ell
Well-Known Member
Hands up all those who have heard of Razvan Rat, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Jesus Navas, Modibo Diakite, Guillermo Varela, Aleksandar Tonev, Jose Canas and Fernandinho.
Hands on hearts, even if you have an inkling of those names now then how many of you knew who on earth they were as recently as last month?
THE REDKNAPP REPORT
Jamie Redknapp on why Fernandinho is already the signing of the summer and his take on Navas, too
Yet all the above and a whole bunch more have just been signed by Premier League clubs, some for considerable amounts of money.
For example, I won’t even bother to identify the handful of Mr Whos? bought by Fulham.
And be sure a whole slew more of unfamiliar footballers like these will be on their way across the Channel or Atlantic this summer.
To be fair, young Varela has moved from Penarol to Old Trafford as a mere £1million gamble that he may make a contribution to the future at Manchester United.
But over at the Etihad, Manchester City have paid £30m and £15m for the transfers of Fernandinho and Jesus Navas from Shakhtar Donetsk and Sevilla respectively.
Although 28, Fernandinho has been capped only five times by a Brazil team in urgent need of the midfield qualities this Senhor is supposed to possess.
No matter.
England’s leading clubs are happy to snap up players just below the top tier because the real elite appear to have little or no interest in coming to England.
Neymar, perhaps the most dazzling star in the South American firmament despite an indifferent performance against England at Wembley, has gone for £50m to Barcelona, the club at which Lionel Messi has reiterated he wants to finish his career, even if a Premier League side were to offer him more money.
United may yet pay £23m for Robert Lewandowski but, if so, only because Borussia Dortmund won’t let him go to arch rivals Bayern Munich.
Jose Mourinho has yet to enter the mid-summer transfer fray but if Chelsea ever had any chance of signing Cristiano Ronaldo it has broken down along with his relationship with the Happy Special One.
Dutch of class: Ricky van Wolfswinkel has joined Norwich
Real Madrid’s priority over incoming transfers is to keep Ronaldo, which is likely to thwart United, also.
Yet in the midst of all this activity, whither the promising young English footballer?
And what price the England team?
The transparent preference for Premier League managers and chairmen is to flood their squads with foreigners.
In some cases – Chelsea notable among them – they sign overseas players surplus to their requirements and farm them out on loan.
This is done sometimes to stop their rivals picking up the talent.
Partly, also, in case their assessment of players is faulty and the signings they first thought of turn out to be flops, while the ones borrowed by other clubs become stars.
The right tone: Bulgaria midfielder Alexandar Tonev has signed for Aston Villa
Seeing the Light: Modibo Diakite (left) is moving from Lazio to Sunderland
The loan system – particularly between Premier League clubs and teams in comparable European divisions – is an iniquity which should cease forthwith.
Not only because it enables the rich to hedge their judgement but because it perverts the competition when the borrowed are not allowed to play for other clubs against the team which has sent them out on loan.
Just as importantly it stuns the development of players, not only foreign but more especially the young English footballer.
Even at the inflated valuations some of the little-knowns or unheard-ofs listed above, our leading clubs prefer them to domestic players.
We have all heard the arguments about relative skills levels. The FA do have questions to answer about the quality of coaching in this country but so, too, do the Premier League clubs with their academies.
The part-hidden agenda is cost.
Lack of options: England boss Roy Hodgson has bemoaned the lack of English players in the Premier League
No matter what the transfer fees, it is considered cheaper to buy abroad than invest in the growing of home boys – and more lilkely to produce results.
England manager Roy Hodgson is already complaining, quite rightly, that there are not enough Englishmen gathering regular experience in the Premier League to comprise a team of World Cup-winning potential.
Were it not for Manchester United, Chelsea and one or two others, there might not even be the requisite XI to take the field at all. The same applies, the more so, to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as Britain’s domestic talent is denied opportunity.
Should our Premier clubs – in their cosy delusion that theirs is the greatest league in the world – care?
One other coming trend suggests they should be very concerned indeed.
The odds are shortening daily against Wayne Rooney and Gareth Bale leaving these shores.
Paris match? Both Gareth Bale and Wayne Rooney are being linked with moves to French champions PSG
Paris is calling, with PSG ready to pay whatever it takes to capture both of them.
Spurs insist Bale is going nowhere but will their resolve weaken against an offer, say, of £85m? Arsenal would like to keep Rooney in England but will their interest wane at more than £50 million?
My guess is yes, on both counts.
The Premier League, in its self-importance, may choose to forget it was that solitary 1966 World Cup glory which revived English football from the doldrums.
But if it continues failing to attract the biggest stars in the world, as well as losing its own main attractions, it may not be too long before the mother country of the game finds itself praying for another such miracle… in vain.
Then, never mind Ricky van Wolfswinkel, we’ll be down to watching Rip van Winkle.
Who on earth is this moron?
Just goes to show these people have no idea what they are talking about and have an ignorance to foreign football