Quote:
Originally Posted by Addick
To be honest though, how much of an impact did the academies in Edmonton and Toronto have on the players they provided? I'm not entirely sure of the setup in Montreal but isn't Vancouver the only city where the club has developed their players from an early and crucial age?
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Ashtone Morgan, Doneil Henry, and Matt Stinson all joined the TFC academy in 2008 (aged 16, 15 and 16) so they have been in the system for 5 years. Getting coached and developed by former TFC players (Dichio, Brennan) and guys brought in from Europe like Paul Mariner (Arsenal, Ipswich Town, England nation team) and Thomas Rongen (Ajax).
The Academy is only going to improve. They keep adding teams (U12, U13, U15, U17, U18) and they are in the process of building a new world class training facility based on the top clubs in Europe.
8 players have graduated from the TFC academy to play in MLS so far.
But since the Montreal/Vancouver/Edmonton programs haven't been around as long, they haven't had quite the same impact.