England, Global, Liverpool, Manchester City, Premier League
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 [...]
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.
Tags: Aaron Lennon, David Bentley, England, Fernando Torres, Fifa, Gareth Barry, Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano, Michael Carrick, Michel Platini, Nicky Sheory, Peter Crouch, Sepp Blatter, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Steven Gerrard 
Related Articles
Discussion
3 comments for “Benitez Has One Eye On Fifa”
Post a comment
Welcome to Footballing World
Recent Posts
Categories
Sponsor
Every jackpot in casino games is like a goal in the Premier League. Enter the gambling world at 777.com, the leading gaming guide, where you can find all the best online casinos in the world, plus reviews, tutorials, articles and more.
Sportsbooks and online poker take bets on almost any sport and format, including football.
You are right that Rafa has changed his recruiting policy with one eye on looming rule changes - but you have missed the point.
The current UEFA rule that restricts CL squads is more pressing and already in place. To satisfy this, you need players to have spent 3 years prior to turning 21 at your club (or nearly as good, at another English club).
Hence LFC scouts have been scouring the globe and the team has signed a raft of highly promising 16- and 17-year olds.
Even if Blatter’s propsal gets up, it will be inevitably watered down - and many of these players may have qualified for UK residency by then…
Rafa started to move last season and that strategy has been accelerated this year.
Nicky Shorey a Liverpool target. HAHAHA No seriously in that one sentence you utter more shite than my cousin’s horse could produce in a year MUPPET! Agree totally with Koparoma except in the fact Rafa’s being scouring the world since he come in and started buying youngsters in 2005 (Hobbs, Antwi, Barragan, etc). This is just a continuance of a policy employed by Rafa as well as Wenger.
Rafa should get young English player and not the older ones because for now Blatter’s policy is still not cleared and if approved it will take almost 3-4 years to achieve. Players like Lennon, Bentley, Walcott, Bridge are all great candidates cuz even if the policy arent approved, they have the talent to cement themsleves in the EPL cuz their raw talents are there.