Real Madrid Signs 7 Year Old

[klunderbunker]

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/ne...ear-old-argentine-prospect-leonel-angel-coira

Just as the title says, Real Madrid, a major European soccer team, has signed a seven year old to its youth academy. It's nothing strange for a kid to be signed to a youth academy and that's what I want to get to with this thread: is it ok for a player to be signed at an age like this? The common answer given is "well they signed it", but this kid is seven years old. Can he legitimately comprehend what he's signed and what he's agreed to do? This comes off as a way for the family to live off their kid, which I really hope isn't the case.

In short, is this ok with you? I understand it's done often, but does that make it ok?

 

[Miko]

It's not something that bothers me, it must be nice to be seen as that talented to be honest, good things come from this sort of thing sometimes, Barcelona paid all of Lionel Messi's parents hospital bills when he signed for them.

Frankly if the kids good, and he loves football he's at the best place he can be because an academy like Madrids is going to develop him better than he would get elsewhere. If the family end up living off the kid then lucky them I suppose.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Well, they obviously see some potential in him and soccer teams have became a lot more aggressive in scouting and signing young talent. An example of this is Bayern Munich having a 14 year old on their youth team; hes been signed since nine years old.

I think it depends. If the kid lives a life of poverty and can use his skills to get his parents some extra income so that he and his family can live a better life, I don't see why not. If his parents have pressured him into signing with Madrid, well, then that changes everything.

It says that they plan to have him play in the first division at sixteen years old. They're obviously not paying a transfer fee and the salary wouldn't be of a considerable amount. If I were this kid and I'd a love for soccer; which at seven I did, I was obsessed with it. I'd sign my name on the dotted line. Would give me the chance at a better life and it would allow me to live my dream.

 

[The Crock]

I'm fine with it, especially since it has been going on in soccer for ages. The kid has talent and Real Madrid capitalized on it. That kid and his family are probably set for the duration of his contract, since the team will help them out just to keep him happy and that's not counting money he'll start earning. I'm sure there are people out there who will liken this to hardcore child labor, but the kid's passion is soccer, they just made his dream come true.

Another thing, I'm sure his parents had to okay the contract before he signed it, I'm sure they're aware of what he's getting into and that they explained it to him. If not, I definitely feel bad for the kid, but this is the opportunity of a lifetime.

 

[Brilliant Human Being]

An important thing to note is that it's not like the kids signed to Real Madrid, Barcelona and others are not thrust into stringent training such as what the under 17's or even under 15's get. I can only speak about Barcelona, having just read an article about their youth academy (although I would be really surprised if Madrid and others don't use the same type of thing) but the kids that they sign are put into what is ostensibly a football boarding school, where they live and train with other kids of the same age, they do typical school subjects as well as obviously focussing on football. For me at any rate, that sounds like the perfect life for a 7 year old who loves football. As for the parents, I think that the clubs pay for them to come over with their child and live near to the training ground, which is something.

 

[Jeff]

I guess it all depends. The kid is getting a education and getting out of poverty. Too me that is a pretty good thing. Just as long as at the academy the teach him about non-soccer related life and how to survive without soccer, in case of injury, not playing to standards, etc. then I am all for it. Hopefully the kid doesn't get cocky from all of this too. I can picture him in like 10 years, having all the players hate him because he is so cocky.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Honestly I'm not a fan of it because the kid is basically signing his life away to Real Madrid when he probably just started the 1st grade.

Lets be honest, most likely they aren't going to be teaching the kid much outside of soccer, for the most part the kid is gonna be doing nothing but playing soccer and that can't be a good thing. Everything in the kids life is gonna suffer, not making friends, his schoolwork, family life, pretty much everything because they are going to be so focused on playing soccer 24/7 and what if the kid gets injured when he's 16 (just getting ready to go pro?) he will have spent his whole life learning soccer only to get thrown out like a piece of trash, by the time he heals he will be ancient history and his growth as a human being will be seriously hindered.

At the end of the day its all being done for the future of Real Madrid, not the future of the kid. I know this is commonplace and nothing new, but I don't think its right. Frankly the club can teach him anything, rip him off 8 ways from Sunday and the kid won't know any better because that's what he's been taught. I don't mind signing kids at a young age but they should at least be 15-16 years old at the very least.