At what age does a player stop developing?

[Abou Sky]

Jeremy Hall for example, could he get better under some AMAZING training or something?

How late is too late?

[T-boy]

Players are probably at their peak - fitness level, stamina, knowledge of game, football brain, and experience around 26 to 30. It could be even later for some - look at Ricky Lambert!

[Red CB Toronto]

Wondo is the poster boy for late bloomer.

[prizby]

luca toni

[OgtheDim]

Keepers are at their best between 30-34.

[trane]

I do not think that a player ever stops developing, but I think that by 22-24 a player is more or less, ready, and between then ant 27-28 they are at their physical peak. but mentally and skill wise they keep on learning, it just that at some point the physical toll has its effect and they start breaking/slowing down.

Pirlo is as good as he has ever been, because he has kept on improving, but soon he will have to stop.

[ag futbol]

It depends. A lot of technical skills you'll need to succeed within the game can't really be formed after a certain age. Physically? Mid-late 20s is probably peak. Mentally? Well as someone pointed out above with Pirlo, the best never stop learning. But the technical skills he learned earlier gave him a foundation to be better later on.

More teams need to take the mentality that learning within the sport should be continuous. Players can gain mentally what they lose physically if committed to learning the craft. Italians are good at this.

[OgtheDim]

John Doyle in the Globe today basically argued that Rooney hasn't progressed since he was 17.

Which is interesting as Ronaldo grew a lot when at Man U and even more when at Real.

[brad]

John Doyle in the Globe today basically argued that Rooney hasn't progressed since he was 17.

Which is interesting as Ronaldo grew a lot when at Man U and even more when at Real.

Very different mentalities. Ronaldo is very driven to be the best. When he started to hit the heights in his last couple years at United he still trained more than anyone else on the team. Of the pitch he does everything he can as well.

Rooney - well he's the guy that shows up to preasason overweight and is seen around town with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

That said Rooney didn't peak at 17 - he did a few years ago when he was scoring bags. He also hasn't been helped by being played out of position a lot

[[NBF]]

- Van Persie, I couldn't believe he was being talked about as a World Class player rather than a very good one, but he has improved drastically.

[Abou Sky]

It depends. A lot of technical skills you'll need to succeed within the game can't really be formed after a certain age. Physically? Mid-late 20s is probably peak. Mentally? Well as someone pointed out above with Pirlo, the best never stop learning. But the technical skills he learned earlier gave him a foundation to be better later on.

More teams need to take the mentality that learning within the sport should be continuous. Players can gain mentally what they lose physically if committed to learning the craft. Italians are good at this.

What would you guess 'a certain age' at regarding technical skills?

[denime]

What would you guess 'a certain age' at regarding technical skills?

Basic technical skills 12-14,after that is tactics,agility and stamina.