By Patrick Johnston
Despite Raheem Sterling’s record transfer to Manchester City, Premier League boss Richard Scudamore said it was a “hard stretch” to suggest home grown quota rules were to blame for the increasing price of English talent.
Midfielder Sterling joined City from Liverpool on Tuesday for a reported fee of £49 million, British media said, a record price for an English player, overtaking the £35 million Liverpool paid Newcastle United for striker Andy Carroll in 2011.
The fees for players just starting their international careers exceed what Liverpool paid Ajax Amsterdam for Uruguayan thoroughbred Luis Suarez or Arsenal spent to sign renowned Chilean talent Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona.
City also spent more on bit-part England midfielder James Milner than they did on established Spaniard David Silva in 2010, while Manchester United recruited England teenage left-back Luke Shaw last season at double the cost of Marcos Rojo, who played in the World Cup final for Argentina.
With Premier League squads requiring eight home grown players in the squad of 25, the clamour for top local talent has never been so intense but Scudamore did not feel there was a link to the price hike.
“You can’t say it’s a systematic analysis of the cost of home grown talent,” Scudamore told Reuters on the sidelines of the Premier League’s Asian Trophy in Singapore.
“Whether that says the cost of English talent across the board is suddenly x is a hard stretch.”
The executive chairman said the fee for Sterling was down to Liverpool’s unwillingness to let the 20-year-old winger depart Anfield.
“Whether that is a premium on English players or not I don’t know, at the end of the day Manchester City wanted Raheem Sterling,” he said. “Manchester City have the ability to look around the whole world and decide who they want.
“They decided they want him, Liverpool didn’t want to sell him… therefore what you are seeing is the competitive tension, you are seeing the price taken to prize Raheem Sterling out of Liverpool. That is all you are seeing.”
Scudamore reiterated his objection to plans by Football Association chairman Greg Dyke to increase the quota for home grown players to 12.
“We do have a current quota system which says no more than 17 of your squad of 25 can be anything other than home grown, we think that is proportionate, we don’t think we should be increasing that number.”
3 Comments
peemdubya
July 19, 2015 at 01:02“…the price taken to prize Raheem Sterling…” – the word is “prise”, I get so bloody frustrated when they can’t report in simple correct English!!!!!
Didier Ouzaid
July 17, 2015 at 11:50Carroll, Milner, now Sterling. Unique “talents” indeed. What happened to the first two? We already knew English players didnt export well (except maybe Beckham’s stint in Madrid and Paul Ince in Inter Milan), now we wont even have to think whether or not it was because of a lack of talent. All things considered, Man City almost paid for this Sterling guy what Real Madrid paid for a confirmed Zidane back in the day. And that’s not just english “talent”. UK teams are attracting a whole bunch of average players from the French league (see Newcastle, for instance) by overpaying them. Figures dont lie, QPR this year has received twice the amount of ‘TV money’ PSG received in France. The perks of having the n.1 league in the world, I guess.
And this is bound to get crazier next year when the new broadcasting rights money kicks in. Chistiano Ronaldo at Crystal Palace? I say why not. Only the Big Four (BCN, Madrid, PSG, Munchen) will be able to compete.
peemdubya
July 19, 2015 at 01:04DO, hey, don’t forget glorious AFC Bournemouth, they should be able to get half a Ronaldo to the Stadium for the start of the 15/16 campaign!!