English Transfer Fees

The England fans of today are understandably unhappy. If last years feeble attempt to win the World Cup wasn’t depressing enough, the future of English football looks bleaker then believed, after the England under 21s lackluster performance at the European Championships.

Stuart Pearce’s side were thought to be serious contenders for the cup, but failed to win a match after playing Spain, Ukraine, and Czech Republic. 

Before that the England first team failed to beat Switzerland at Wembley, and found themselves two goals down after 35 minutes.

It would seem the national teams performances have hit a low, however the transfer marker value for English talent seems to be at a record high.

In January we saw the record transfer fee for a British player broken, as Andy Carrol became the most expensive English player in history, as his move to Liverpool cost 35 million pounds. In the same transfer window Darren Bent joined Aston Villa for 24 million pounds.

The fashion of spending large sums of money on English players is definitely in. This transfer window has seen Jordan Henderson move to Liverpool for a fee thought to be in the region of 16 million. The young Englishman does have potential, but I can’t justify the price tag, when England legend Alan Shearer cost Newcastle just 15 million.

Furthermore Manchester United have signed Phil Jones from Blackburn, a player yet to win his first cap for England. However this hasn’t stopped the transfer fee rumours ranging from 15 to 20 million.

Aston Villa’s Ashley Young looks set to make a big money move, with Manchester United believed to be the team leading the chase for his signature.  The transfer fee is thought to be in the region of 17 million.

People today say the Premiership is full of foreign talent, and that there isn’t enough home grown footballers breaking into the first teams.  When you compare the recent activity in the market its easy to see why a team trying to save money would rather spend a few million on a foreign player, whose wage expectations aren’t going to be the same as a young Englishman.

If people want to see more British talent in the Premiership then these extravagant prices need to come down, because outside of the top five or six I can’t see any team competing with them prices.

If the value of British players doesn’t change soon I can see English football suffering in the long run, and with the current performances were seeing it doesn’t look very promising.