Aston Villa's U19's are set to take on Marseille in the quarterfinal of the NextGen series, one of Europe's most prestigious youth tournaments. The other clubs remaining in the tournament-Sporting, Inter, Spurs, Liverpool, Barca and Ajax-are some fine company to keep, underscoring just how well stocked Villa keep their youth system. The game is available on AVTV and doubtlessly elsewhere, so give it a watch if you've got the opportunity.
I can't speak to the current depth of Marseille's youth system, but it's historically been amongst the best in Europe. Luckily Jordan Ayew is not playing, despite being eligible. Villa's is certainly nothing to sneeze at, and they put some pretty decent whoopings on some quality teams during the group stage. Should be a fun one.
Villa Lineup: Barrett, Lewis, Webb, Williams, Kinsella, Carruthers, Gardner, Johnson, Cameron, Burke, Drennan.
Villa Subs: Watkins, Nelson-Addy,Caira, Graham, Robinson, Grealish, Melvin
Marseille Lineup: Sy, Abergel, Andonian, Aloe, Charles, Azouni, Abdullah, Gadi, Omrani, Loiacono, Pommier
Marseille Subs: Cesarini, Santiago, Bonelli, Enukidze, Fabri, Anam, Kouch