England, Global, Premier League
The true value of talent
After a week when Aston Villa showcased their latest signing, Curtis Davies only for the youngster to be promptly dropped to the reserves after a performance which the player himself described as “worthy only of a pub team”, the value of signing English talent has come under the spotlight.
Davies’ current loan deal, which is expected to see the player move from West Bromwich Albion for an estimated £9million next summer, now looks like the latest in a recent batch of inflated transfer fees for English players. This current trend provides solid evidence for the reasons behind the influx of cheaper foreign talent that the Premier League has experienced over the last five years.
Although this is nothing new, Dean Richards’ 2001 £8.1million transfer from Southampton to Spurs is just one example, there has been a notable increase in inflated transfer fees for English players between Premiership clubs, with Shaun Wright-Phillips being the most expensive at £21million, followed by Michael Carrick at £18million and then Darren Bent for a seemingly extortionate £17million. Why are some English clubs prepared to put so many very expensive eggs in one basket and spend a huge portion of their transfer budget on just one player?
Admittedly, the Abramovich money can be seen as a direct trigger for this transfer activity, along with the recent television deal that has seen the budget of Premiership clubs swell to unprecedented proportions. But is it any wonder that football is seen in some quarters of the business industry as an investment gamble when huge figures are risked on such mediocrity?
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“The England football team could potentially be the most expensive team assembled in history, far outweighing the underachieving ‘galacticos’ of Real Madrid over the last few seasons” |
Despite Carrick and Wright-Phillips both winning championship medals in the last two seasons, they were hardly pivotal players in the cause of either Manchester United or Chelsea and are still puzzling the fans’ as to their true worth to the team. Indeed the £65million spent on the four English players mentioned in this article can only boast a handful of England caps between them, making the likes of Fabregas, Ronaldo and Vidic look like excellent value at a combined cost of around £20million.
The English national team’s poor performances in the finals of recent competitions can be seen to correlate with transfer fees being paid for the players by their domestic clubs, the more expensive the players have become the worse the team has performed at international level. With transfer fees of £30million each for England regulars Rooney and Ferdinand and speculation over the current market value of lynch-pins Gerrard and Terry, the England football team could potentially be the most expensive team assembled in history, far outweighing the underachieving ‘galacticos’ of Real Madrid over the last few seasons.
Yet England are still celebrated as a world force in international football, despite struggling against minnows such as Andorra, Macedonia and Northern Ireland in recent years. Could the level of expectation that accompanies these blown up price tags be weighing too heavily on the shoulders of these young superstars when they come to perform on the biggest stage of all for their country?
It is no wonder that the shrewd business minds of Messrs Wenger and Benitez choose to conduct their business away from these shores, bringing in foreign players that cost a fraction of the fees paid for their English counterparts, without sacrificing quality.
Are English players a grand rip-off? Share your views by leaving a comment below.
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The only players who played more football for manu than Carrick were Rooney and Ronaldo. Correct me if im wrong but that seems “pivotal” to me?
Can’t argue with the D. Bent or SWP argument, except to say that smaller clubs rip off the big guns in order to increase thier transfer funds and thus improve thier team all round….
Fair enough England have flopped at recent tournements but then again I doubt this has to do with transfer fees and more to do with the poor quality of youth football training in England.
Also both Wenger and Peter Kay have made a string of horror signings from the continent, Cygan et al….
Carrick was the heartbeat of the Spurs team of two years ago. Everything went through him in what was a good,almost superb season (by our standards). Utd fans might feel ripped off, but the price only reflects what he meant to Tottenham.
Sometimes by trying to save money, and shopping abroad, you end up with players like Djemba Djemba, Klebersen, Veron, Taibi
I would have to agree with you on this one. But its not like you can blame the players for their inflated transfer prices. If a club is willing to pay Thierry Henry money for someone like Darren Bent, then they get what they deserve. I think the major reason behind these huge costs are the debts that the lower level clubs have to endure. The only way for many of them to stay out of the red is to flog off their best players for these outrageous prices. That being said, it is still early days for Curtis Davies. His last outing may have been a disaster but I have a feeling that in a year or so, with a few start for villa, he will turn into a quality center back
What a ludicrous article - funny how you praise Benitez on the day after his £20m+ striker (or whole team) forgot his/their lines….at home no less.
As for Carrick - he started 30 league games last season, how is that not a major player you duffus, one major reason why Man Utd won the title.
Might be helpful in future if you actually write facts rather than wayward ramblings
THE PLAYERS DONT DECIDE THERE OWN VALUE SO IT CANNOT BE PUT DOWN TO THEM, I BLAME THE MANAGER FOR THE POOR PERFORMANCES AGAINST MINNOW TEAMS- NAMELY MC LAREN.
Of course SWP and Carrick are star players and helped their teams win the league. Doesn’t fergie play Carrick every week. As for Bent it is 8 games into the season. How about backing England and stop trying to justify why your Arsenal team have no English players.
I have to disagree with your comments on Carrick. He was Utds only signing at the start of last season and they proceeded to win the league. Obviously Scholes return from injury was a massive boost to the team but Carricks contribution should not be underestimated. Key to winning games is not losing the ball, and he hardly gives possession away cheaply. I would say that he is not worth 18 million but then the money in football these days are crazy and its not the players fault that he was valued that high.
I think this article was stating that Carrick was not pivotal to the success Utd had last season, and I have to agree. I am not saying he did a bad job, but it was the brilliance of Ronaldo. Rooney, Scholes and Giggs that brought them that success last season. The whole team played well, but those guys shone and pushed Utd forward.
I can think of many midfielders better than Carrick that cost way less. (Mainly from Arsenal)
Gilberto
Fabregas
Flamini
Denilson
Mascherano
Arteta
-must be more!
Imagine if any of the above players were English - how much would they be worth??
Gilberto, Flamini, Denilson better than Carrick? Thats crazy talk Dazzler!! The only player on your list who can be compared to Carrick is Mascherano, and he doesnt have the passing ability of Carrick
[...] The true value of talent in international football, despite struggling against minnows such as Andorra, Macedonia and Northern Ireland [...]
Typical arsenal fans knowing nothing about football. Denilson and flamini I can only laugh at. The only ones I agree with are cesc and maybe arteta. Players like Carrick will not get as much notice as Rooney, Ronaldo etc I garuntee Man Utd would have won nothing if they never had Carrick.
HAHAHA Flamini better than Carrick??And Denilson???(maybe in the future).Anyway i agree about Arteta.Carrick was great last season and one of the reasons we played so brilliantly.Also you can’t put Veron in the same bracket as Djemba-Djemba,Veron was a world class player who failed at England,but a world class brilliant player nonetheless,way better than Carrick even though Carrick is beeing better than him in England but as abilities go Veron is much better.Is not like Veron was unknown when we signed him unlike Djemba-Djemba,he just failed because of England’s PL style of play,that doesn’t mean you must put him in the same bracket as the crap Djemba-djemba,and we didn’t bought him for a bargain price but for 28.1 million,i just hate it when people are beeing so stupid.
I mean Shevchenko is crap at Chelsea(even though he plays good lately)that doesn’t mean he is a crap player because he failed in England.