I don't think he has much of a point. Most supporters don't want English/British players to be signed because they cost so much! Joe Allen after 1 season in the premier league cost £15m. Yohan Cabaye after 191 Ligue 1 appearances and captaining a team to a French league title - £4M! Matt Jarvis - £11m after a decent half season at best in the PL, Michu £2m after 15 La Liga goals last season. The prices are a joke and all it ends up doing is not giving enough British players the chance to develop themselves at a top club because they don't see the point of taking a risk on a player who'll cost the same as an established overseas one.
The funding of foreign purchases versus UK buys has been addressed somewhat, but you still have to pay domestic deals off quicker, it is still normal to buy Jonny Foreigner over the full period of his contract, so from a cashflow perspective it remains more attractive to shop abroad.
There is a premium on players from a country where the league is. Do Spanish clubs sell Spanish players on a regular basis sell to each other? If they do, the price is going to be higher than it would be to an overseas club. Example, If Xabi Alonso was wanted by say Barcelona from Real Sociedad, the fee would have been more than the £10.5 million we paid for him. Thats the way it works. Its the reason why Man United were forced to pay £20 million for someone as useless as Phil Jones, they could have got a superior overseas player for half that.
I think he makes a good point, but very, very badly! There is certainly an element of truth to what he says, especially in regards to manager positions. Infact its only us out of the top teams who have employed a young british coach! However some of the players he uses as examples are shocking! Not to mention if any of that part were true why are England so **** internationally? We are all guilty of questioning the prestige of players who sign, infact us Reds fans know this only too well with the more recent signings we have made who have tended to be largely british.
if the journalist in question is Fatty Samuels or anyone from Sunday Supplement, of the Mail, the Mirror, the S*n (or James lawton) that is a perfectly reasonable approach. It's a bit like knowing that if you pick up a dog turd with your fingers you'll get sh!t all over them - you don't have to do it to prove the point.
I'm a big fan of foreigners............................... ..............................fu.k tax and national insurance
