The president of FIFA believes the well-documented demise of the 2001 Champions League semi-finalists should act as a salutary lesson to all other clubs.

United's slide, which followed the ruinous spending spree under Peter Ridsdale, led to not only relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time, but also a stint in administration.

Blatter admits to being "all too aware" of the troubles that have befallen Leeds since the turn of the Millennium, but is quick to praise the emphasis that the League One outfit has continued to place on youth development.

The FIFA president said: "Leeds United is a club well known throughout Europe for its long and proud history. Indeed, I was among those present at the European Cup final in Paris in 1975 for the game against Bayern Munich.

"I well remember Leeds playing in the Champions League semi-final a few years ago."

Blatter likens United's current standing to that of FC Thun, the Swiss side who competed in the Champions League group stages as recently as 2005 only to have since slid into their country's second tier.

He added: "Football clubs are, nowadays, major businesses and, unless they are run properly, they will suffer potentially dire consequences like any other business."

Blatter insists, however, there is "much room for optimism" with regards the future of the Elland Road club, mostly because of their emphasis on developing a youth policy.

"Unless you are one of the ultra-rich clubs, this, surely, is the way forward and Leeds, a club I greatly respect, have to be applauded for its efforts in this regard."

Blatter's words on young talent are timely with football having to face up to the possible ramifications of the global credit crunch amid a collective debt level that Football Association chairman Lord Triesman claimed last week stood at £3bn.

Already, West Ham United's Icelandic owners have been hit hard by the world banking crisis, while fears have also been expressed about the future of a number of other top-flight clubs with some analysts even going so far as to suggest one could become a terminal victim of the downturn in the global economy.

This financial uncertainty is why Blatter believes the Leeds model of developing homegrown talent is one that should be increasingly adopted in the game.
As part of his attempts to encourage more homegrown talent, the FIFA president wants to introduce a '6+5' plan requiring clubs to field at least six players eligible for the national team of the country in which the club is based.

Imposing such a quota would contravene EU employment law so he last week spoke to the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education to outline the reasoning behind the plan.

Leeds have an enviable record in developing homegrown talent, dating back to Don Revie's era when many of the side who went on to dominate English football in the late Sixties and Seventies came through the ranks together.

It is over the past 10 years or so, however, that United's junior set-up has really come to the fore with the setting-up of an Academy at Thorp Arch by then manager Howard Wilkinson being the catalyst.

The likes of Harry Kewell, Paul Robinson, Jonathan Woodgate, Ian Harte and Alan Smith graduated into the first team together to become mainstays in the side that challenged for honours under David O'Leary.

All were subsequently sold amid the fall-out that followed the club's financial collapse as debts soared above £100m, but United's Academy has continued to pay dividends with James Milner, Aaron Lennon, Scott Carson and Matthew Kilgallon all having come through.

More recently, several promising youngsters have been poached, at great expense, by Premier League clubs without having made a first-team appearance at Elland Road, while just this week Sunderland and West Brom were both linked with a £4m move for United's latest teenage star Fabian Delph.