Saints look to boost Youth set up

With the release of Caceres, Gibbens and Peters in the last few weeks, Southampton are having a closer look at their Youth Academy. The returns on investment into the Academy have been few and far between and upon his arrival Gordon Strachan clearly felt that there were none ready for the step up to the first team. To resolve this problem Southampton have unveiled Georges Prost as the new technical director of the Youth Academy. Prost, 53,  currently fulfills the same role at Marseille. He is 53 and in his playing days turned out for Lyon and Monaco as well as winning two French Caps. Saints have revealed they are to appoint top French coach Georges Prost as technical director of the club's Academy next month.

Prost has simply tons of coaching experience and the Youth Development centre at Marseille is an important part of the club. I think this is a great move by Southampton in trying to ensure future success through youth development and it once again shows the forward thinking attitude of Rupert Lowe. Lowe told the official Saints site: "Georges Prost will be a key appointment for us. He has extensive expertise and comes highly recommended.

"Everyone I have spoken to says he is an excellent chap who will bring knowledge, intense training and discipline to our Academy. We are delighted he is joining us.

"We have been keen to build up the Academy since the departure of Graeme Souness and we brought in Malcolm Elias who is overseeing the assessment and recruitment of the best youngsters in the region.

"That should give us a group of gifted youngsters and Georges has a system to hone and improve their skills. Training will be intense and very competitive.

"As they go along we will sift out those who do not have the ability or mental strength to cope. This is the philosophy which has brought such great success in France.

"We have looked closely at their renowned set-up at Clairefontaine which develops players. Georges has a great understanding of how that works and will be putting many of their principles in place when he starts here in April.

"He also has a good knowledge of the French transfer market which will be very useful as we believe there is a lot of good young talent there."

Prost said: "I am very happy to work in the country that invented football and I am looking forward to working with the coaches and youngsters at Southampton.

"The future belongs to clubs which invest in young players and I want to help Saints achieve their ambitious goal. I am bringing my experience as a French coach and knowledge gained from 23 years of training. I am very enthusiastic about this challenge."