Obviously you do both, but you're hardly going to start looking out in South America if there's a bunch of clubs and leagues within 2 miles! If it's right on your doorstep, it's the first and quickest place to look because it's so efficient time wise to do so, never mind factoring in the networking already established here. Simply put, if talent was available here, we'd be after it, so evidently it's not around.
Do you think we only have one scout? We should have a network of scouts so we can monitor leagues all over the world at the same time, not pick and choose where to go. But yes, if local talent was/is available then I've no doubt we'd be snapping it up. Everton too.
Funny that....since we brought Gerrard and Carra through Everton haven't had any local talent either eh simple fact is our obssession with foreign youngsters has really seen us move onwards and upwards.....hasn't it??? #totalbullshit
Would be nice to have local talent at the club. But a large network of scouts is crucial for every big club. Not to mention that local kids have plenty of options in the north west - why pick Liverpool when you can have United or City ... But before Rafa came in, we had produced Owen, Fowler, Macca, carra who were all top class but were the few gems out of 10-15 years. That's not good enough so we had to revamp things.
You BOUGHT them both, same as we did Stones and Galloway, that's astute buying, **** all to do with academy player production.
So sterling and Ibe don't count? Just because we signed them doesn't mean that we didn't have to scout and develop them. They were 14 and 15 respectively. You still have to develop and produce these players THROUGH the academy.
Ibe was 16 when he signed and had already played a number of times for Wycombe in the football league as a 15 year old, he was therefore hardly plucked as a kid from the park ffs. Same for Sterling he already had a repiutation as being a hot prospect and you put a deal on the table that ended up netting QPR £5m plus a further £8m with the sell on. Both were merely good young buys, **** all to do with academy production though, you're ****ing deluded if you think otherwise, those lads were always going to make it. The point is, that you're not bringing in enough good local talent in the 8-10 year old category and bringing them right through the system. That's why you're going to have no scousers on show on Sunday, and it's primarily down to Benitez and his academy alterations that have yielded virtually **** all.
'Lads were always going to make it'. Lol great line. Love how you downplay the importance of scouting and development.
The fact is if we were Everton we WOULD have more local lads. Because the standard required to play for Everton is much lower. Hibbert played 300+ games for Everton, players of the same quality at Liverpool like Spearing, Kelly etc. have been shipped out because they aren't up to stratch but they'd be in Everton's squad easily. I also don't understand why people are blaming the lack of English players coming through at Liverpool on Rafa Benitez and our academy. Its nonsense. Look around, who is actually producing these quality English youngsters? Nobody, because there are no quality English players. The likes of Jagielka, Smalling & Cahill are first picks at centre half. 10 years ago England had Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Jamie Carragher, John Terry & Ledley King to pick from. Same story in midfield, 10 years ago they had Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Hargreaves & Carrick to pick from. Now they have Milner, Wilshere, Phil Jones, Barkley and Henderson. The likes of Kevin Davies, Bobby Zamora & Jay Bothroyd have had call ups in recent years because of the total lack of talent up front for England. End of the day you can't polish a turd, and English players are mostly ****.
Sorry, I completely forgot about the countless scousers coming through the Everton ranks who are destined for the highest heights because we were too busy going through the foreign list to see them What does Carragher and Gerrard have to do with it? 10 years ago, what talented scousers did Everton have? **** all. Why? Because those were two outliers in a sea of **** who just happened to come through Liverpool rather than Everton. Just as now that Everton have Stones and Barkley doesn't suddenly mean that our kids are all brilliant but overlooked by us, just that there's another two outliers in another sea of **** who happened to come through one club's ranks than another.. They haven't even made it yet...they're still just potential. No one is that stupid that they'd refuse to look locally if it's quicker (and cheaper) to do so. The talent is simply not there and there is a far greater chance of finding it elsewhere because there's more people. Maths aint difficult. #totalbullshit
Didn't know, I don't remotely know anything about Everton, but it only adds to my point that there's **** all talent in Liverpool
Because not many are being signed up doesn't mean the talent isn't there. As has been said by others, Liverpool given the choice of local or foreign will go with the foreign more often than not. I posted an article a couple of pages back that shows there's more Liverpool born top ranking players than from any other English city so the talent in Liverpool is there, why would it have dried up suddenly? Regarding Stones I had to look it up as well because, like you, I don't know much about Everton's players
Of course it's about quality not quantity but we've bought some average quality players in the last few years and theres deffo lots of average quality local players that could have saved us the transfer fees. FSG's blueprint of buying young players and bringing youths through the ranks and bringing success to LFC isn't working so far.....is it?
Disagree - we want talent, regardless of where they come from. Just because we have a big global scouting operation doesn't mean we neglect the local area. I'm with Two Girls - there is little talent in the local area. And it's not as if we just want foreigners - we brought in Ibe, Sterling and Wisdom from across Uk.
I don't buy this notion that we're somehow obsessed with foreigners almost to the point where we don't even bother looking locally. No one, not even our clueless manager or transfer committee, are going to pass up local talent if they're good enough just because they want some exotic names in the ranks. The club simply wants the best talent, regardless of where they come from. Just so happens you're more likely to find them abroad, so that's where our kids are from. Also as mentioned by someone earlier, and coming to the point about there being more top ranking Liverpudlians than anywhere else, look at the quality of said players. The English team is in dire straits and the quality we once had isn't there nationally. More being from Liverpool doesn't necessarily mean that they're any good, just better than the other ****e around!
I've just checked the academy roster - 12 of the 36 players are local lads so the talent is there, it needs developing
