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Marcel Brands improved the salaries of coaches and revamped the scouting system as part of the sweeping changes he made to the youth ranks at PSV Eindhoven.

And insight provided by the Dutch club's former head of academy, who worked closely with Brands, offers an idea as to the methods that may be employed at Everton.

The Blues' director of football has helped developed a five-year strategy for the club's production line of players and hopes to repeat the type of success he had at PSV.

The Eredivisie side won the league title last season with a squad that was almost half made up of academy products while PSV also made huge profits from the sale of homegrown players during Brands' tenure.

Following the close of the summer transfer window, the 56-year-old turned his attention to Everton's Academy and though plans have been complicated by a two-year transfer ban after historic breaches of Premier League rules, Brands has pressed ahead with his long-term vision.

And Art Langeler, head of the PSV academy from 2013-18, has detailed the key areas his old boss focused on in order to improve their youth ranks.

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“There was a lot of money going into the Academy but nothing coming out.

“So how could we change this?” Langeler said.

“Marcel changed the scouts group. We did more with less scouts. He created a small group of full-time scouts instead of a bigger group of part-time scouts who were available all the time. I have to give Marcel credit for that. He also changed that for the senior scouts and made sure to have the right man in the right place.”

He added: “One of the biggest changes was the club wanted to find the best youth coaches.

“The problem was that the salary of the u-19s coach was higher than the u-13s coach.

“Our mindset was that the u-13s coach at PSV has to be the best u-13s coach in Holland.”

Langeler was appointed at the same time as PSV named Phillip Cocu as their new head coach – and both men penned four year deals.

Consistency was a key part of Brands' masterplan.

“We both signed contracts for four years and we would stay for the four years,” Langeler said.

“Now things have changed (and both have left) but it couldn't be that one of us left the club after just a year.

“If we were to have success we had to work together, constantly close with the technical director and head coach because in the years before they had been like different islands.

“So we would have regular meetings, once a week, with each other and be on the phone everyday.

“Naturally, my relationship was closer with Marcel than Cocu because the team were often away and he was more concentrated on results of the first-team.”

He continued: “The coach has to be there for the long-term and Marcel will be the political guy to go to the board and say we need more time.

“Continuity is the most important thing to have if you want this success.

“Our aim was to get players aged between 18-22 into the first-team and you have to have a good programme.

“It is a problem in England. The youth teams don't play a lot of hard games and Marcel will understand that.”

Brands was described as a “cradle to grave man” by chairman Bill Kenwright at last week's General Meeting, who added: “He wants all our youth teams to play the same way as Marco's first-team will play.”

Langeler says PSV's under-23s and u-19s teams would play in the exact same way as the first-team but all other age groups were challenged to play with different styles and formations.

Players were often played out of position and forced to use their weaker foot.

“I don't think you can say for sure, even at 14 or 15, what a kid's best position is,” he said.

“They still have to develop and experience different things on the field.”

“I think the Academy is the soul of the club,” Brands said of Everton.

“We already have a few young players in our first-team squad.

“I have been pleased to see the under-15s, u-16s, u-18s and u-23s and I know almost all of the players and I was involved in the decisions for scholarships for professionals.

“We have some good young players coming up. But we do have to be careful and protect them and get them on the right pathway to the first-team.”

Asked to name the best youth product during Brands' time at PSV, Langeler said: “There are lots of them.

“For example, in my time as Head of the Academy Memphis Depay made his debut for the first-team but I wasn't the one that educated him.

“But another would be Steven Bergwijn who came through the academy. He was 15 when to the club and is now a regular in the PSV first-team and an international player. So he is probably one of the best.”

“Around 50% of the squad at PSV came through the academy. A lot of people helped achieve this and we are really proud they way we worked to succeed. When we started I didn't know if it would be possible to succeed. We didn't raise the budget but used the same amount of money to succeed.

“Marcel is a really great manager.

“We had a great time together, he gave me a chance and I owe him big time.”