Young and hungry:
Oriel Romeu and Romelu Lukaku are just two examples of clubs
splashing the cash on players in the formative stage of their
career
Welcome to Manchester Sir Alex Ferguson with new signing
David De Gea
The
transfer market is no country for old men, that much is clear from
this year’s trading. Not totally ancient and decrepit, even, but
old in an over 26 kind of way.
More than ever in the Barclays Premier
League, this has been the summer of youth. Potential is
highly prized as the new breed of owners apply their big-business
logic to football’s peculiar transfer rules.
During this window, only three players over
the age of 26 have been signed by Premier League clubs for fees of
more than £4.5milion. They are Ashley Young (26), Stewart Downing
(27) and Roger Johnson (28).
At the same time, tens of millions have been
lavished on teenagers as clubs try to rake in the best talent from
around the world.
Older players are in demand, too, but when they
move they move on the cheap, like Brad Friedel, Matthew Upson and
Jonathan Woodgate on free transfers. Chelsea’s first four signings
of the summer were teenagers Lucas Piazon, Thibaut Courtois, Oriol
Romeu and Romelu Lukaku for a total of around £40m.
On the cheap: Experienced players like Jonathan
Woodgate and Brad Friedel were snapped up for minimal fee
Manchester United may have Ryan Giggs skipping towards
his forties but they have not looked fresher since his generation
stormed the first team. That is down to Phil Jones, Chris Smalling
and David de Gea, together with the promotion of Danny Welbeck and
Tom Cleverley.
Even for money-no-object Manchester City, age is
everything. City have bought four players, the oldest of whom is
Gael Clichy at 25 and the most expensive of whom is Sergio Aguero,
aged 23. Next could be Samir Nasri, aged 24.
With this trend developing, it is hardly
surprising Arsenal’s squad is under attack from other clubs. Youth
is the first requirement but, thanks to Arsene Wenger’s
philosophy, youngsters at the Emirates are road-tested at the top
level.
What price a senior international like Jack
Wilshere when his contemporaries like Jones and Connor Wickham can
command such enormous fees?
The flipside is that a glut of established
players of undisputed quality are up for sale but stuck on the
shelf with the transfer deadline just a week away.
Collateral damage is most striking at City, where
an urgent team building programme has produced a bloated squad of
overpaid players, many no longer needed by Roberto
Mancini.
Managers still value experience. Plenty would
like Emmanuel Adebayor, Shaun Wright-Phillips or Craig Bellamy but
financial sense is winning the argument and fewer clubs are
ready to stump up the asking price for players the
wrong side of 26 with minimal resale value. Fewer still can
afford their wages.
Scott Parker is 30, paid £80,000 a week and
valued by West Ham at £7m. These figures have no appeal in
today’s market — even for a club of Chelsea’s financial clout
— so a first-choice England midfielder plays in the
Championship.
Arsenal are flush with cash and want Phil
Jagielka from Everton, a club who could use the money, but
Wenger steadfastly refuses to pay over the odds for a
29-year-old defender.
Within the riddle there are young players like
Nedum Onuoha and Nicklas Bendtner who have been told they can leave
their clubs but who earn wages which are obstructing any
transfer.
As the deadline of Wednesday, 31 August, 11pm
looms, teams will clamour to cut deals, dropping the asking price
or negotiating loans for those they would prefer to
shift.
Spurs swallowed a massive loss to move Robbie
Keane to Los Angeles Galaxy earlier this month because they wanted
elbow room on the payroll and within the squad limits.
The Premier League’s 25-man squad rules,
introduced last year to encourage more home-grown players, have
reinforced this vibrant market for youth.
If bigger, wealthier clubs want to take advantage of
their financial muscle and carry extra players they can do so, but
this excess must come from a group of players under the age of
21.
For a player of that age to play a significant
role in the first team, they must be top quality, which usually
means they cost a small fortune. If they are English, the premium
is greater still.
Last season, the Premier League reported an increase
of 28 per cent in the number of on-pitch appearances by
English players aged under 21 (59 players made 616
appearances compared with 55 making 483 in the previous
campaign).