youngsters today are not as ready for first-team action as they used to be. However José Mourinho should treat those who do break through, such as Marcus Rashford, with more respect

There’s been a lot of debate this week about the difference between young players today compared to 10 years ago after José Mourinho referred to them as “spoiled kids”. It’s interesting because I do think things have changed significantly in terms of their level of readiness.

Young players have always found it hard to break into the first team but those who did in the past such as Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen were much more ready to make that step than those who are coming through now. You don’t see many 18-year-olds doing the same these days – Marcus Rashford was probably the last one to do so at a big Premier League club.

Related: José Mourinho says Martial, Shaw, Rashford and Lingard ‘lack maturity’

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