da realbet： If 19-year-old Anthony Martial was a homegrown player rather than a French international, would his transfer fee be higher than the £58 million United might spend on the teenager?
da pixbet： With 13 goals in just over 60 professional matches, Martial has hardly set the world alight. In comparison, Raheem Sterling’s £49million transfer to Man City looks like a bargain. Sterling’s inflated transfer fee is attributed to the fact that he is a homegrown player, so where’s the justification for potentially spending more money on a less prolific foreign talent?
Sterling 20, has enjoyed three successful seasons in the Premier League with Liverpool, and was a significant player for The Reds when they came so close to winning the title in the 2013/14 season. Liverpool fans still drunk from their nearly moment, were probably expecting more from Sterling last season, although he was the stand out player in a team deprived of the goal scoring abilities of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge.
[ffc-gal cat=”manchester-united” no=”5″]
Sterling’s successful World Cup campaign was highlighted by England’s terrible overall performance. His crowning of the Golden Ball award in 2014, which is awarded to the best young player in Europe, was surely a result of the worldwide popularity of the Premier League, and did not take into account better players from lesser known leagues.
Rather than producing its own pool of talent, the Premier League invests in promising players from other European leagues. Divisions such as Ligue 1 have a reputation for spawning young talents like Eden Hazzard and Karim Benzema. Therefore when a player with the qualities of Raheem Sterling slips through the cracks of the Premier League youth systems his transfer fee is inflated, due to the shortage of young homegrown players.
This is why English teams used to buy players from overseas, because they were cheaper than the homegrown equivalent. Martial’s substantial fee completely contradicts this transfer policy. Foreign players are no longer cheaper; they simply have more ‘va-va-voom’.
Who wouldn’t want the next Thierry Henry leading their attack? Since his transfer to Man Untd, Martial has been compared to the legendary Arsenal striker, and after his debut goal you can see why. United fans will understandably be more excited by Martial than their own Henry wannabe James Wilson, who is a bit of a nonevent to say the least. However Wilson is the same age as Martial and has similar attributes, so why is he being cast aside for a player most people have never heard of?
The answer is because he is English. Young English players don’t excite the so-called big clubs anymore. United fans will favour the singing of Martial over Saido Berahino or Charlie Austin for this very reason. Unlike the two England strikers the Frenchman has the benefit of being a relative unknown. The media compare Martial to Henry because they don’t know any better.
There are more foreign success stories in the Premier League than English, which is why when Sterling moved to City, he was associated with Scott Sinclair rather than Thierry Henry. Maybe this attitude sums up the overly pessimistic outlook shared by English fans towards homegrown players, but until the best English players are wanted across Europe, the Premier League will remain a bubble for overseas talent, that young English hopefuls just can’t penetrate.
For now lets just enjoy Martial’s rise to super stardom, and hope that Sterling’s decline is delayed for one or two more years.
[ad_pod id=’fba’ align=’center’]
[ad_pod id=’eight’ align=’center’]
[ad_pod id=’ricco’ align=’center’]