Real Salt Lake: Value of the academy shines through in COVID-19 crisis

Real Salt Lake head coach Freddy Juarez highlighted the importance of the academy in the present crisis. Given the increased financial pressures clubs are now feeling, developing talent in-house is a huge advantage.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has shut sport down indefinitely. This week, the Eredivisie and French leagues were cancelled, the European Championships and Olympics have already been postponed until next summer, while Major League Soccer played two games and is hopeful of a June 8th restart, though serious hurdles must be overcome.

Of course, such extensive change impacts every aspect of sport, from the revenue of teams and leagues to the fitness and readiness of the players. But the area which will most likely be overturned as a result of the coronavirus is the transfer market, as MLS GMs explained this week.

“I do think the transfer market will exist, but there’ll be a lot less player movement than there’s ever been,” Toronto FC’s Ali Curtis explained to mlssoccer.com. “The finances of player movement will be significantly impacted.”

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This has many knock-on effects, ranging from lower fees to players remaining with clubs when they would have usually been moved on. Loans and player swaps will also be used extensively as teams look to assemble their squads without the normal financial difficulties. This contorted transfer market will also benefit those with excellent academies, as Real Salt Lake head coach Freddy Juarez highlighted this week.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Juarez praised the Real Salt Lake Academy and explained that it will be more valuable than ever in the current situation:

"“This stuff, economically it makes impacts on people. I think we’re on the front foot and cutting edge where we’re developing players with the understanding that sometimes more clubs are going to try to do this where they’re developing our own players because of whatever impact this has financially. FC Dallas has been leading in that, ourselves, so this puts us in a situation where there’s even more value to the academy because we’re going to continue to need to develop.”"

Certainly, RSL have been among the leaders in MLS for developing young players. Justen Glad, Corey Baird, Brooks Lennon, Bofo Saucedo and Richie Ledezma are just some of the names to have emerged from the academy over the years. And RSL’s young team leans heavily on academy graduates to fill out the starting XI. Juarez says he wants to continue that recent tradition, aligning the coaching and communication across the age groups.

As other teams scramble to sign cheaper targets amid their financial struggles, the likes of RSL, FC Dallas, New York City and others can turn to their excellent player development programs to build their teams. They need not spend the multi-millions of others to find high-level contributors. They can build them in-house.

This is a major advantage in normal times. It allows the club to save money in the turbulent transfer market, while also offloading the young prospects that will not make it at the club but still offer value in regards to player sales and raising finances. In the present crisis, its importance and value skyrockets.

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Real Salt Lake, then, need not delve into the murky transfer waters to assemble a competitive team. They can turn to the academy to do that, and in the current COVID-19 crisis, with all the financial pressures that it brings, that is invaluable.

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