England’s Footballing Youth – Why our youngsters could have great things ahead
The influx of foreign players in English football over the past 15 years is, for lack of a better word, extreme. It’s debated to this day who the first foreign player in English football truly was, dating back to the nineteenth century. Candidates for the title include Max Seeburg, Andrew Watson and, ironically enough, Manchester City’s Bert Trautmann. Regardless of these players’ participation in the sport, it wasn’t for another 90 years or so that the importing of foreign players really started to pick up.
Looking at the case systematically, the pros of having a more diverse selection of nationalities are certainly evident. The most prominent of which would be that by housing more cultures and styles, it will make for an overall more exciting league. For this reason we could boast that perhaps the 90s/00s globalisation was a success. The English league is widely regarded as the most exciting in the world, and has been for some time now. But is it for the right reasons?
Foreign players migrating leagues isn’t a massive issue. Our country isn’t racist, xenophobic or anything along those lines. However, it’s an issue nonetheless. The reason for this is because while it’s all well and good having the samba-influenced Brazilians, the red-hot tango Spaniards and the technically gifted Dutch, it just isn’t English. Twenty years ago, the world still looked upon the English as brutish thugs in the game who were all about beating the opposition with brawn and not brains. It’s come a long way since then though.
My point is, no longer can people argue that the English don’t show skill, that they don’t show pace. Sure, it may not be evident on the international stage, but when the homegrown talents sport their club colours, you can’t understand why. Over the past six months, around about £100m of English talent has been transferred, taking into account Phil Jones’ inevitable £20m(ish) departure from Blackburn. This is a temporary figure and over the coming weeks is sure to increase. Now even in today’s inflated market, if that doesn’t show an improvement in English potential, I don’t know what does.
So, why is it that managers persist with £50m+ signings when there’s players on their doorsteps just pleading to be picked, trained and played? After all, how bad can it really go? Marouane Chamakh, Sebastian Veron and the more recent epitome in Fernando Torres. Surely it makes more sense to go local and invest in potential, rather than risk tens of millions of your loaned pounds on those who will never feel the same passion for your club that a native would. In retrospect, if I was faced with the choice of one Fernando Torres or five Connor Wickhams, I know where my money would be.
It’s sad to say however, that not only are we paying too much for those outside England, we’re paying just as much for those born here. There’s no doubt that Jordan Henderson, Andy Carroll and Phil Jones show acres of potential and will be great players in the future, but are they really worth a combined total of £70m? Even Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is only proven at a League One level, and yet he’s looking to be off to Arsenal for an astonishing £12m. However, absurd it seems to me, Arsene Wenger feels as if he’s caught on to some shrewd business. Go figure.
I suppose the point I’m trying to stress here is ‘Go Local’. England U-21s have now gotten their European tournament under way, and I can’t help but feel heartened when I look at Stuart Pearce’s squad. Great choices across the board show us that the talent is here in Britain, but perhaps it isn’t being nurtured as much as it could. Buying young is the new big fad, and we can see that in the current market’s goings-on, but let’s encourage it’s cheaper alternative; training young. Josh McEachran, Tom Cleverley and Martin Kelly are great examples that even the big teams still have time for grassroots. It’ll all be okay in the end though. The FA seem open to the Financial Fair Play system, so by the time 2012 rolls around, teams won’t have a choice but to employ the youth anyway.
