Rafa Benitez has reiterated his stance on Newcastle United's transfer blueprint by warning: "You won't win anything with kids."
And the Toon boss has thrown this year's surprise Champions League semi-finalists Ajax into that category by insisting the Dutch giants have still had to pay a price to get to that stage.
Indeed, Ajax splashed out €16million for Daley Blind and also paid Dusan Tadic for €11.4 million last summer.
Benitez has dismissed the notion that Ajax have proved you can win things with Academy products alone.
He told the Chronicle: "People make this same mistake all the time.
"It is not a question of age.
"It is a question of quality.
"I had Raul at Real Madrid, the best striker of Real Madrid in the last 20 years, and he made his debut with me in the reserves.
"He was just 17 but you could play him because he was so good.
"It is a question of levels and competitions."
Benitez has already told United they need to improve their Academy, but has spoken of his philosophy going forward.
When asked about blooding young players from a club's youth system, Benitez said: "Ajax are a team that do that.
"But they also bring players but they have Tadic.
"Tadic is not a product of their Academy so they have a mix.
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"A mix of players with experience, and very good talented young players.
"They produce these players because it is part of the philosophy they have.
"It makes no sense to compare it with other things.
"All the other teams in the Champions League - if you analyse them - they have players with experience and young players."
Newcastle have told Benitez that they want to see more players signed that are under the age of 26 in order to retain sell-on value.
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