Are English Players Good Value For Money?
Arsene Wenger has been criticised for his reluctant venture into English players. Does he have a point or is he just being anti-English?
Let’s take a look at big money transfers involving English players in recent seasons:
- Darren Bent £15.5m move to Spurs
- Shaun Wright-Phillips £21m transfer to Chelsea
- Michael Carrick £14m transfer to Man United (rising to £18.6m with add-ons)
- Rio Ferdinand £30 million transfer to Man United
- Wayne Rooney £20m transfer to Man United (yes, the same Manchester United again) – rising to £30m
- Scott Parker £10m transfer to Chelsea (Michael Owen moved to Real Madrid in the same season for £8m only)
Owen Hargreaves is excluded here due to his continental exposure with Bayern Munchen.
Last week Aston Villa reportedly rejected a £15m bid for Gareth Barry and are holding out for £18m. If the Barry move is accepted, here we have an entire English midfield (Barry, Carrick, Parker and SWP) with an initial cost of £60m from 2004 to 2008. Will Fabio Capello start all of them in a competitive match that England must win? I doubt it. How about Darren Bent? Barry and Carrick may think they have a big claim in the starting line-up, but Gerrard, Lampard and Hargreaves are standing in their way, and who knows how much Steven Gerrard will cost if he ever moves to Chelsea?
Arsenal’s last season midfield quartet of Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb and Rosicky cost less than £20m, even the whole Arsenal first eleven is a lot cheaper than £60m. None of them English yet they were playing the kind of football which is fascinating to watch. I have nothing against English players here. Those English players mentioned above are good players but they are so overpriced by their respective clubs that the money paid does not represent value.
You may say that they are overpriced because there is high demand. Well, not everyone in the stock market behaves like Warren Buffett, especially in a bull run. The price tag on most English players in recent seasons has been blown far out of proportion.
Are the fans more satisfied if they see Arsene Wenger plays a different midfield in David Bentley, Jermaine Pennant, Stephen Hughes and Paolo Vernazza? The answer is no because Arsenal will not finish in the top four with this midfield quartet.
Please forgive me for being so cruel but this is the reality of football – if you are not good enough, you don’t play.
We are talking about club football here. Why should we put the rigid boundary on the players’ nationality in club football? The point is that club football management should take advantage of the flexibility which international football cannot afford. This is what makes club football management unique and attractive apart from the day-to-day involvement. If you are good enough, you play in a top club in EPL, not because you are English. Scholes and Beckham featured in the Man United treble winning team not because they are English.
There is nothing to do with their nationality as well when they were sold or dropped in the first team. I find it bizarre that people actually blaming the influx of foreign players dampen England’s chances to succeed in international stage. In order to compete with powerhouses like Real Madrid, Barca, Milan and etc., Wenger, Ferguson, Benitez and Mourinho cannot tolerate second class footballers. I will suggest working harder in the youth set-up of this country – more technical and discipline is needed.
I do not want to go further into youth set-up as this is drifting away from my initial discussion – overpriced marginal English internationals. Rafa Benitez can get an experienced international who has more than 40 caps under his belt and also valuable continental exposure with the kind of money Aston Villa is asking for. In fact he can easily get a foreign player as good as Barry for less than £9m, a more than 50% discount from Villa asking price. This is what kills English football – players are deprived of the chance to play with the best because of unreasonable pricing by their greedy owners and agents.
The latest development sees Gareth Barry being fined and banned by Villa for his outburst. Well done O’Neill. The difference between Ronaldo, arguably the best player in the world, and Barry is not only on the pitch, but also their off the pitch discipline. Yes your club prices you out but please show some respect to your club and boss especially when you are still under contract.
Try to tell Vodafone you will not pay them the monthly contract fee anymore after you have signed a 18-month contract with them 3 months ago to own the latest model from Nokia.
Topics: English Premier League, Football Transfers
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Well put and an eye opener for those people who still think Englands miss fortunes in euro 2008 are down to exceptional business man like wenger, fergie and benitez. Imagine how much ronaldo would cost if he was English lol!
July 7th, 2008 @ 14:11From his previous statement about Arsenal’s finances, I don’t think they could afford English players even if they did rate them highly.
There are two real culprits for the English National Team.
One is the absurd salaries these guys get, even compared to other footballers. It’s why all of their fringe players like Wayne Bridge or Shaun Wright-Phillips would rather dick around in the Chelsea reserves than go to Lyon or Ajax and try to prove themselves in the Champions League.
July 7th, 2008 @ 17:05The other is ineffective use of the talent they do have.
July 7th, 2008 @ 17:05I think that some of the best players in the world are English. I also think that you do not display the whole image.
-Michael Owen was sold for 8 million because he was entering the last year of his contract.
-Ashley Cole left for 5 million and Gallas and by any standards (except those of Arsenal fans), that is cheap.
I think that English players are a tad more expensive than other players but they are not much more expensive and they deserve the extra price.
A tad more expensive: Gareth Barry, currently 26 and with a few international caps is valued at 18 million while Real Madrid value Ruben de la Red at 15 million. So, what is up with that? de la Red has a couple of international appearances and is three years younger; unlike Barry, he does not have over 200 league appearances, he has under 100.
So Barry, who is a key piece in the Aston Villa puzzle is valued at 18 million and de la Red who fith choice of central midfield and fourth for the winger position at Real Madrid is 15 million. So yea, Barry is a little bit more expensive but not ridiculously over-priced.
They desreve a few extra bob: Look at Rooney, he was bought for 30 million, but do you ever think that he will do to United what Ronaldo is doing to them? Real Madrid has previously enquired about him, but he remains comitted to United and I have no doubt that he will wear that number 10 until he is no longer wanted at the club.
With English players, English clubs get loylaty. Ashley Cole made a raket when he wanted to leave, but Arsenal did not pay anything for him and he proabably will not make the same noises now that he is at Chelsea. Ditto for Barry.
July 7th, 2008 @ 18:21Also, do you think it is a bit ironic that Manchester United, the team with the most English players of all other top four clubs, are the champions of England and Europe?
United (6): Brown, Rio, Hargo, Carrick, Scholes, Rooney
July 7th, 2008 @ 18:24Chelsea (5): Terry, Cole, Lampard, Cole, SWP
Liverpool (4): Carra, Gerrerd, Pennant, Crouch
Arsenal or Arse-nil?
I think if the proposed ridiculous ’6+5 rule’ is considered this debate will go to another dimension.
July 7th, 2008 @ 18:59jimbob – if ronaldo were english we’d have won the world cup and two euros as well
andrei – ashley cole for gallas + 5m = expensive but I think Chelsea got the better deal.
Is the extra money being paid for loyalty? I doubt it. English players rarely move from one big club to another because big clubs would rather sell them abroad or to a smaller club than to a direct rival. The price for selling in the same league is higher definitely – Carrick would have cost a continental club 10m, and if Ronaldo was at Spurs or Villa when United bought him he would have cost the same as Rooney.
Of course there are some high-end purchases made that are justified by the needs of the club – newcastle bought hope and stature in Owen (16m), and United bought Rooney to ensure that United won’t get hurt if a rival club got to him first.
I’m surprised that no one has considered the ‘same-league’ / selling to the top clubs / selling between rivals factor. Many transfers of English players can be explained by this. Since English players usually stay at home (and not go abroad), we only see the high-value transfers. If they started going abroad the average transfer value of an English player would drop and we’d stop complaining.
July 7th, 2008 @ 19:15Paolo Vernazza? Sounds Italian to me, not English.
July 7th, 2008 @ 20:09I think you have a point Ahmed. The transfer fee that Inter are willing to pay for Lampard is about 6.5 million while I think it would have been more like 10 million had Liverpool been intrested…
Also, I heard rumours that Manchester United did buy Rooney to keep him from other clubs before this… But I also heard that Sir Alex had been planning for a while to buy him. Do you know anything about this?
July 7th, 2008 @ 20:37Totally agree with this paragraph………….
“Rafa Benitez can get an experienced international who has more than 40 caps under his belt and also valuable continental exposure with the kind of money Aston Villa is asking for. In fact he can easily get a foreign player as good as Barry for less than £9m, a more than 50% discount from Villa asking price”
The reason Ferguson is not standing up against Ronaldo is because he is afraid of him, if there was anything I liked about SAF it was his no nonsense attitude, now I have lost all respect for him.
United didnt win the double because of their English players only Hargreaves and Ferdinand, it was down to foreign players. That like us including Arsenals reserve English players (and oh yeh u forgot Walcot).
July 7th, 2008 @ 20:59Very well said. Apparently u r the only soccerlens reporter who know anything about the game. As i have always said english players are over-hyped, over-priced, and over-paid.
July 7th, 2008 @ 21:29Andrei – with Nani / Anderson and with Rooney, Fergie has said that ideally he’d have left them at their respective clubs for a season or two more but he moved in early lest someone else took them.
July 8th, 2008 @ 02:59Thanks for your arguements, Andrei.
In response to the “They deserve a few extra bob”, we all saw Rooney and Alan Smith thumping and kissing their respective Everton and Leeds United club badge the season before they went to Man United. Talk about loyalty……
In response to the “A tad more expensive”, 4 of the 6 English players (Rooney, Rio, Hargo and Carrick) in Man United cost around £95 million! Oh yea, just a tad more expensive……..
July 8th, 2008 @ 06:42English player are in fact overrated and overpriced!English players are not succesful when they go abroad(Owen, Gascoigne, Mc Manaman for example) and the national team has had no success whatsoever since i was a baby boy….
July 8th, 2008 @ 09:10The likes of Darren Bent, Shaun Wright Phillips, Theo Walcott did cost a fortune but the all are just mediocre players by international standards while players like van der Vaart or Diego where each signed for about 5 mill euro…
WELL ENGLISH PLAYERS ARE REALLY VERY OVERRATED
July 8th, 2008 @ 09:40BUT THE LIGHTS OF rooney or gerrard is worth abt 20 – 30 mill
OTHER tHAN THAT IT IS USELESS POURING UR MONEY ON THeM
If Madrid were to buy Silva and Milan De Rossi than it would be the same for them. It’s unfair to say that only english players are overpriced. What i would say is hurting the english national team is the extra money in the epl which leads to them being content with fringe spots rather than pushing for the 1st team…which means that they will not reach their full potential
July 8th, 2008 @ 09:59The english mentality is to play the long ball and hope that someone on their side gets it. They need to pass the ball around with them better. with midfielders such as lampard..gerrard..carrick barry and beckham england should be able to outpass even spain. It’s just about changing the mentality they have. Capello identifies this so his appointment augurs well for the national team. The start will be slow..because the process is a gradual one. But i think Capello will bring about a change
Ahmed – I’m surprised that no one has considered the ‘same-league’ / selling to the top clubs / selling between rivals factor. Many transfers of English players can be explained by this. Since English players usually stay at home (and not go abroad), we only see the high-value transfers. If they started going abroad the average transfer value of an English player would drop and we’d stop complaining.
Okay, I looked into Ligue 1(France) U see, Lyon have been doing a Bayern Munich for awhile. they have grabbed promising youngsters from lower clubs, who to a certain extent, need the wolla, and they sell to top overseas clubs for a huge profit. this not only let the club gain profits but it weakens the other clubs and thus they keep winning the league.
Abidal
Malouda
Essien to name a few
Bayern used to do that for their own league, but it seems the other clubs got smarter and now Bayern are struggling abit.
I have to agree that selling to league rivals will cause selling clubs to jack the price up abit and it must be seen when it is done, is the player at his peak? has he completed a great season? last year of his contract?
in fact Italy have quite a fair bit on high end transfers btwn local clubs, Crespo, Buffon, Vieri, Nedved.
And sadly top club youth system are too harsh and thus late bloomers have to go else where first before being scouted and then comes the big transfer talk. Look at where those top transfer players came from!
July 8th, 2008 @ 12:34i think its unfair to say this or that player is more expensive. When you buy or sell a player it comes down to other things. An english player in an english league will be more expensive because their is better advertising dollars and name recognition(shirt sales) that go along with it. Also english teams do not like to sell to other english teams unless their hand is forced so it ends up costing alot to pry a player away.
July 8th, 2008 @ 12:34Add in the money factor where many clubs know that the top 4 in england are rich as and they jack up the asking prices because they know some1 will pay it.
Also, there is a widespread belief that English players just dont work hard enough.
Ask the likes of Redknapp and Hughes. Hence, it is justified that managers look to buy European talent who they think have the right mindset and attitude to improve.
Take the cases of Michael Johnson and Joe Hart. After one semi-successful season, they are off partying and wanting a pay rise.
July 8th, 2008 @ 14:12Veron – 28 million
van Nisterlooy – 18 million
Ronaldo – 12 million
Anderson – 17 million
They add up to 75 million, but Veron stayed only a couple of seasons, Carrick is in for the long run. Ronaldo will be off as soon as possibly can, Rooney will stay for years. van Nisterlooy always wanted to play for Madrid, but it looks like Hargo will stay. God knows what Anderson wants (to put it in the words of Ronaldo), but Ferdinand has five moer years on his United deal and he is turning 30. So yea, for an average of 4.5 million extra, you get a player’s best time.
By the way, Liverpool_fan, it is ridiculous to dwarf the role of Rooney, Carrick and Scholes in that squad. And what about Brown? He might be crap, but he upped his game and he gave it his all for the whole season and he became part of the most reliable defence in Europe. That is something that no foreign player has ever done for Manchester United!
July 8th, 2008 @ 22:37Andrei … correct if i am not wrong was Jaap stam a united defender as well ….
July 9th, 2008 @ 03:00Its not about English or foreign, its about quality and value for money. Feridnand and Rooney were worth every penny and Carrick has been excellent. Together they have hugely contributed to Utds triumphs which in turn have brought in additional millions.
Comparing these to Parker and SRP who were hardly used in the first team and just bad buys (and of course there is the Chelsea factor!) is rubbish.
As for Liverpool fan: “United didnt win the double because of their English players only Hargreaves and Ferdinand”
July 9th, 2008 @ 05:54Scholes, Rooney, Carrick and Brown clearly made no contribution to Utd’s success last season. All four would walk into Liverpools team……Clown!