Quote: Rogues Gallery "It's a crying shame that the young French players are having to come here.
At the Wigan v Catalan academy friendly game at Orrell I was speaking to Laurent Frayssinous.
He told me Catalan could not be admitted into the U19 academy competition because the majority of the Superleague clubs were not prepared to travel to France at that level, so most of the young French players were playing in the lower leagues and that their season ended in early May.
IMO when the clubs got the extra tv funding some of that money should have been ring fenced to MAKE the teams travel. Catalan were prepared to travel over here.
As far as I'm aware only Leeds and Wigan have played in France, but I think Saints, Wigan and Leeds have hosted Catalan over here.
How are those young French players expected to develop if they are not playing regular academy RL?
Rant over.'"
Why is it a shame? The Catalans U19s thing is disappointing but NZoungou has never been contracted with Catalans, he's from Toulouse. Catalans already have a huge academy setup and a first-team squad of close to 40, barely any French players want to be there ATM and many of the ones who are signed are looking to leave the club due to a lack of first-team opportunities.
The real shame is that there isn't the money/infrastructure to have another 1-2 full-time clubs in France, but that doesn't affect the likes of huge prospects like Levy being picked up by Saints.