While the Premier League still remains the envy of leagues across the globe, our international set-up has of late become a laughing stock. Once famed for being at the forefront of the game’s global inception, we are now unable to compete on the world stage. The recent failings at the European U-21 Championships in Israel were yet another blot on a copybook of embarrassing tournament showings, but what can we do to turn our international fortunes around?
The issue clearly revolves around the way we as nation nurture our young talents. It would be totally ridiculous to suggest that the reason for our current inferiority is that other nations are naturally better at football. How can relatively small nations like Holland produce such a disproportionate amount of young superstars? What are we doing wrong?
In terms of the big six European leagues we sit last when looking at the proportion of homegrown players represented by clubs. 36.5% of the players to feature in the Premier League are English compared to 62.4% Spanish in La Liga. The highest proportion among the big six is the Dutch with 64.3%, a nation that has historically over-performed internationally relative to its population size.
I actually think these statistics under-represent the gulf between the Premier League and Europe’s other top leagues in this respect. Local players are incorporated into many top clubs from a young age and given the chance to develop, whereas in England, teams seem keener to loan out players to lower divisions until they are much older. Even with this different approach, in England very few players graduate from the academy to the first team. By the age of 25, countless prospects are sold on to lesser clubs with their potential never fully realised.
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The problem for Premier League clubs is that they find themselves in arguably the most competitive league in Europe. Teams cannot afford to play a long-term strategy because they risk relegation in the short term, hence the drive towards buying ready-made foreign imports ahead of developing their own. In a less competitive league such as the Eredivisie, Ajax are able to look more long term in the knowledge that their standing as a top three club is relatively secure. This is further exacerbated by the wealth of their division. Unable to bring in expensive signings, clubs like Ajax and Feyenoord are pushed towards developing their own players in an attempt to be more financially prudent.
The competitiveness and to a lesser degree wealth of the Premier League is what makes it the world’s most marketable league, and these are components which should not be readily altered. However, clearly it is in the national interest to force clubs to focus more on development of local youth talent ahead of purchases from abroad.
FIFA are extremely keen on implementing new plans to ensure such a transition occurs. Initially they sought to implement a 6+5 squad rule ensuring that no more than five expatriate players represented in any starting line-up. This was something that was swiftly rejected by the EU on discriminatory grounds. Instead the Premier League under FIFA’s guidance has operated a new 25-man squad rule that stipulates that each squad must contain eight homegrown players with U-21s not needing to be registered.
These were Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore’s hopes for the new changes:
“It will encourage youth development and the promotion of young players, it’s a rule which we think will give clubs an extra incentive to develop players, and to make a better return from their investment in youth.”
Many would see this as a step in the right direction, but personally it simply represents another piece of useless legislation to adhere to. Effectively it means clubs can have no more than 17 foreign players over the age of 21. This is hardly stringent and in theory means a club if they wanted to would never have to play a single English footballer, let alone a young prospect, all year round.
So what is the potential solution? Stringent EU laws of course heavily restrict the degree to which quotas can be implemented, but there is still room for manoeuvre. La Liga currently places a limit of three non-EU players on each squad list. Watered down by EU agreements with the African/Pacific region, it represents an improvement on the current system. Similarly the Premier League could go further by placing quotas on homegrown players in match day squads and even starting elevens rather than just the current 25-man squad rule. While EU law prevents doing so along national lines, restrictions in terms of age could well work.
The overall aim is to adopt the ‘cantera’ system that has proved so fruitful for clubs in Spain. It has allowed clubs to produce local talents like Xavi and Iniesta who rose through the ranks of an academy like Barcelona and have grown into World Cup winners.
The difference between England and Spain in terms of football is a cultural one. Such deeply held assertions about how to do things are not easily changed, and for this reason FIFA and UEFA feel imposition of quotas is the best solution. For too long talents like Welbeck and Sturridge have been subjected to second-rate treatment by English clubs and have never really reached their true potential. Is it really such a surprise we are so inferior to other footballing nations?
Should we impose a more stringent quota system?
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