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Message: [QUOTE="upstater, post: 2810495, member: 153"] John O'Brien? He was way before the age of free transfers. Apples and Oranges. Ajax was actually good back then and could compete. Then the 2000s came, and with the new transfer rules, Ajax was toast. Their goal changed from developing top soccer teams to developing individual players for the transfer market. Night and day. Besides, it's not just one guy. I was told that the scouts would laugh awkwardly at being assigned to watch kids who were still in day care, not even in school yet. I read a while back where a Fulham scout likened what his club does to a kind of slave trade. It's not that awful obviously because the parents control it, but you have to wonder if 7 year olds are fully capable of understanding the ramifications of 2 hours per school a day alongside 4 hours of training for years on end--all for what? The club's bottom line. [/QUOTE]