The Price Of Being English

The ludicrousy that is propagated by the English media and pundits is astounding. Year after year we are bamboozled into thinking that only the best players garner the highest transfer costs, yet we are continually stumped by the metrics used to come up with some of these figures.

Raheem Sterling costs Manchester City a whopping £49 million. This is ridiculous for a player that has only had 1 good season under his belt. Mostly blossoming under the wings of Luis Suarez (Suarez made that entire Liverpool squad better).  The fact that he was being hailed as the English saviour right before a completely underwhelming World Cup and following season seems to have worked in his favour.

If we look outside of the Premier league, there are very real examples of the true price of quality. Tony Kroos has had consistent seasons with Bayern Munich, led his national team to the World Cup Finals and finished with possibly the highest pass completion rate for the tournament he fetched £24 million. James Rodriguez was sold to Real Madrid for £63 million after stints that included helping Porto to a hattrick of league titles and the 2011 Europa League, scoring 9 goals and 12 assists in his last season with Monaco helping them to finish second in the league and finally being narrowly edged out for the Golden Ball at the last World Cup.  

Inflated egos and prices seem to be the order of the day in England, but with FIFA’s financial fair play looming and the need for certain squads to rebuild do you really want to put your faith in Sterling to be your marquee player? Is he really worth the kind of money being splashed for him especially as he is still an unproven talent? At this rate, the next time we see an 80 million transfer fee, it might not be a potential Balon d’Or winner but another of England’s Great Hopes.