The vast majority of my childhood was spent in Malta, which meant nine TV channels. Eight Italian ones and a local station. If you stuck your head out the window you could see a forest of aerials and antennas on the rooftops, a veritable obstacle course set up for Santa Claus. Which also meant there wasn't yet any cable TV with English and American accents spilling all over the living room. Italian was the language of every kid’s highest priorities: cartoons and football.
Most Italian TV was great but one show used to bore me witless. It was a spinoff of a US franchise purchased all over the world, the Italian brand called 'Ok - Il Prezzo e' Giusto' i.e. ‘Ok – The Price is Right’. Hosted in the main by Iva Zanicchi, it used to make me cry with boredom.
The show’s format was simple. Contestants were randomly picked to hoots of delight from a loud mob gathered inside the studio, before being made to guess the price of the prizes on display. These prizes included gym bicycles, crockery or bed mattresses among others, not exactly things to set a child’s pulses racing. Whoever guessed the right cost of the prize got it for free (or at least I bloody hope they did!) but more important than the freebie was being seen on TV! Contestants would deliver a gushing tribute to their families and villages when introduced by Zanicchi (talk about a ten seconds of fame syndrome).
As the football transfer window grinds to a close, I thought it might be far more interesting to apply the ‘OK’ format to a couple of transfers which took place last week. The first of which involved 21 year old German world cup hero Mesut Ozil. Despite his tender years, Ozil is blazing an enviable trail. Probably the world’s best playmaker and central attacking midfielder, he won the U21 Euros with Germany in 09, scoring an opening brace in the final in which Germany beat England 4-0. A year later, he was already a regular starter with the German seniors in South Africa that put four goals past Australia, England and Argentina. Fast as lightning, he’s deadly with both feet, scoring a peach of a left-footer against Ghana. Beating the offside trap with ease, he slips in behind defenders and delivers killer assists.
In a moment of genius, Ozil can turn a game on its head. He’s that rarest of rare breeds: a match-winner. After world cup 2010, he was named by FIFA as one of ten nominations for the golden ball. He’s already lifted the German cup with his former club Werder Bremen in 2009, after scoring the only goal in the final against Bayer Leverkusen. Ok, I’ll give this one away: this week Real Madrid acquired Ozil from Werder Bremen for a reported €15 million.
Over to another player: 24 year old James Milner. He has already twice crossed swords with Ozil at international level, twice ending up on the losing side. The first time was the aforementioned Euro U21 final which ended 4-0, the second being the 4-1 world cup loss to Germany with the England seniors. Ozil was a thorn in England’s side throughout the whole of this game, also creating an assist. Despite being three years his senior, Milner was hardly noticeable and was hauled off after an hour to make way for Joe Cole.
Does this make Milner a bad player? Far from it. He’s probably the best English player of his generation, renowned for his versatility and tenacity. He drew high praise from Capello at the start of the Italian’s reign as England manager, and Milner’s transfer from Newcastle to Aston Villa led to Kevin Keegan’s second resignation from the role of Toon gaffer. Despite this, Milner has so far won nothing and has not yet experienced Champions League football. This week Milner also made a move: from Manchester City from Aston Villa.
Ok, so what do you think he was worth?
Ok, so what do you think he was worth?
€10 million? €12 million? Hold on, I'll give you a hint: Milner had two years left on his contract, unlike Ozil, who could have left for free at the end of next year. So this would stump the figure up to...€20 million? Surely not more than €25million?
Wrong.
James Milner joined City for £18million. And that’s not including the transfer of Stephen Ireland from City to Villa as part of the deal: a former Irish international valued at £8million. So that’s £26million in all for an English international who former teammate Nolberto Solano had rightly predicted would one day become ‘an important team player.’
That's over €31million.
Welcome to the English transfer market. A place where the price of English players defies logic for no other reason except that they are English. Recent examples of this madness include the ludicrous sums paid by Chelsea for Shaun Wright-Phillips and Manchester City for Joleon Lescott.
Do I have a problem with this? Certainly not, it’s a free country. But one body that should have a problem with this is the English FA.
Much has been made about there not being enough young English players in the Premier league. But with prices like these, can you blame English clubs for not seeking to acquire English talent? Arsene Wenger has long been denounced as a culprit of the first order for not fielding any Englishmen in the Arse first team. Yet his argument has always run along the lines of: why should I break the bank and expose my club to financial debt for a half decent English stripling when I can buy a seasoned continental champion for less? (or even a young prodigy, as shown by the transfer of 21 year old Ozil?)
Sure enough, this week also saw Serbian wing wonder Miloš Krasić join Italian giants Juventus for €15 million, after helping former club CSKA Moscow win eleven major trophies.
What laws dictate that an English player should cost so much more than foreigners? Is it any wonder that big clubs (both English and non-English) baulk at the price of signing young English talent when it is available at such a prohibitive price?
This latest Milner – Ozil episode is just one of many bizarre recurrences throughout the years. Another example of this absurdity was Rio Ferdinand joining Manchester United from Leeds in summer of 2002 for 30 million pounds when Alessandro Nesta, by far the better defender, joined AC Milan for 30 million Euros!
There is a price to pay for such excessive figures. And the price is certainly be paid by the Three Lions.
Both England manager Fabio Capello and his predecessor Steve McClaren have always made it clear that less than 40% of regular starters in the Premier league are English. In Italy and Spain, managers get to choose from national leagues featuring almost 70% of local starters.
Despite these statistics, Italy have themselves picked foreigners for their national side in the past e.g. Omar Sivori or Mauro Camoranesi (the latter a starter in the side that won the World Cup in Germany 2006). More recently, their new coach Cesare Prandelli has picked Brazilian born and bred Amauri for the national side, and also considered picking another uncapped Brazilian: Inter's Thiago Motta. Spain also picked a Brazilian in Marcos Senna, who was a crucial member of the side that clinched Euro 2008. England has however always picked local boys although it has nearly half the pool of players to choose from in its top flight. Which is set to decline further.
Perhaps out of fear of the Fleet Street media stranglehold, the FA has made much noise in the last weeks about appointing English managers to lead the national team in future. Yet ironically there has also been much talk of giving English passports to foreign Premier league stars who don’t get picked by their national teams, which will enable them to play for England. This was repeated just this week by Gordon Taylor, head of the PFA.
So after all the pre-world cup talk of picking Spaniard Manuel Almunia between the sticks for the Three Lions, do not exclude Spaniard Mikel Arteta pulling the strings in a future England midfield. And that’s just a couple of uncapped Iberians, which ignores the stream of Africans, Frenchmen, Latin Americans, Australians etc. who could don England’s colours tomorrow. The endless influx of cheaper, superior foreign talent in English club sides is going to be emulated by the national team.
Which means that by being priced out of a move to English and foreign clubs, young English born players are not going to have a cat’s chance in hell of representing England at international level.
It is already happening. For whatever reason, the price of young English players is inflated. It’s already one of the main reasons why English born players are becoming extinct in the English Premiership.
2 comments:
Personally I couldn't quite believe Man Utd, Chelsea or Man City didn't go for Ozil. An undoubted bargain at that price.
Milner is the latest victim of sheik-itis. Prior to Man City there was an outbreak of Oligarch-itis at Chelsea. That seems to have subsided recently, probably due to the recession and Vladimir Putin tightening the screws.
Milner is a good midfielder, but he will (IMO) never reach the top category of players. He is a poor man's Gerrard ("which means he's absolute shite" sniggers the man in the back).
Krasic is a bit of an unknown entity. By all accounts he was CSKA's mastermind last season (though seeing as I'm not an avid follower of Russian league football, that's just a regurgitated opinion) but he played poorly against Inter in the Champions League and did next to nothing at the World Cup. As a Juve fan, I take two positives out of the signing:
1) Marotta, our DG, held out for the price he wanted. CSKA insisted on 20 million, and he told them where they could stick it. Clearly we held out in the hope of getting Dzeko, but that was never likely given our lack of funds.
2) Krasic seems desperate to put on the famed black and white jersey. Man City offered him everything short of the sun and moon back in July, but he simply shrugged and mooned them. It's always encouraging when a new signing seems that determined to play for your club.
Back to the blog post's original point - the lack of talented youngsters in English football. I'm linking a Guardian article - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/01/football-coach-shortage-england
The article basically points out that in England there is 1 football coach for every 812 football players. In Spain, there is 1 for every 17 players. In Italy the ratio is 1:48, in France it is 1:96, Germany 1:150.
The premise is that the entire football culture, from the grassroots up, is completely mis-shaped. If English clubs saved £2 million in wages every year (i.e. half a James Milner) and spent that money on hiring/training some youth-level coaches, they'd reap the benefits a few years down the line. The problem, as always, is that football has become a PLC-driven enterprise, with owners and shareholders uninterested in the long-term. All they want is to make a quick buck and get out, moving onto the next club (or even sport).
Wow, didn't know Krasic was so keen to join Juve although I did read City were after him. He'll be the perfect heir to Camoranesi & just when Juve said they'd added the last piece to the jigsaw, they go and loan Aquilani!
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