Pablo Aimar on Youth Development

Former Argentine international and Valencia legend Pablo Aimar took over as youth coach with the Argentine FA earlier this year. Since then the man that was touted as the idol of Lionel Messi has now changed a culture that found itself in rut of underperformance and underdevelopment.

Aimar’s formula can remind you of the same approach that is taken by American youth development expert Tom Byer, who has actually “simplified” the game for children as well as parents. Aimar is looking to balance this at a very important juncture in many careers. He led Argentina to their first-ever U15 South American title but in the process placed lesser emphasis on that than what the players had become in the process. He spoke with TNT Sports and he gave a very candid interview on his coaching influences, how he believes players should see the game as teenagers and when should young players be treated as professionals.

Aimar on his youth coaching influences.

“I think (Pekerman) had the basics. He knew how to pick the players. he them developed them, had the patience. He had something that’s been around for 100, 50, 20, tomorrow and 50 years from now. He treated us for what we were- kids. I was 15 and was going to Pekerman’s house to eat dinner, same thing with all the coaches.”

“There were several things (from Pekerman) that impacted me. I can’t mention one thing that he did that I would not use. There are several things I could mention. I have lots of stories. I ate dinner at José’s house when I was 15. Same thing with Hugo (Tocalli) and Ortazún.”

“We want to press high or possess more than our opponents. The ball is not a problem, but we know they are kids. For them right now football is a game. There eventually will be a time when football becomes something else.”

“We develop teams in order for things to go well, but (winning) is not the only thing. In development there can be other values taught. With this group we have taught that. I hope all of them play 15 years and play in the World Cup in 2030 and that they play it here and win it.”

How he sees youth football.

“As of right now we want to stretch that time when you go to practice with a smile, which doesn’t mean they are doing things seriously. At that age, football is still a game.”

“We believe that at their age, and for years to come, (winning) is not the only thing, but it is a part. A very important part.”

“We were told that the kids no longer wanted to play for the national team. That the dream of playing for Argentina wasn’t as prevalent as it was when we were playing.So if they are thinking the same thing and we also said ‘no’, then we are contradicting ourselves. “

“In terms of development, we want to have players be better when they leave compared to when they arrived., that they improved in some facet of their game.”

“We want these kids in 10,12,13 years to be playing for the senior side.”

“We want the kids to play for the national team. We want them to be Messi, Mercado, Agüero, Romero. That they strive to be them.”

“I want them to want to sing the anthem at the top if their lungs at El Monumental or La Bombonera. They same way they did at the U15s where we saw some even start to shed tears.”

Aimar: “These kids are wonderful they’ll do good and bad. I’ll have friends to them about the pure essence of football and they’ll listen. Then they’ll come up to me and say, ‘coach, you were sent off before.”

“Everything is coachable. Each personality is different. It also depends on each one to have the awareness and be in the moment to have to resolve things they way they would. We hope they don’t get into that general impatience to attack.”

“They began to adjust and they like the notion of playing on a team that doesn’t want to play to draw. It’s much nicer to play for a big team. Argentina is a big team. It’s like River or Boca. A big team that’s obligated to win. It’s like the tennis player that always plays near the lines. They need to have that ‘either I win it or lose it’ attitude.”

Generational differences

“Our generation was the last to an entire football match for 90 minutes. This generation watch football, but only about 10 minutes. They watch the recaps, the best plays, what interests them most and then they will see ten minutes of another match and then another.”

“I’ve had some kids that I’ve played against here in practice that later on go on social media and start to poke fun at me. They are something else. I have a great time with them.”

The current state of development in Argentina

“We all agree on how to develop kids. The thing is that we cannot be overcome by the desire to win becoming the only thing. We don’t want to draw, obviously we don’t want to lose either.”“Sometimes we talk about the spectacle. We talk about the fact that some coaches want to play more and some intricate things like watering the pitch or making the grass shorter or find ways for the ball to roll slower. Here you are not fogiven if you pass backward.”

“Kids aren’t allowed to pass backward, especially if they are losing. But if you see that some of the biggest teams right now- Manchester or City Barcelona — on several occasions, they pass backwards. Passing backwards is a means to attack. It a way to possess. It’s a way to wear out the opponent. We’ll have to see how they resolve it.”

When does a youth player have to be treated like a professional?

“When players start to get close to first division when they will have 50K people telling them to boot it out because of their impatience. at youth levels it also tends to happen that they get yelled at a lot and maybe they don’t decide on doing what they wanted to do.”

His decision to coach youth players

“For us to be with AFA is a blessing. We go and are thankful for being there. We hug the fieldcrew and people that work there everyday. We couldn’t say no. We wanted to be there.”

“I had a dream of coming back to Ezeiza. Anyone that has been here will tell you that they are willing to do whatever in order to be here. It’s beautiful.”

“I also realized that when I retired at 35, that the thing that I enjoyed the most after being with my son was to be on the pitch. This is something that I had done since I was five years old. This was an opportunity to do it from another angle.”

“This is something that is part of the passion that we’ve lived with all our life and when they take it away , you realize that there was nothing that you wanted to do more than this.”

“I want to be in the open air with a ball on a beautiful pitch like they have at Ezeiza. With kids that want to be there. I made the right decision. I didn’t have to think about this for too long.”