What French youth development like in Ligue 1
@Parisian? I get the impression the league is used to draw in talented players from French speaking former African colonies more than actual player development.
If my view us wrong I'm happy to be corrected.
French youth development is prolly one of the best in Europe and in the world.
About the draw of France for french speaking former African colonies, it is quite normal.There is still a link between them and the old metropole. There are also some agreements that allow some nationalities to be considered not "extra-communautaires" (they are not considered as non EU strangers to explain it grossly).
We can see the same with Portugal that enjoys some special agreements with Brazil.
However, there is a huge misconception about the "black" players of/in France. The vast majority of them are french national citizens. They are just descendants from former colonies migrants. Most of them were born in France, raised in France and went through french football academies. For example, you can find several players who have never put a foot in the country of their parents or grandparents and who chose to play under that flag (Algerian, Tunisian, Moroccan, Centrafrican, etc.). Either because they feel proud to represent their ancestors, either because they know they won't get any chance to play for France. This had caused an issue when Laurent Blanc was the national team coach : he wanted to put a quota on these players that could enjoy a double nationality because France was doing all the work and the country of their ancestors would just take all the benefit.
I think in French national team, only Umtiti and Mandanda were not born in France. And the former moved in France when he was two years old while the other was a teenager.
In Portugal national team, you have the case of Renato Sanches who is born in Portugal but whose ancestors are from former colony Capo Verde and Sao Tomé y Principé. You have also players born in ex colonies like William Carvalho or Danilo Pereira.
The most accurate statement would be to say that french youth development system has polished the talent from people who had good raw talent. That talent is probably related to their origin, due to good genetics for that sport (they are athletes), and also their social status (most football players come from not privileged family background and we know what the demographics for the less privileged people are; Lloris and Gourcuff were often singled out for that).
This also highlights the problem french youth development was facing : as Ligue 1 is quite a physical league, they used to select young players that could produce those athletic players able to fit in their professional side. Some players like Griezmann were discarded in french system because of his physical build. He was saved by going to Spain who likes those tiny skillful players.
