Of course man, was just using a simple factor as it's an easy one to highlight. And I agree with the overall point - i'm hust arguing the case that some footballers are blessed by genetics. I don't for one second think that genetics hold people in the UK back. It's cultural mainly, and the idea that we don't have the right genes for it in this country is bollocks. I've watched a young Stockport born lad called Phil Foden play for our u18s all season who has just as much grace, if not more, than your average Spanish kid.
Our youth English lads now at teams like City, Chelsea, Spurs and so on pass it around gloriously at 14/15/16. It just all goes to pot though when they try and break through to the first team and never get a chance unless they're big and strong - that's the only way most PL managers will trust a kid to make his debut - if he's big and fast and willing to run. That obviously then unintentionally puts a bias on certain traits and its a never ending circle of bollocks that devalues technical kids and gives chances to the bigger lads instead.
EDIT - to go furhter into that, I honestly believe you could make a case for saying that the fact that someone like Maradona existed made it ten times more likely that the next Maradona-like great was gonna be from Argentina. They worship Diego over there and he was 5'5 and all about his ability technically, so obviously any young technical tiny lad they'd naturally want to be the new Maradona so they'd instinctively push him because every Argentinian coach wants to own the new Maradona, right? They'd do anything to unearth a new national icon, regardless of how small they were. In fact, the smaller the better! They'll be just like Diego then which will only help the comparison.
It's the same with Brazil, but in a different way. They love their beach soccer entertainers, the samba boys with the mesmeric feet. The 1970 team for example. Every kid growning up in Brazil wanted to be like them, and you had the successors in Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, and now maybe our Jesus and defo Neymar. So any kid who is in an academy at 12 who plays exceptionally well in their style will clearly get more chances in the longer term than the just as effective, but less flamboyant, player at the same age cos they simply don't fit the identity Brazilians crave.
Sadly over here we pride PASSION and pace and power a bit too much. We're trying to change it, but the sight of a bloodied bandaged centre-back always did a lot more for us in terms of our self-image than any skilful playmaker. Hello Terry Butcher, sod off Matt Le Tissier....there are of course exceptions, but I do have a theory that we need an impossibly flamboyant player to challenge the levels of Messi, Pele, Cruyff, Maradona one day to change what we *expect* from an English lad. If someone like Sancho or Foden one day reached the peak of the game and won Ballon D'ors, which though unlikely, isn't impossible, then maybe just maybe one day English academy directors and coaches would feel a lot more ease looking at the small skilful lad thinking 'this could be the next Phil Foden!!'...even if it is just to hype them up and sell them on.
Of course I could just be talking bollocks there. It's only a theory afterall.
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