There’s little doubt of the yawning chasm that sits between youth development in the United States and Europe.

But the good news is that some clubs abroad are diligently working to share some of their secrets.

At the beginning of April, Southampton FC hosted a group of American players for a weeklong experience, getting the chance to experience what is known as the “Southampton Way.”

The group was put together during last fall’s Southampton Cup, a tournament hosted in Columbia, Maryland in December 2017. The Premier League club sent over its academy coaches for the two-day tournament, putting together a team of players ranging from U11-U15 that were spotted in Maryland.

Drawing from clubs like FC USA, Woodbridge SC, Columbus East, Baltimore Celtic and Barcelona USA MD players from Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and Canada made the trip.

“Myself and families I’ve coached over the years, we’ve all been on different experiences and this experience was unbelievable,” Columbus East SC coach Marc Miriello told topdrawersoccer.com in a phone interview.

It was a jam-packed experienced that saw Southampton embrace the North Americans and integrate them into the academy for the week. Not only did the players train at Staplewood Campus (Southampton’s training ground) but the Premier League academy coaches organized and ran sessions. The week began by taking in a Southampton-West Ham match and culminated with games against a Southampton Academy team.

Players on the trip spanned a variety of age ranges, from 2003s to 2007s and everything in between. From Miriello’s perspective, not only was Southampton and Under Armour’s commitment to it impressive but getting to see the amount of detail covered at the academy was next level.

“Everyone in that academy setting is benchmarked, all the communication that goes between the coaching staff and players is driven by data,” he said. “That data gives them specific details. So when they go to play matches, there’s individual targets an team targets. And those individual targets are based off the data for each individual player. So each player can improve each time they are on the field.”

That approach has contributed to the academy’s success at producing players for not just the Southampton first team, but also full internationals. Theo Walcott, Luke Shaw, Gareth Bale, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chris Baird have all played at high levels and represented their respective countries.

The all-encompassing experience served as a player development opportunity, but provided a platform for coaches to learn plenty. Miriello, who works at Columbus East in Ohio, worked alongside the academy coaches, getting to see how things were run by such a prominent club.

And for the players that made the trip, it was a confidence boost. Because of the way Southampton integrated kids into their setup, the American players learned about how their level matched up to some of the youngsters in the UK.

“Having a real opportunity – not a fake opportunity – to go in and be treated like that, they realized that our top players are in step,” Miriello said of the kids that made the trip. “The two players that they asked to come back, if they lived there, they would be in the academy. For them to hear that, made soccer tangible for them. What we noticed when they came back was that they seemed to have another gear now. The confidence, the intensity, the experience of the trip made them realize that this is real, that there are opportunities out there. This is something that’s attainable. The impact on them is immeasurable.”

There was a tangible takeaway for Miriello. While the players on the trip were close in ability at the U14 or U15 age groups, he said he noticed a group of U18s competing on the field adjacent to where they were. At that age group, there was a vast difference between that and what you see in the United States.

Of course, that divergence in development is for a variety of reasons: from financial resources, professional clubs that offer academies to name a few. Miriello had his own theories as well of why that gap widens as players age.

“Our top players at U14 were in step with their top players,” he said. “Our top players are in multi-session programs [at home]. Before school they do some specific soccer agility. Right after school there is coordination work. And then at night there is a specific training session. They have a European program for them. If you don’t have that, when you come to the U18 age group the gap is huge. That level of detail and focus, if that was here in the United States. We have the players, we just don’t have the level of focus, so the development rates drop off incredibly.”

Obviously, links between European and U.S. clubs always carry a degree of skepticism as simple cash grabs or branding opportunities. Agreements between teams in the USA and prominent organizations have come and gone. But Miriello sees this trip as the continued work of both Southampton and Under Armour FC Global at improving grassroots opportunities. Time will tell of its impact, though there’s no question that it can benefit players in the United States.

“It’s these grassroots efforts, that connect American players to European experiences and top development clubs at Southampton, it gives these young players something that is real and attainable,” Miriello said. “It brings them a higher level of focus and I think things like this help make a difference.”