While Premier League academies struggle to give youngsters enough experience to cope with the harsh realities of professional football, one club in Africa managed by an Englishman has come up with a radical solution, and Chelsea may be about to benefit.
Accra Lions of the Ghanaian Premier League regularly field a first-team with an average age of 19 to battle-harden their youth players against men with points and livelihoods at stake.
German World Cup winner Lothar Matthaus is the owner and the unlikely figure in the hot seat is James Francis of Essex, who started out life as a youth coach at David Beckham’s first junior club, Ridgeway Rovers.