To quote the IT Crowd “Thing about Arsenal is, they always try an' walk it in”. If they were to re-write the episode now it might include the quote “Cor blimey Liverpool have paid a lot for those three Northern lads ain’t they?”
Downing, Henderson and Carroll signed for a grand total of £75 million. If you had told Liverpool fans this time last year that they would have spent that sum of money on a striker and two midfielders they would have probably been dreaming of players of a different ilk perhaps the Sneijders, Agueros and Sanchezs of this world. Not three mediocre players who learnt their trade at far from glamorous Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.
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| Inflated cheeks and an inflated price tag |
I would like to think that we could all agree that they have overpaid, yes? Good. Now, I’m not just picking on Liverpool all the larger English clubs have done it, for example:
Man Utd – Smalling, Jones, Carrick
Man City – Milner, Barry, Lescott
Chelsea – Wright-Phillips, Damien Duff (ROI), Sutton
Arsenal – Jeffers, Walcott...well, due to Wenger’s stance on inflated prices that’s about it!
Tottenham – Bentley, Richards, Defoe
Of course some of these transfers have turned out to be successful pieces of business, but at the time I would suggest at least a few eyebrows were raised at the vast sums paid. But why are the English players costing so much money when a more experienced, higher quality foreign player can possibly be bought for less.
Let us compare two examples this summer. We have Player A, he’s a twenty-five year old defender with one year left on his contract, he has won the Premier League and has Champions League and International experience and was sold for £7 million. Player B is also twenty-five, also has 1 year left on his contract, hasn’t won the Premier League, hasn’t played in the Champions League and only has three international caps to his name but has been talked about making a transfer this summer for a fee in excess of £15 million. Is Player A or B English?
Now there are a number of reasons that I can see for why English players are being bought at an inflated price. Firstly we have the eight home grown players rule; we all know it so I won’t bore you with its intricacies. This came into play last year this could possibly be given as a reason for why English players have cost so much during the last year. However if that is really the case then why is Charles N’Zogbia worth half as much as Stewart Downing? Both players are “home-grown” and in my opinion N’Zogbia is the better player. Gael Clichy aka Player A too is “home-grown” so why is he worth half as much as Player B?
This inflation can be further credited to the precedents that have already been set. Liverpool overpays for Andy Carroll and so an uncapped, minimally experienced English striker has been bought for £35 million. Now what are clubs going to do when their young English striker is on the wanted list? Let’s say for example Connor Wickham, would Ipswich have received the £12 million or so they did if this transfer hadn’t happened? Player precedents works against clubs too; Liverpool pay Newcastle £35 million so it’s clear to see they aren’t struggling for money so if they come calling the next selling club will automatically add some mark-up to the price, much like what happened with Chelsea and Man City. But this reason has the same affect with foreign players and clubs so the English foreign disparity is lost, when Man City came into some money not only would English clubs have been aware of this but so would the foreign clubs, after all they did pay £18 million for Jo.
Man Utd – Smalling, Jones, Carrick
Man City – Milner, Barry, Lescott
Chelsea – Wright-Phillips, Damien Duff (ROI), Sutton
Arsenal – Jeffers, Walcott...well, due to Wenger’s stance on inflated prices that’s about it!
Tottenham – Bentley, Richards, Defoe
Of course some of these transfers have turned out to be successful pieces of business, but at the time I would suggest at least a few eyebrows were raised at the vast sums paid. But why are the English players costing so much money when a more experienced, higher quality foreign player can possibly be bought for less.
Let us compare two examples this summer. We have Player A, he’s a twenty-five year old defender with one year left on his contract, he has won the Premier League and has Champions League and International experience and was sold for £7 million. Player B is also twenty-five, also has 1 year left on his contract, hasn’t won the Premier League, hasn’t played in the Champions League and only has three international caps to his name but has been talked about making a transfer this summer for a fee in excess of £15 million. Is Player A or B English?
Now there are a number of reasons that I can see for why English players are being bought at an inflated price. Firstly we have the eight home grown players rule; we all know it so I won’t bore you with its intricacies. This came into play last year this could possibly be given as a reason for why English players have cost so much during the last year. However if that is really the case then why is Charles N’Zogbia worth half as much as Stewart Downing? Both players are “home-grown” and in my opinion N’Zogbia is the better player. Gael Clichy aka Player A too is “home-grown” so why is he worth half as much as Player B?
This inflation can be further credited to the precedents that have already been set. Liverpool overpays for Andy Carroll and so an uncapped, minimally experienced English striker has been bought for £35 million. Now what are clubs going to do when their young English striker is on the wanted list? Let’s say for example Connor Wickham, would Ipswich have received the £12 million or so they did if this transfer hadn’t happened? Player precedents works against clubs too; Liverpool pay Newcastle £35 million so it’s clear to see they aren’t struggling for money so if they come calling the next selling club will automatically add some mark-up to the price, much like what happened with Chelsea and Man City. But this reason has the same affect with foreign players and clubs so the English foreign disparity is lost, when Man City came into some money not only would English clubs have been aware of this but so would the foreign clubs, after all they did pay £18 million for Jo.
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| The inflated price tag and expectation can have disasterous effects |
The last reason I can see, and one that I don’t feel is getting discussed, is the short sighted and narrow-minded view of the typical English football fan, manager and owner. The phrase “Them foreigners, coming over here, stealing our jobs!” is unfortunately a commonly used phrase in our general society.
I believe this has affected the countries footballing ethos and ultimately the transfer market by exacerbating the supply and demand pricing function. People want a local hero, and a side made up from local heroes, if they could I bet Liverpool fans would have eleven Jamie Carraghers on the pitch! At Liverpool, ‘King Kenny’ (one of the most annoying nicknames ever - Isn’t masquerading as a King some form of treason?) has come to the club and thought: I tell you what it’s these foreigners that have caused this demise at the club! Get me some good old British beef in the side then we’ll be cooking! Yes he has bought Suarez and Doni, but he’s also bought the three aforementioned Brits and brought numerous other English youth team players into the side. Such behaviour has led to an increase in demand in the English players, combine this with the home grown players rule and you have yourself an over-inflated price for an English player.
This inflation has a wider affect most notably the National side. The fans are always looking for an excuse as to why the England side has failed and the blame has, in recent years, fallen at Fabio Capello’s door. I have heard many an ex-pro blaming the national team’s current plight due to the fact that we have an Italian in charge and not an Englishman.
Here’s my opinion, it wouldn’t matter who was in charge: the players aren’t good enough and they don’t realise it. This is because they have had millions spent on them by these top clubs so they think: “yeah I’m good, I cost more than David Silva!” (The inner monologue of James Milner). When it gets to the international stage where these over-inflated egos combine with over-inflated prices and form some sort of ego price bubble, it bursts and the nation is left flabbergasted! “But they do it for their clubs” the fans and ‘pundits cry! Yes, but they have a lot better, less ego inflated players working their socks off alongside them. So judge a player on his ability rather than his nationality as these goddamn prices give the player and ultimately the fan false hope!
I believe this has affected the countries footballing ethos and ultimately the transfer market by exacerbating the supply and demand pricing function. People want a local hero, and a side made up from local heroes, if they could I bet Liverpool fans would have eleven Jamie Carraghers on the pitch! At Liverpool, ‘King Kenny’ (one of the most annoying nicknames ever - Isn’t masquerading as a King some form of treason?) has come to the club and thought: I tell you what it’s these foreigners that have caused this demise at the club! Get me some good old British beef in the side then we’ll be cooking! Yes he has bought Suarez and Doni, but he’s also bought the three aforementioned Brits and brought numerous other English youth team players into the side. Such behaviour has led to an increase in demand in the English players, combine this with the home grown players rule and you have yourself an over-inflated price for an English player.
This inflation has a wider affect most notably the National side. The fans are always looking for an excuse as to why the England side has failed and the blame has, in recent years, fallen at Fabio Capello’s door. I have heard many an ex-pro blaming the national team’s current plight due to the fact that we have an Italian in charge and not an Englishman.
Here’s my opinion, it wouldn’t matter who was in charge: the players aren’t good enough and they don’t realise it. This is because they have had millions spent on them by these top clubs so they think: “yeah I’m good, I cost more than David Silva!” (The inner monologue of James Milner). When it gets to the international stage where these over-inflated egos combine with over-inflated prices and form some sort of ego price bubble, it bursts and the nation is left flabbergasted! “But they do it for their clubs” the fans and ‘pundits cry! Yes, but they have a lot better, less ego inflated players working their socks off alongside them. So judge a player on his ability rather than his nationality as these goddamn prices give the player and ultimately the fan false hope!
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| Will one of these Evertonians be next? |
A criticism of some is that the foreign players coming to our league have damaged the England national side, quite the contrary I believe it has aided it. Is everyone forgetting the technique deprived football that existed before hand? Also it hasn’t stopped players coming through if they are good enough they’ll find a club, so what if Chelsea have bought Torres when Sturridge is there, there are 19 other Premier League clubs and there are also countless other clubs in Spain, Italy, Germany etc. I’m not saying that we should only buy foreign players, but the clubs and the players need to garner some perspective. Why should £15million be paid for Player B aka Gary Cahill, when there is a perfectly adequate foreign player? The sooner the Premier League realises that England isn’t the hotbed of footballing talent the better as we can then begin to develop and nurture the young English players and start to get our national team back on track.
Josh
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