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Two big money transfers that have already happened this summer are Phil Jones’ move from Blackburn to Manchester United for £16 million and Jordan Henderson’s move from Sunderland to Liverpool for £20 million. These are big money buys for top young British players, and I firmly believe that it will be the start of a summer of searching for home grown talent. Manchester United and Liverpool would seem to be leading the way, with Jones joining Chris Smalling at United and Henderson teaming up with Andy Carroll at Liverpool, both of whom were purchased last season for hefty prices (£10 million and £35 million respectively).
I think that this summer could be a defining one for the best young British players, especially with the best British club, Manchester United, looking to rebuild the core of their team as the old guard departs. For so long, the core of Manchester United’s team has been made up of top British players, and as the likes of Scholes, Giggs and Neville call time on their sparkling careers, I think that Alex Ferguson is looking to usher in the next generation of home grown talent. They already have Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Smalling in their ranks, and with Jones as the latest edition I can’t imagine that it will be too long before we see more British acquisitions in the Manchester United squad.
However, as the top clubs in the Premier League look to buy the best that Britain has to offer, inevitably there will be clubs that lose out, and these clubs will mainly be the ‘mid table’ Premier League clubs that have been ‘buying British’ for a good number of years now. As the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City embarked on big money buys from abroad, it became impossible for Premier League clubs to go out and bring the best of the world’s talent in. Therefore, they were forced to look internally for their players, and it would seem as though it is the British players at these clubs that will be the ones that are sought after by the top clubs.
In a sense it has already started to happen. Aston Villa have never been the same since they lost James Milner to Manchester City, and with rumours circulating that Ashley Young could be on his way to Manchester United and Stewart Downing’s future looking uncertain, Villa could be in real trouble come the start of the season. Newcastle are yet to find a replacement for Carroll, and Sunderland will have a hard time finding a midfielder as good as Henderson before the start of the season. With every winner there is always a loser, and clubs such as Villa, Sunderland and Newcastle will have a lot of work to do to ensure that letting their top British players go for substantial fees was worth it.
One thing that can be said is that there will be lots of transfer activity as the summer progresses. All that remains to be seen is which players move where, and whether we are in fact seeing a shift in the priorities of the top Premiership clubs.
Great article! It's really important we don't overlook home grown talent and just go abroad to buy young players. A lot of fans forget that and just want the big names but I like the new 'home grown' rule. What's the point of a team playing in/representing England if it's not actually English!?
^^^ sounds like racism to me =)
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