Next Generation 2022: Why scouts select players based on 'the relative age effect'

If you want a child to make this list, you better make sure he is born as soon as possible after 1 September Last month the Guardian released Next Generation 2022: 20 of the best talents at Premier League clubs. As with previous years it selected "the best youngsters at each club", this time among those born between 1 September 2005 and 31 August 2006, an age band known as "first-year scholars". As in earlier seasons it makes for interesting reading. But the brain works in mysterious ways, and I...