Andy Carroll - An Example Of What Is Wrong In English Football

19 June 2013 16:00

A Fee of around 19 million and 100,000 a week over six years is a lot for West Ham to pay their new signing. His transfer marks the first English player to be signed by a Premier League club in this close season. Out of 20 confirmed transfers.

Football fans and the media voice their concerns that our clubs aren’t investing in, and playing, English footballers enough. But why should they?

For similar amounts of money and a weekly wage so high, West Ham could sign an exciting talent from Europe with more to offer than Carroll.

English players cost so much more than foreign players yet they don’t bring anything extra to the table in comparison to similar players that can be bought from overseas for half the price.

Alan Pardew is a prime example of going elsewhere for his players most recently. His ‘French revolution’ may make people unhappy but he can do it at a much cheaper price. Manager’s can prolong their transfer kitty by buying a higher quantity of cheaper foreign players rather than a few over-priced English players who show a slight bit of talent.

Assembling an English team no longer comes cheap as clubs are held to ransom to sell a player from our homeland.

Jordan Henderson cost around £16 million yet Philippe Coutinho cost Liverpool only £8.5million. With no disrespect to Henderson, Coutinho possesses much more quality for nearly half the price.

Why did Liverpool pay £35million for Carroll and only around £23million for Luis Suarez? Because Carroll is an English player.

Clubs see this as an opportunity to sell their highest English assets for more than their market price and it is having a huge knock-on effect on our national team.

Players struggle to live up to their price tags and fans can get on their backs for it. They underperform or are dropped to the bench and they see their playing time reduced and confidence affected.

Our national team should be full of young exciting talent, just like other top nations across the world. Clubs should re-evaluate their transfer policy and be realistic when selling English stars to other clubs. It shouldn’t be all about money, it should be about developing the potential shown in our future stars.

 

Source: DSG