The first rule about developing football(soccer) players

I am a big Arsenal fan and Arsene Wenger is my favorite coach. A few years ago I heard Wenger say that the first thing you need to do with a player if you want him to improve his level is to offer him the opportunity to play against better players.

One of the principles of sports training theory is that of adaptation. This principle is a good argument for what Wenger said. By having the player play against better players you force him to adapt. Off course, the difference between the level of the player and that of the 'better players' mustn't be to big, or else he won't be able to adapt and might also lose confidence in himself.

If we were to look from a different angle at what Wenger said, we could say that the level of a player is influenced (and sometimes even dictated) by the level of his team-mates and by that of his opponents.

It seems to me that many youth coaches tend not to take this reality in consideration and I will explain why.
First, most coaches are glad if their opponents are weak - this is because they want victories too bad.
And second, many coaches tend to offer little attention to the weaker players in their team. Most of the times they concentrate their efforts on the players 'that have a chance to make it'.

When judging the chances that we have of developing a good football(soccer) player we must always ask ourselves: what is the level of competition that I can offer him?