Youth Gone Wild

Bobál twins

This past week a set of twins from the Hungarian football club Budapest Honvéd was on a tryout with the English Premier Club Manchester City. Gergely Bobál and Dávid Bobál are 16 year old twins who have pretty much out grew the Hungarian U-17 league. With Manchester City offering them trial period the question has been brought up is it the best situation or the best choice for the twins to move abroad at such a young age. There have been a bunch of situations in the past where Hungarians have left Hungary before they turned 19 with some of them panning out and others being a complete bust.

Ádám Dudás, Kristitán Nemeth, András Simon

It would probably be the easiest to look at Hungarians who have played in the past five years to get the most accurate comparison to what the Bobál twins have gone through and what they should expect. We can take a look at the 2009 U-20 team that finished 3rd at the U-20 World Cup, Attila Filkor, Ádám Bogdán, Balázs Dzudzsák, Ádám Pintér, Ádám Vass, Ádám Szalai and Krisztián Tamás.

Basically there are two arguments, does the young football star leave Hungary at the age of 17 or at 21-22. At 17 they have more potential and just like in the NBA draft you can not learn potential. At 17 a major club from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France or even the Netherlands offers you a tryout or a youth contract you take it. You either fly through the system and in a couple of seasons you are a major contributor to the first team or you are ok at the age group level but you can't crack the first team lineup, you get loaned out to a 2nd division team and when your contract runs out you are back in Hungary. This is where things get interesting, if the kid who is now 20 or 21 has his head on straight looks at the positives and know that they learned a tremendous amount both on and off the pitch and carry themselves in a professional way then in two seasons they should be able to go abroad again, worst case to Belgium, Austria, Switzerland or to any or the major 2nd divisions. If they wait till they are in their early 20s they are going abroad mentally more mature however you know what you are getting. I say at the age of 17 go west to the top leagues, 22 go west to any of the leagues, 30 go anywhere in Europe, 35 go to the middle east for one major paycheck to live off of for the rest of your life.
If we look at the 2006 U-17 squad that finished 5th at the European Championships, at that time only Vladimir Koman was playing outside of Hungary with the Italian side Sampdoria. Koman would eventually work his way up and become a regular for the Seria A side. This past winter transfer window he left Sampdoria and signed with the French 2nd division club Monaco. Over all we can say that it was a good move that he left Hungary at the age of 17. Other guys from that team also played abroad, Attila Busai was a reserve player for MTK Budapest when at the age of 21 signed with the Swiss 2nd div. team FC Wil where he played two seasons, now he is back in Hungary at the age of 23 and starting for Ferencváros and showing how mature of a player he has become. Ádám Dudás was the first player to move from the country after Koman, after a trial with both Arsenal and Rangers he was loaned out to Spartak Moscow because his parent club Györi ETO did not want to sell him. After only a couple of appearances Dudás was back in Györ where he struggled with fitness and was loaned out he has finally come around as a full time starter. This year he is having one of the best seasons in the Hungarian league, look for him to move on from Györ to another country.

Krisztián Nemeth and Vladimir Koman

Another two players from this youth team was the Simon twins Ádám and András, András a striker was sold by MTK Budapest to Liverpool where he played on the reserve team when he was healthy and was on loan to Spanish 2nd div team Cordoba, eventually his contract ran out and Liverpool did not bring him back. He spent one season in Holland with Excelsior before he came back to Hungary to play for Györ. Ádám a defensive midfielder on the other hand went the other route, he was sold from MTK Budapest to Szombathelyi Haladás, after a couple of seasons at Haladás this past summer he was bought by the Italian 1st division team Palermo and is now loaned out to Bari. One twin left young and came back the other one left late and is now in Italy. Here are some of the other players:

Krisztián Nemeth- Was bought from MTK Budapest by Liverpool, after a couple of successful seasons on the reserve team he was loaned out to Blackpool in the 2nd division. In his first match he broke he cheekbone and was done for the season. Was later loaned out to the Greek club AEK Athen and then bought by Olympiacos, he is currently playing his first season in Holland for Waalwijk, look for him to move on to a bigger club.

Peter Gulácsi- Like Németh he was also bought from MTK by Liverpool, he has been said to be the future keeper for Liverpool. He has spent the past couple of seasons as the number two or three keeper for the side and has been on loan with Hull City in the past. Look for him to replce Pepe Reina eventually.

Zsolt Korcsmár- Zsolt was not on the U-17 team however he was already part of the U-19 team years later that finished 4th at the European Championships. Korcsmár stayed with his parent club till he was 21 and then signed with SK Brann in Norway, look for him to make a move to England or Germany in the near future.

Bálint Bajner- Bajner is a very peculiar situation, at 16 he debuted with Sopron in Hungary at 17 he made the move to Liberty Oradea in the Romanian 2nd division, then went on loan to West Ham and Budapest Honvéd. After making a permanent move to Honvéd he is now playing in the Italian 4th division. After making a move that makes scenes he follows it up with playing with a random team.

András Gosztonyi- He has spent his entire career in Hungary except for half a season when he was 20 with Bari, look for him to play in Italy again.

Roland Varga- Varga left MTK Budapest when he was 18 to play for Brescia which didnt go as smoothly as planned, after being loaned out twice (once in Hungary and once in Italy) he is back in Hungary playing in Györ. This kid is too unpredictable to predict his future.

Balázs Megyeri- At the age of 17 he made the move to Bristol City after one season he was back in Budapest, right now he has just finished his second season with Olympiacos and his first as the number one keeper, look for him to move on to a better league.

Markó Futács- Made the move to Nancy in France when he was 16, after three seasons moved on to Werder Bremen and now he is in Portsmouth. He can probably play in all the top leagues in the world once he physically matures.

Markó Futács

Ádám Kovácsik- He moved to Reggina when he was 17 and pretty much has been the number keeper all along, he will eventually get his chance.

Attila Filkor- Inter Milan signed him when he was 16 spending his years on the youth teams he was loaned out to a number of Seria B clubs before making a move to cross town rival AC Milan where again he has been on loan in the 2nd division.

Ádám Bogdán- He made the move to Bolton at the age of 20 two years later he became Bolton’s number two choice keeper, in January of this year the number one keeper went down with an injury and Bogdan was called in to be the number one man. Since then Jaaskelianen his healthy but Bogdan has held on to the spot and has saved Bolton from relegation.

Balázs Dzsudzsák- He moved to PSV at the age of 21 for only a couple of million euros, in four seasons in Holland he scored 55 goals as a midfielder which lead to Anzhi Makhachkala purchasing him for 19 million euros and a half season later made the 24 million euro move to Dynamo Moscow. He is right now the most expensive Hungarian in the market but there seems to be an asterisk next to his name since he is playing in Russia. Look for him to make a move to Italy in the future.

Ádám Pintér- Much like Dzsudzsák, Pintér did not make the move from Hungary until he was a bit older, at the age of 22 he was sold by MTK Budapest to Real Zaragoza in Spain, in his second year in he has become a regular in the first team.

Ádám Vass- Vass at the age of 16 was bought by the English club Stoke City where he spent one season before moving on to Italy where he has played for Brescia. Since the age of 17 he has been a regular for the Italian club. Look for him to move to a larger Italian side in the near future.

Ádám Szalai- At the age of 16 he made the move to German side Stuttgart where he spent three seasons, next he moved on to Real Madrid in Spain and now he is back in Germany playing for Mainz and is a real scoring presence when he is healthy.

Ádám Szalai

Krisztián Tamás- Not that many people know about this kid, last summer at the age of 16 he made the transfer from Szombathelyi Haladás U-19 team to AC Milan U-17 team and has already appeared in a reserve match for AC Milan. Right now the kid has potentially eventually when he gets too old for the reserve league he will probably be loaned out to a couple of 2nd div. teams until a small first div. club picks him up.

Aside from the one Simon twin, Dudás and Varga anyone that has gone abroad has done relatively well. Yes some are not with the superstar club that originally signed them but they are playing at a higher level then they would be in Hungary. With regarding the three that are back in Hungary they are all playing in Györ and helping the club to what looks to be a second place finish in the standings. Györ has a team that can make a push for a club title in the 2012-13 season. If I had to predict what will happen with the Bobál twins then I would have to say that they will be signed by a team in one of the top leagues in Europe maybe not Manchester City but it seems like they have the physical presence to succeed. Worst case they will be playing in Holland.