The trend of selling young players for profit in English football
How to build a football dynasty? For decades, the traditional and sustainable formula has been to build a talented young team, recruit additional stars and have pillars - players with leadership qualities and long-term commitment to the club - Set standards, help control the dressing room with the coach.
The great clubs of European football almost all have their foundation in the youth system - like Pep Guardiola's Barca, Arrigo Sacchi's Milan with a base of midfielders, seasoned defenders, Johan Cruyff and his teammates. Adult teams from the Ajax youth team, or Bayern Munich led by Franz Beckenbauer - all follow the above pattern.
The same thing happens in English football, with Man Utd's "Generation of 92" or Don Revie's Leeds - including players who grew up together from the academy, stick together, develop together, mature and then reap the rewards. success.
Liverpool of the 1970s and 1980s bucked that trend by recruiting lower-league talent, but also local players such as Tommy Smith, Phil Thompson or Jimmy Case. Nottingham Forest's strength under Brian Clough lies in Peter Taylor's recruiting skills, but the key player is John Robertson, who joined the team at the age of 17. Similarly, Chelsea in the Abramovich era also succeeded with John Terry - Central defender joined the army at the age of 15.
In the fourth round of the English Premier League, Cameron Archer scored the first goal for Sheffield United against Everton, Billy Gilmour was responsible for connecting the line between Brighton, Lewis Hall was a substitute for Newcastle, and Cole Palmer played in the last 38 minutes of Chelsea's defeat to Nottingham. Forest 0-1 at home.
The common point of the names just mentioned is that they are all in the category of young rice that is sold as soon as the price is right. Just last season, Archer was the gem of the Aston Villa youth team. Gilmour was once expected to become Chelsea's Andres Iniesta. Hall - who joined Chelsea at the age of 8 - was the academy's best player last season. Palmer joined Man City's first team last season, and was recently considered a quality addition to the defending champion's midfield, scoring in both the English Super Cup and European Super Cup matches.
Money is the core reason why there are fewer and fewer young players who come up from the academy and then flourish in the first team of the same club. According to Financial Fair Play (FFP), players who come up from the academy are considered free of recruitment fees, so the money earned when selling them will be net profit. And when FFP tightened many regulations after a period of relaxation due to Covid-19, the temptation of net profits made clubs no longer hesitate much about the opportunity to profit from academy talents.
Gilmour - who Chelsea spent $625,000 in development fees on from Rangers at the age of 16 - counted as pure profit when Chelsea sold him to Brighton for $10 million last summer. Palmer joined the Man City academy at the age of eight, so he was not charged a recruitment fee, and brought in a net profit of up to $ 50 million after his transfer to Chelsea this summer.
In fact, some clubs have long used youth teams as a place to make profits. Man Utd in the 1990s and 2000s sold talents that were not part of Sir Alex Ferguson's plans. But according to the latest trends, even academy players who have matured, become mainstays of the first team and are expected to become legends can be sold. Once expected to spend his entire career with Chelsea like seniors John Terry or Frank Lampard, Mason Mount was just sold to Man Utd this summer for 76 million USD.
"Players like Mount have helped maintain Chelsea's identity. But in an era of foreign ownership, resonating with a global audience, such a local player model has become superfluous," the newspaper said. Mr. Guardian commented.
Perhaps only Arsenal, with Bukayo Saka beloved by fans and Eddie Nketiah trusted by Mikel Arteta as a reserve striker, follows the traditional style of football.
Chelsea earned $76 million from selling Mount, reinvesting in spending more than $1 billion after just one year under new owner Todd Boehly for players with cheap salaries and longer-term contracts. Before Mount, Chelsea sold other academy products Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ethan Ampadu and Callum Hudson-Odoi for a total of $125 million. These are all players with rich potential, part of a team that has reached nine finals and won the FA Youth Cup seven times in 11 years.
And Chelsea is no exception. This summer, despite parting ways with Fred, Man Utd spent most of the transfer window trying to sell Scott McTominay - a defensive midfielder who came up from the academy, for $50 million, but failed. Cameron Archer went to Sheffield United for 22 million USD, becoming the next Aston Villa player to win the 2021 Youth Cup to leave the team, after Aaron James Ramsey (to Burnley) and Carney Chukwuemeka (to Chelsea).
In addition to $ 45 million from Palmer, Man City earned a large amount of money from the sale of players who did not have the opportunity to compete for an official position in the first team. Last year, Southampton lost a total of $ 48 million to bring in the Gavin Bazunu quartet, Juan Larios, Samuel Edozie and Romeo Lavia of Man City. In particular, Lavia joined Chelsea with 63 million USD this summer, and 20% of this money will belong to Man City.
The Etihad Stadium owner also earned $24 million from selling James Trafford - a player who had never played for the first team - to Burnley and parting ways with Tommy Doyle and James McAtee on loan contracts. Currently, defender Rico Lewis is the only academy product who can follow in Phil Foden's footsteps to become a mainstay of the first team.
"When everything in football has a price, the players of the future will immediately become assets that can be sold and made a profit. Anyone who wants to build a modern football dynasty will have to pay for players of other teams, instead of using homegrown talents," commented Guardian.
