MADRID, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Michel Gonzalez on
Thursday launched an attack on club President Ramon Calderon as he explained his
reasons for resigning as the coordinator of the Real Madrid youth system.
Michel, a former Real Madrid hero as a player,
resigned from his position late on Wednesday, but it was not until Thursday that
he said why he was abandoning the club.
The former player used the press to launch a stinging
criticism of Calderon, attacking his lack of interest in the Real Madrid youth
system as a source of players for the first team.
"I have reached the conclusion that the Real Madrid
president is not in the least bit interested in our work," Michel told sports
paper Diario AS.
"He criticized it in public and in private and the
worst thing is that he doesn't even know what we are doing, because he has never
wanted to know," he added.
The Real Madrid youth system has struggled to produce
players who have made the leap from the Real Madrid "B" team up to the first
team in recent seasons.
Ruben de la Red and defender Miguel Torres are the
only two who have moved up in the past three years and De la Red had to spend
the last season on loan at Getafe to prove himself.
However, the youth system has produced a string of
players who are succeeding in Spain's Primera Liga. Juan Mata had to move to
Valencia to get first team football and recently received a call up to the Spain
national squad.
Likewise striker Alvaro Negredo has been a big
success at Almeria, while Esteban Granero is a first team regular with Getafe.
Perhaps the most successful Real Madrid export is
Alvaro Arbeloa, who is now a regular with Premier League leaders Liverpool and a
regular Spain international after making just a handful of appearances for Real
Madrid.
Meanwhile the club continues to sign foreign players
with striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar the most recent arrival.
"I am not disappointed because Calderon doesn't like
the work I have been doing. What he should have done is said so to my face or
sacked me."
"The reaction I get from the young players and their
parents and the coaches who know what we are doing here, is a reason for me to
leave proud of what I have done," said Michel.