Together with the University of Antwerp, our colleague Laurenz Van Looveren conducted a research on international youth transfers. The research analyses whether it is a good choice for talented young Belgian players (aged around 16 years old) to make a transfer to the English Premier League.
This research led to the following conclusions:
- Youth players who stay in Belgium have higher chances to break through compared to youth players going to the English Premier League
- Going to the English Premier League as a youth player has a negative impact on the quality of the player (see visual below)
- Going to the English Premier League as a youth player has a negative impact on the market value of the player (see visual below)
- No significant difference for transfers of youth players to other countries.
The full research paper will be published later this year. The presentation with more details can be found here.
