“Buying British” is set to be the theme of this summer’s Premier League spending. The top 6 teams in the Premiership are all continuously being linked with the next great British prospect and are prepared to pay whatever it takes to get their hands on them.
In United’s case, is buying British a good idea?
With the signing of Phil Jones completed and the expected arrival of Ashley Young, Sir Alex Ferguson has already invested heavily in home-grown players this summer to bolster the team for next season. But buying British has its own drawbacks – namely a huge price tag.
I’ve written about how Phil Jones could fit in the United side next season (you can read that here), and while £16.5 million is a huge amount to spend, Jones’ potential and versatility make him a good signing for the future.
The Ashley Young signing is a bit more complicated. No fee has been confirmed but figures between £15 and 20 million isn’t that bad for a player of Young’s calibre (despite the fact that he only has a year left on his contract), there’s the question of where Young will fit in the side, particularly as United are well-stocked on the wings, with Nani, Valencia, Park, Giggs, Welbeck and Obertan, who all can play in Young’s position.
The thing that will count in Young’s favour is his versatility, as he has the ability to play on the left or right wing, and through the middle as a support striker. Young has pace to burn, excellent movement and has the ability to be a game-winner on occasion.
While he can be guilty of going missing at times, Young is still only 25, so there is the hope that playing on a bigger stage with better players can bring out the best in the England international and he can take the next step up.
Young’s arrival at Old Trafford doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to sell Nani either. There are a lot of games over a season, and Young is versatile enough to be able to play with Nani and Valencia, it doesn’t necessarily have to mean one or the other.
With that in mind, is Fergie’s decision to buy British this summer a positive step? I would have to argue it is. If you look at all of the great United sides in the Ferguson-era, they all have that British core as the heartbeat of the side.
From the 1999 treble-winning side, through to 2008 and now 2011, every United team has had a British core (from the Neville brothers, Giggs, Roy Keane Scholes and Beckham, through to Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Fletcher), surrounded by foreign talent, which evolved from the likes of Schmeichel, Jaap Stam and Dwight Yorke, Solskjaer, Van Nistelrooy through to Cristiano Ronaldo and Tevez, and now Nemanja Vidic, Evra, Chicarito, Nani and Valencia.
Every great United side has a British core, and the additions of Phil Jones and Young are the next generation of British players that will form the basis of United’s team for the next few years, alongside Rooney, Chris Smalling, Cleverley, Welbeck and Darren Fletcher.
When you look at United’s purchases over the last decade, when Fergie buys British, he rarely gets it wrong. Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and more recently Chris Smalling – all have been a success at Old Trafford. Michael Carrick has had his good and bad games in a United shirt, but he hasn’t been complete disaster. Michael Owen has done his bit and scored some important goals, and Hargreaves was great for United in 07/08 and would have been more of a success if injury had not wrecked his career.
It’s buying foreign players that Sir Alex has been a bit hit-and-miss. For every great signing like Ronaldo, Hernandez and Vidic, there’s a Veron, a David Bellion or a Kleberson. While there have been some great foreign signings over the last decade, there have been numerous bad ones.
So buying British is a positive step for United, but when does it stop being beneficial?
There is always a premium when buying British talent, Jordan Henderson’s fee in moving to Liverpool from Sunderland was inflated, the same can be said for Andy Carroll in his move to Anfield from Newcastle and looking at potential transfers we see a similar picture.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Connor Wickham are prime examples. Both players have been linked with a move to top 4 clubs in recent months. While both players are talented, neither has played a second of Premiership football, yet figures of £10 million and £15 million are continually being reported in the media.
Yes, they have talent and maybe could one day be great players, but to spend a fortune on young players who lacks top-flight experience is the wrong idea. Oxlade-Chamberlain, in particular, hasn’t even played in the Championship yet, and it would be better for him to get more first-team experience for us to see how good he is and realistically can be.
What’s the alternative? There is a whole can of worms to be opened up by this. There is the complaint that signing foreign youngsters is detremental to the national team as young British talent isn’t getting a chance but when they are so expensive what can be done?
Paying £16.5 million for Jones is not so much a risk as sign of faith in the players ability, but despite his age we’ve seen him at the top level with that Premiership experience playing against quality players but the same can’t be said for all British players that clubs are trying to command huge fees for.
I’m all for buying British, but just make sure they are the right British signings with great potential, but with at least some experience of Premiership football.
British players are the right idea for Fergie’s transfer policy; you have to just find that blend between home grown and foreign players. United’s plan to buy young talent with Premiership experience has worked before, it’s worked with Rooney, Ferdinand and Smalling, and hopefully can continue to work with the signings of Phil Jones and Ashley Young.
What do you think? Is buying British the right idea for United?
Follow Tom Jinks on Twitter at www.twitter.com/tomjinks
Buzzing with the acquisition of Jones. He’s a great defender. He has strength, pace, technical ability, good comunication and a great attitude. He clearly wants to play for the club and not just seetle for the big paycheque and with so many years ahead of him represents a bargain, even at £16.5M. They say he plays like a young John Terry. I bet you wouldn’t be able to sign John Terry for the same money and he only has a couple of top level seasons left and is clearly on the wane.
The prospect of Smalling and Jones is a mouth watering one as they have complimentary games, very much in the mould of Bruce & Pally or Rio and Vidic. Happy days
Good article and I agree on most points; though including Hargreaves is mostly inaccurate as he never even lived in England until he signed for United and developed as a player in Canada and Germany.
I think the greater point is not nationality, but top-flight experience. Virtually all the foreign flops, apart from Veron, were virtual unknowns even in their country of origin. Even the likes of Ole, Chicharito, Nani etc… were proven to some level at their home clubs before being signed.
Think Hargreaves was mentioned in that he would add to the British core of the team. Owen and Carrick were bought at an age where they could no longer be regarded as young British talent as both were regarded as established
No, he is included in the paragraph of buying British. Hargreaves was born in Canada to English parents and moved to Munich in his late teens. Perhaps I’m playing too much attention to detail; but as a Canadian I’ve always been a little bitter towards players such as Hargreaves who could’ve had a huge impact for the game in their true country of origin but put personal ambition ahead of it.
Keano isn’t British
lol I hope you will later explain Kean can’t be British because he is not human.
@Beggsy
Irish IS British. So dat makes keano AND giggs British…
the republic of ireland fought for independence roy keane is certainly not british
Nice article. I think the signing of Jones once more shows that Fergie likes to build from the back and isn’t afraid to spend big on defenders (Rio, Stam, Vidic, Smalling). It’s good to see that he plans on leaving a legacy too with Smalling, the Da Silva twins, Jones, Chich and Rooney providing a structure for the future. With the Youth Cup prospects that we have too I think Fergie might be planning a homegrown core to the midfield with Pogba and Morrison and possibly Tunnicliffe too. Interesting times ahead…
Republic of Ireland is most certainly NOT British. Keane, OShea, Irwin, Gibson etc are NOT British.
The whole island of Ireland is considered part of the British Isles, you can look it up. Being British doesn’t have to mean English; and the football world of the ROI is very much apart of British football.
I’m not looking to fight with you but people in the Republic do not like being called British. I understand that Ireland footballers get lumped in with the English/Scots/Welsh/Northies but to label them British is not right.
Okay, but semantics and politics aside, few can argue the football culture from Ireland isn’t closely tied to Britain. There’s a common language, style of football and that virtually all the Irish pros apply their trade in Britain. In strictly a footballing sense, there is much less adjustment for an Irish player in the EPL or even SPL than anyone from anywhere else in the world. That, I think was the point the author is making; though perhaps it could read British and Irish players.
i don,t want to get into this as i love supporting a british football club mufc..but don,t be so insensitive as the label people from ROI as british we,ve had enough shit in our country over that subject that you don,t understand how much our blood gets boiled so a little respect for your fellow comrades from all walks of life that support the greatest club in the world won,t go astray…p.s lets not forget billy whelan an other irish great..