Is the 'English premium' worth paying?

Big money moves for Henderson and Jones have reignited the 'English premium' debate

After a quiet start, the Premier League summer transfer window has suddenly exploded into life, with Liverpool swooping for Sunderland midfield starlet Jordan Henderson and Manchester United splashing out on Blackburn Rovers defensive wonderkid Phil Jones.

The deals, which could both rise to £20million depending on the youngsters’ eventual level of achievement, signify the ongoing commitment of both clubs towards securing the best young English talent regardless of the cost,  following on from the signings of Chris Smalling and Andy Carroll earlier in the season.

This shared commitment is undoubtedly admirable, but is it wise? After all, the two Premier League giants have now committed to shelling out a combined estimate of £82million on four players who boast just three England caps between them.

It goes without saying that the figures quoted in connection with the names above are, by any normal market standards, ridiculous. They are inflated, disproportionate to the players’ current abilities and unduly distorted by the tantalizing possibility of what they may go on to become.

They are, in short, examples of what’s become known in domestic football circles in recent times as the ‘English premium’ – the somewhat bizarre and often spectacular phenomenon which dictates that top young English footballers command much higher fees on the transfer market than foreign talent of equivalent, or sometimes even superior, skill and experience.

Sounds strange? That’s because it is. But it’s also true.

Jordan Henderson, a promising but relatively unproven young midfielder, has cost Liverpool an initial fee of £16million – the same price that Tottenham Hotspur paid to bring Luka Modric, at the time rated as one of the most gifted young playmakers in Europe, to White Hart Lane three years ago.

Phil Jones has already cost Manchester United more than double what Nemanja Vidic did in 2006, although admittedly the Serbian was an absolute snip at £7million.

And at £35million, Liverpool have paid around £10million more for a 21-year-old Andy Carroll than they did for a 23-year-old Fernando Torres – a player who, even then, boasted a far more extensive and impressive resume – back in 2007.

"Andy who?!? How much?!?"

Of course, player acquisition in football has never been, and never will be, an exact science. 

But even if we assume the likes of Modric, Vidic and Torres were unusually good value for money, the fact remains that, purely in terms of initial transfer outlay, a policy of pursuing foreign talent appears to represent both a far smaller risk of failure and far greater chance of reward.

So why do top Premier League clubs still consider the ‘English premium’ to be worth paying?

There are several reasons, the first of which constitutes the stick which is repeatedly used to beat football in this country. It is this: young English players with elite potential are a rare commodity.

Moreover, when you subtract the likes of John Terry, Jack Wilshere, Paul Scholes and Steven Gerrard, who were fortunate to come through the youth ranks already at one of the Premier League giants, the number of feasible and worthwhile young English transfer targets shrinks even further.

All this means when an English ‘wonderkid’ surfaces at a middling top flight club, the Premier League giants are more inclined to consider an inflated transfer fee a risk worth taking.

Wayne Rooney has amply repaid the £30m Manchester United paid for him in 2004

Manchester United raised a few eyebrows when they made 18-year-old Wayne Rooney the most expensive teenager in football history by paying Everton up to £30million for him in 2004, but they gambled they were signing the best English talent of his generation. So it has proved.

Theo Walcott, who cost Arsenal £9million to prise from Southampton at just 16, has not proved such an emphatic success, but time remains on the side of him and his club.

That’s all very well, you might say, but one question inevitably now comes to mind: Why are English clubs so bothered about signing young English players in particular?

The cynic might argue it’s because of the Uefa Home-Grown Rules implemented at the start of this season by the Premier League, which require at least eight members of each club’s squad to have been trained for at least three years below the age of 21 in the English or Welsh professional system.

However, while this may factor in the thinking of Premier League clubs now, the ‘English premium’ has been around considerably longer than any home-grown restrictions.

Ultimately, the main reason why top Premier League clubs are consistently willing to pay marquee prices for top young English players is because they consider them a more fundamentally worthwhile investment than their foreign counterparts. 

And when you look at the evidence they can summon to back up their case, it becomes hard to argue.

This may seem counter-intuitive given the England national team’s dismal record at major international tournaments over the past decade, but whether youth team products or big money arrivals, the country’s finest footballers have been hugely successful assets for their clubs.

John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney have all been integral as Manchester United and Chelsea have shared the last seven Premier League titles between them, while Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher both played key roles in Liverpool’s sensational Champions League triumph in Istanbul in 2005.

Steven Gerrard inspired Liverpool to an astonishing comeback in 2005

The best young English footballers invariably mature not just to make up the numbers at top Premier League clubs, but to help form the spine of successful teams.

Their native knowledge of the English footballing culture and style of the Premier League, combined with their superb ability, means they can provide the sort of leadership which, even in the most illustrious of dressing rooms, may otherwise have been lacking.

Another reason why the Liverpools and Manchester Uniteds of this world consider the ‘English premium’ to be worth paying is the greater longevity of service top English players tend to provide.

There are many disadvantages to the Premier League being the all-consuming monster that it is, but one of the biggest plus points of having such a strong domestic club game is that, with the odd exception (I’m looking at you, Mr Beckham), English youngsters tend to grow up wanting to play for Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United, rather than Real Madrid, Barcelona or AC Milan.

What’s more, having this added familiarity with the environment they are in means top English players are far less likely to become unsettled and want to leave for non-footballing reasons. Even domestic transfers of high-profile English players between the country’s top clubs have been extremely rare in the Premier League era.

When top young English players sign for Liverpool and Manchester United and succeed, they invariably stay. This inevitably has a massive bearing on the sort of prices the clubs are willing to pay for them in the first place.

Kenny Dalglish will have far fewer objections to spending over £50million on Andy Carroll and Jordan Henderson knowing that the fee is being paid with a view to the pair seeing out their careers at Anfield, rather than spending a couple of seasons on Merseyside before wanting a new challenge. The same applies to Sir Alex Ferguson and Phil Jones.

That said, there is no denying the risk inherent in paying the ‘English premium’.

Having committed a huge amount of money towards the procurement of some of the country’s finest young talents, both Manchester United and Liverpool can now ill afford to fail to bring the best out of them.

But it is equally clear that United and Liverpool have made their investments with their eyes wide open.

They will have thoroughly run the rule over their new arrivals many times over the past year or so, analyzing all their strengths and weaknesses before agreeing to a deal. They will be as confident as can be of producing the next generation of English superstars.

Paying the ‘English premium’ will never be a safe bet. But one thing is for certain: If you win, the rewards are enormous.

Clubs roll the dice on deadline day

On Monday - against the backdrop of a national austerity drive of unprecedented scale - came the most expensive and enthralling transfer deadline day ever, as the owners of two of the Premier League's troubled giants laid their cards (and their cash) on the table.

Chelsea's reclusive and volatile owner Roman Abramovich, seemingly unable to tolerate further evidence that his own policy of belt-tightening is not conducive to keeping the Blues at the top of the domestic and European game, splashed out over £75m in less than 24 hours on the acquisitions of Fernando Torres and David Luiz.

At Torres' former club Liverpool, new owners New England Sports Ventures oversaw spending of just under £60m on Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll in the same time period, as they look to placate an Anfield faithful reeling from the departure of one of their most revered stars and desperately seeking reassurance on the club's ambitions going forward.

The aggressive transfer strategies of Abramovich and NESV have the potential to transform their respective clubs' short-term and long-term fortunes. Having said that, there is more than a hint of a gamble in their common decision to pay massive fees for players who, at one level or another, have a lot left to prove.

For Abramovich and Chelsea, the signing of Torres in particular is an awesome statement of intent. 

It is also an emphatic way to pour scorn on the suggestions of some observers that the Russian billionaire had fallen out of love with the West London club, or that his heavy involvement in the planning for his homeland's first ever World Cup in 2018 would prove a potentially damaging distraction.

But the significance of Torres' capture is greater than this. Of course, the £50m price tag will inevitably invite comparisons to Abramovich's last major outlay - the misguided move for Andriy Shevchenko in the summer of 2006.

But there the similarities end.

In Torres, Chelsea have acquired a player who as recently as two years ago was regarded as the best out-and-out striker in world football.

His goals were integral as Liverpool challenged Manchester United for the Premier League title in 2008, and he also netted the winner in the final of Euro 2008 as Spain won their first international honour for over 40 years.

Admittedly, Shevchenko boasted a similarly illustrious CV when he moved to England. But the Ukrainian was 30 years old, having just suffered a serious knee injury which, in hindsight, meant he was already finished as a top-level performer.

A combination of injuries, underachievement and disillusionment with life in Liverpool has undoubtedly curtailed Torres' progress in the last 18 months.

But at only 26, it is a reasonable bet that the Spaniard's best years remain in front of him. If this turns out to be true, then £50m could actually end up being good value.

The biggest risk in Abramovich's rationale lies in the fact that he has smashed the British transfer record based on the player that Fernando Torres can be, and not the player he is right now.

But Chelsea's move for Torres does not represent the biggest gamble of deadline day, even if it was the most expensive one. In fact, it wasn't even Abramovich's biggest gamble.

The signing of Fernando Torres may be considered by many a 'luxury' for Chelsea, but the addition of David Luiz for £21m from Benfica was borne out of pure necessity. 

Defensive injuries played an instrumental role in the Blues' decline over the last two months, and with Alex still on the sidelines following knee surgery, Branislav Ivanovic perversely looking more comfortable at right-back, and Jeffrey Bruma not yet ready to make the step up, fresh blood was urgently needed.

But is the 24-year-old Brazilian the right man for the job? At £21m, he would be an expensive mistake. 

It must be stated that consistently solid displays for Benfica have earned Luiz a reputation as one of the best young defenders on the continent.

But the risk remains that the urgency of Chelsea's need for defensive cover clouded their judgment and resulted in them paying over the odds for a player who is, as yet, unproven in a major European league, and who will at the very least take time to adjust to a very different footballing environment.

Time will inevitably be the judge of whether or not Abramovich's deadline day gambles pay off. What is certain, however, is that those in West London will not be the only ones hoping that fortune favours the brave.

     

Some 176 miles north of the capital, John W. Henry and his associates at New England Sports Ventures took perhaps their boldest move yet as owners of Liverpool FC, bankrolling a last-minute transfer spree of their own as they look to re-establish the country's most successful football club among the footballing elite.

Having spent close to £60m on bringing in Luis Suarez from Ajax and Andy Carroll from Newcastle United, NESV's expenditure may lack some of the scale of that undertaken by Chelsea's wealthy patron, but an examination of the players acquired reveals the Americans' investment lacks nothing in terms of sheer audacity.

Suarez is a signing which carries promise and excitement, even if the former Ajax star was a little overpriced at £23m. He boasts a phenomenal scoring record of 111 goals in 159 appearances for the Dutch giants, as well as an impressive World Cup which deserves to be remembered for more than that handball. 

Moreover, he is young, tactically versatile and hungry - in short, exactly the sort of player Liverpool should be looking to sign as they aim to recapture past glories.

Of course, the risk is that Liverpool may become just another Premier League club who live to regret signing a player on the basis of an impressive goal tally in the Eredivisie. 

After all, for every Ruud van Nistelrooy there has been a Mateja Kezman, and only the brave or the foolish would attempt the extol the virtues of Afonso Alves to any self-respecting Middlesbrough fan.

However, Suarez's current ability and potential for further improvement minimises the risk which comes with his slightly-inflated price tag. He may take time to adjust, but when he does, he is should become a considerable asset.

At any rate, the chance which NESV have taken in bringing Suarez into the Premier League pales almost into insignificance when compared with the decision to pay £35m for Andy Carroll.

When Newcastle United placed a price tag of £30m on Carroll's head at the beginning of January, it was rightly interpreted as a club plucking a completely unrealistic fee from thin air to ward off any potential suitors.

Never in a million years did Mike Ashley, Derek Llambias or Alan Pardew actually think that anyone would be willing to meet this outrageous valuation.

Not only did Liverpool meet it, they exceeded it. In doing so, they have taken a gamble of monumental proportions. 

At the time of writing, Andy Carroll is not worth £35m. He is barely worth half of that.

Like Chelsea and Fernando Torres, the fee Liverpool have paid is based on the player they think Andy Carroll can become, not the player he is today. But unlike Chelsea and Torres, Liverpool have no solid evidence that Andy Carroll is capable of shining consistently at the very highest level.

The 21-year-old has shown fantastic potential in his first few months in the Premier League, as well as standing out in a wretched England side in last November's friendly against France. But he remains far from the finished article on or off the pitch.

Carroll's immaturity and personal problems have already resulted in several court appearances, and the young man's inner demons provide yet another obstacle to this rough diamond being fashioned into the jewel of the Anfield crown.

It is a project which Kenny Dalglish will undoubtedly set himself to with relish, but Carroll's price tag has raised the stakes to such an extent that it is now one which Liverpool cannot afford to fail. 

NESV's logic will undoubtedly be that a swift and decisive response was needed to quell the unease created, both internally and externally, by Fernando Torres' acrimonious departure. 

To this end, the signings of Suarez and Carroll have already succeeded, encouraging an atmosphere of cautious optimism around the red half of Merseyside.

Similarly, Roman Abramovich will hope that his own investment will breathe life into a faltering season, and give the Chelsea fans hope that a campaign which is unlikely to result in Premier League glory may yet yield other, and perhaps greater, rewards.

It is with almost inevitable timing that Chelsea host Liverpool this Sunday. Rest assured that both Roman Abramovich and John W. Henry will be watching with breath as baited as the rest of us, looking frantically for the first signs that their gambles are starting to bear fruit.