Benitez Has One Eye On Fifa

Rafael Benitez has appeared to drastically alter his transfer strategy during the close season, possibly in anticipation of Michel Platini’s controversial 6 & 5 proposal to Fifa.

Since his takeover at the Merseyside club, the Spaniard has filled the Liverpool squad with a total of 18 different nationalities. The best eleven available to Benitez last season was made up of players from seven different countries, with the only regular starting Englishmen being Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

This approach has found marginal success with the club regularly competing in the latter stages of the European Champions League, if not achieving the desired results in the domestic Premiership.

During the close season Benitez has recruited a couple of foreigners and lost the services of Peter Crouch, although the club has also been linked with several Englishmen. The media has reported that Gareth Barry, David Bentley, Stewart Downing, Nicky Shorey and Aaron Lennon have all interested Benitez.

The attraction of buying English players who are used to playing in the Premiership and need little time to adjust is obvious, just look at the squads of Manchester United and Chelsea, both packed with English talent.

It is the valuation of these players that price many clubs out of the market. Shaun Wright-Phillips cost Chelsea £21 million, the same figure Liverpool reportedly paid for Fernando Torres whereas United splashed out £18 million for Michael Carrick, a fee similar to that paid for Argentine regular Javier Mascherano.

It has only been the top two clubs in recent seasons that have been prepared to pay a premium for the best English players. This could all be about to change should Sepp Blatter and Fifa get their way.

The proposal for each domestic starting eleven to include six players from the clubs’ home nation may revolutionalise not only the Premier League but also the global transfer market. The value of mediocre domestic players could rocket as clubs are forced to fill their quota.

Although the quality of football on display each week in the Premiership may deteriorate at first, in the long term this must be a good thing for the National team.

Premier League clubs will be forced to abandon the recent trend of bringing in young foreign talent into their academies whilst reverting to the development of home grown youngsters.

Despite the likelihood of most clubs opposing these plans, the biggest threat to the ambitions of Fifacould be the European Law that is opposed to the restriction on player movement.

Only time will tell if Blatter can begin his revolution.