Looking for “green bananas”: How Belgium are giving late developers targeted support to realise their potential

The Red Devils aim to spot and maximise future potential, instead of focusing on their youth players’ current performance level; to return to Van der Haegen’s analogy, they concentrate on the bananas that haven’t ripened yet. It’s an approach that has already seen a number of Belgian players establish themselves at the very top of the game.

Belgium is a relatively small country, with a population of just 12 million, but it boasts a proud football tradition. Back in the early 2000s, Belgian football was in crisis and that tradition was under threat. The national side failed to qualify for the European Championship in 2004, and it would not reach another major finals until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. That absence felt like an eternity, and it seems inexplicable when you consider that global stars like Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois are now fixtures of the Red Devils’ squad. So why were Belgium starved of success for almost ten years? The answer was that they lacked a clear sporting philosophy and, even more importantly, a coherent approach to youth development that could deliver up-and-coming young talent for the national side consistently over the long term. 

In their attempt to lead Belgian football out of its crisis, the country’s footballing decision-makers turned their attention to their Dutch neighbours to the north. Heavily influenced by the legendary Johan Cruyff, and famous for their clear footballing philosophy, the Dutch had been bringing world-class players through their youth system for decades. The Belgians had been unable to replicate that success, despite their geographical proximity to the Netherlands and the cultural similarities between the two nations. So what were the Oranje doing to make them so successful? 

The answer lay in their rock-solid identity on the pitch. While the Dutch showed unwavering loyalty to their hallmark 4-3-3 system, the Belgians lacked a single, unifying philosophy to their play. This realisation prompted a root-and-branch reform of Belgian youth football. Working closely with the country’s regional football associations and clubs, the Belgian FA developed a concept called “The Belgian vision of youth development”. That vision included a comprehensive package of reforms aimed at creating a consistent identity for Belgian football that would run like a thread all the way through the Belgian system and culminate in a clearly defined, distinctively Belgian football DNA.

Strange as it may seem, part of this concept is all about green bananas. So what on earth have bananas got to do with football? Well, it’s like when you go to your local supermarket. You walk in, go round to the fruit and veg aisle, and before you know it you’re standing in front of a shelf packed with row upon row of artfully arranged bananas. Some of them are green, some are yellow, and a few of them have the odd brown spot on them. Which ones do you put in your trolley? Most people understandably go for the juicy-looking yellow ones. After all, everyone knows they taste best, don’t they? 

But what has all that got to do with football in general, let alone Belgian football? Now let’s imagine that the banana shelf represents all the talented footballers in the country. The yellow ones are the star players, talents who matured really early and are already delivering top performances week in, week out. When people go to watch them, they point and say things like “He’ll go far, that lad.” But can they really be so sure? Sometimes, when you’re dealing with an absolutely outstanding talent, you can predict how they might develop, but there’s no such thing as 100% certainty. What happens if that lovely yellow banana suddenly picks up some brown spots? Overnight, the best-looking banana on the shelf, the player everyone thought was the best in the country, suddenly isn’t looking so attractive any longer. 

And what about the green bananas, the ones that no-one wanted to buy, let alone eat? Imagine those bananas, sitting on the shelf for days on end. What happens to them? After a while, those green bananas begin to develop a yellowish tinge. Then they get riper and riper until they become beautiful, bright yellow bananas. It’s exactly the same in youth football. With a little bit of patience, and given enough time, players no-one pays any attention to as youngsters can become stars – and it’s precisely these “green bananas” that scouts are looking for. 

If you’re looking for an example of a green banana, you can find a good one in Naples. If you so much as mention SSC Napoli to most fans, they will immediately think of Diego Maradona. As well as being arguably the greatest player of all time, the locals consider him an icon of their city. He has gone down in history as a man who scored countless goals, delighting the tifosi in the process. But he’s not their top scorer. That honour belongs to the Belgian striker Dries Mertens. He scored no fewer than 148 goals for the club – and he probably wouldn’t even have turned professional in any country except Belgium. 

The young Mertens was described as too small, too slender and too slow. He developed very late but made it to the very top of the game, making him the epitome of a green banana. He is now regarded as a success story for Belgian football, and has collected a raft of titles. His story might prompt us to ask how many more green bananas are being overlooked in clubs around the world.

Spotting every talent and giving each individual player the support they need are among the primary tasks of any youth development system. The Belgians have got both down to a fine art. One of their most important tools in this regard is the distinction they make between chronological and biological age. In Belgium, individual players are allowed to play outside their age group with younger or older players, which gives the next generation of budding Dries Mertens a chance to play against talented youngsters with similar physical attributes, whatever their age. This approach is complemented by the RBFA’s national “Future Teams”, another initiative designed to nurture late developers. These “futures” sides operate throughout the national youth system, and are composed of players that are biologically younger than their peers (in other words, they are less physically mature than other players of the same age). It all adds up to a more effective way of supporting young talent within the Belgian FA. 

The Belgians have recognised that a player’s success isn’t all about how they perform at 12 or 14: it’s about how they develop over the long term. That’s why their system aims to give both early and late developers the same opportunities to come through the ranks, all the way to the senior national side, and to make Belgium even more competitive at international level.

Belgian DNA
The Belgian vision of youth development goes beyond the art of identifying talented youngsters to cover what it calls “Belgian DNA”. It describes a comprehensive philosophy intended to influence every stage of the players’ development, a shared system and playing style for youth sides at the same time as encouraging players to show creativity and embrace the responsibility of making the right decisions on the pitch. The most important part of the plan, however, is about paying attention to the human being behind the player. Instead of concentrating on short-term success and the performances of Belgium’s youth teams, it focuses on the development of each individual player, both on and off the pitch. The kids in the youth system are treated as people first, and players second.

A player-centric approach
When you prioritise the success of a team, you run the risk of neglecting the individual needs of the players. Focusing too much on results can have a negative impact on the development of individual players. Often, this leads to youngsters feeling undervalued and, in the worst-case scenario, giving up the sport entirely. This is why the players are always at the heart of the Belgian DNA. It’s a principle that benefits young players as well as the teams they play for. In contrast to the traditional view that puts the team above all other considerations, the idea here is to make sure that no-one is ever left by the wayside, whether they are an elite youth prospect or a recreational player at their local club. 

Every player needs tailored support to help them develop, and to feel that their development is the top priority. If they don’t, they are likely to stop enjoying the game, which will in turn cause their development to stagnate. In this player-centric approach, the coach is always expected to act as a mentor, and to support the learning process. Players are given space to make their own decisions and learn from their mistakes, which are treated as an important part of the learning process rather than as setbacks. The aim is for each individual child to make continuous progress, regardless of the score. It’s an environment that puts individual growth centre stage, with the coach playing a supporting role to help their players grow, as footballers and as people.

Coaching under this system puts a premium on creativity. The underlying principle is that players should be given the freedom to express and demonstrate the full range of their skills. Often, by contrast, creativity is suppressed even in very young players, as they are instead expected to follow rules and operate within structures that act as constraints. The result is comparable to painting by numbers, when children are asked to follow clear instructions to produce a pre-determined image. Coaching should aim to get away from that approach, and to give players the freedom to paint their own pictures, instead of just following pre-determined patterns.

However, coaches often make the mistake of trying to exercise too much control, and fail to leave space for players to take the initiative. Rather than dominate sessions, they should look to act as a guide, giving the players a solid foundation from which to grow, and helping them to spread their wings. In that kind of environment, players can learn to take decisions independently and give their creative instincts free rein. It’s also important to remember that coaching should be consistent and orientated towards fostering long-term development. Young people should grow up in an environment that gives them the time to develop over a period of years, rather than one in constant flux.

Another key element of the Belgian coaching philosophy is that players should be supported in a way that is appropriate to their age. Indeed, the Belgians have gone as far as to develop a bespoke format for competition that is specifically designed to meet the needs of players across different age groups. For example, very young children are encouraged to play each other 1v1, because kids at that age are primarily interested in dribbling and scoring goals. Giving players this freedom allows them to hone fundamental skills before they are introduced to the structure that comes with playing in a team.

With that aim in mind, young players in Belgium also play on pitches that are adapted in line with their age group (for an example, see the illustrations below). Reducing the number of players on a small pitch means everyone involved sees plenty of action, and the kids have lots of opportunities to succeed and make progress. 

Behind all of this is one, over-arching aim: finding and ripening those green bananas.