Establishing consensus of position-specific predictors for elite youth soccer in England

Purpose: To construct a valid and reliable methodology for the development of position- specific predictors deemed appropriate for talent identification purposes within elite youth soccer in England. Method: N = 10 experts participated in a three-step modified e-Delphi poll to generate consensus on a series of generic youth player attributes. A follow up electronic survey completed by coaches, scouts and recruitment staff (n = 99) ranked these attributes to specific player- positions. Results: A final list of 44 player attributes found consensus using the three-step modified e-Delphi poll and the findings indicated that player-positional attributes considered most important at the youth phase are more psychological and technical than physiological or anthropometric. Despite ‘hidden’ attributes (e.g. coachability, flair, versatility, vision etc) finding consensus on the e-Delphi poll, there was no evidence to support these traits when associated with a specific playing position. Conclusion: For those practitioners responsible for talent recruitment, our findings may provide greater understanding of the multiple attributes required for some playing positions. However, new ecological research is required to assess the veracity of our claims.