'I brought through Crespo, Pato & Kaka' - Ancelotti defends youth player policy

Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti has hit back at claims that he has not given young players a chance.

The Italian was criticised by midfielder Joshua Kimmich due to the 22-year-old not featuring as much as he would like for Bayern Munich, while Renato Sanches and Kingsley Coman were also afforded little opportunity in the Bundesliga.

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“I'm not happy about it; it is not satisfactory and also not my ambition," Kimmich told Bild in March. "We now have a good lead in the Bundesliga. Perhaps now there will be some rotation.”

Ancelotti has defended himself from the criticism, claiming that a top team like Bayern Munich are simply unable to offer the same opportunities to young players as smaller clubs.

"I think a top club does not have the possibility to give the players time to grow in the first team," Ancelotti told Goal. 

"This is obvious, because the most important thing for top clubs is to win the games. So the young players who need time to develop don't have time in the first team. A young player at Bayern has to be ready to play. So I think this hasn't changed.

"Most of the time, a young player that grows in a top team usually has to go away for loan for one year or two years, and then they come back when they are ready. So I often have no time to give the players time to improve, because I have to be focused on the result of the team."

The former Juventus,  Milan, Chelsea and Real Madrid manager continued by highlighting the young players he has given chances to, including a teenage Gianluigi Buffon as well as Hernan Crespo and Brazilian duo Alexandre Pato and Kaka.

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"Just to finish: I read that I am against the young players, but some people forget I put Buffon in the goal when he was 17 years old," Ancelotti said. 

"I put Crespo, Pato, Kaka when they were 19 or 20 years old, because simply they were ready to play."