The Best Soccer Clubs Want Proven Players, Not Home-Grown Talent

Europe’s top soccer league spent 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) on player transfers this year. That record for spending came at the expense of the home-grown players coming up with their clubs’ systems, new research suggests.

Across European soccer’s top divisions, fewer than one in five players is playing for the team he came up with, the lowest since Switzerland-based CIES Football Observatory began tracking the data in 2009. In England’s Premier League, soccer’s wealthiest national division, the number is closer to one in 10.

It’s the result, critics say, of an explosion of money at the top of the sport, riches that allow the wealthiest to buy players from the relatively less rich at a greater rate than ever before. In the latest off-season, for example, Manchester City spent more than 100 million pounds on Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne, two young attacking players. The players’ former clubs in turn used that windfall to buy talent from rivals.

“Youth academies are going to become obsolete at this rate,’’ said Theo van Seggelen, general secretary of global players union FIFPro. “We need a rethink: we need a model where clubs have a real incentive to develop young players.”

The English Premier League ’s 1 billion pounds bill for player transfers in 2015 made up 40 percent of the global transfer market. Some 65 percent of its spending went toward players from outside of the U.K. The EPL will spend even more money next year following the start of its 5.14 billion pounds ($7.8 billion) television contract, which will deliver an average of 81 million pounds ($123 million) to the league’s 20 teams.

For its part, the Premier League says it remains committed to developing more -- and better -- English players, but that if British kids want to play for the top teams like they ought to step it up. “Ultimately, players have to be good enough and have the right mental attitude, like in all sports, to make it to the elite levels of football,” a league spokesman said in a statement.

Poorer leagues and countries are caught in the tides as well. In Italy and Turkey home-grown talent represented just 9 percent. In only one of the 31 countries surveyed -- Belarus -- number of home-produced players made up more than a third of the roster on first-team squads, according to the researchers.

For the players union, the new research is one more knock on the transfer system, which it is challenging in court, saying it is anti-competitive. “This new report clearly underlines that the transfer system fails one of its five objectives, the training of young players,” van Seggelen said.

Man City manager has made mistakes, but there are no excuses

He had, perhaps, the most frightening attacking armoury that English football has ever seen. The strength in depth itself was frightening. So it’s not like Manuel Pellegrini is trying to fashion a treble-winning strike force out of twigs and sellotape.

But given the injuries up top, Manchester City are very grateful that FIFA’s latest intervention into club football has given them an international break to get their heads – and various limbs and muscles – together.

Wilfried Bony will be out for a while with a hamstring injury. But the noises are that Sergio Aguero will be unleashed for the Liverpool game just after the break.

That news either has City fans foaming at the mouth in eccentric happiness, or it has them gasping in disbelief and hoping it’s all paper talk. Aguero’s importance to Manchester City can barely be overstated, and surely his fitness is worth more than three points a season to Manuel Pellegrini. Why, then, would you want to risk his recovery by rushing him back for the Liverpool game when it might risk that? This has happened time and time again with Aguero. It’s all about risk-reward. Rushing him back might gain you a point or two short-term, but it probably costs you much more than that long-term.

So City fans will be hoping that if Aguero is indeed in the starting lineup against Liverpool, it’s not because there’s no one else available.

Yet the criticism of Pellegrini at the moment is that he left himself open to this kind of situation by getting rid of Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic over the summer and not replacing them. Or at least not replacing them with other strikers.

That’s the key. He did replace them. He replaced them with Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne. Surely you’d have to consider that an upgrade?

Pellegrini spent the summer overhauling the squad, turning it into one where he could frequently play with only one striker rather than the two up front he’d gone with for most of the season.

That’s not simply a case of changing personnel, adding one midfielder and bringing in a striker. It’s a case of adding a fluidity to the squad. Not an easy task.

Aguero and Bony give different options in the striker’s role, but the fluidity of the front four gives Pellegrini extra ways in which to make the difference when things aren’t going to plan. Just like now.

Over the past few weeks, in the absence of Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne has gone up front at times. Bony was withdrawn in the Manchester derby (in every possible sense of the word) and De Bruyne moved into a central attacking position. The same thing happened in the home game against Sevilla, where Raheem Sterling was also used in a central role in the first half alongside Bony.

So when Pellegrini was building his squad this summer, letting go of the big strikers he had wasn’t necessarily an imprudent mistake. He seems comfortable with putting De Bruyne up front on his own, actually pushing him up there at the expense of the also-fairly-expensive striker Wilfried Bony.

No manager should be expected to foresee for injuries to three players of the caliber of Bony Silva and Aguero all at once. It’s unfair to blame the manager for that. But Pellegrini should have foreseen some sort of problem there. Aguero has muscles made of chocolate and Wilfried Bony had malaria!

Yet the fact he seems so comfortable playing Sterling and De Bruyne in the striker’s role strikes me as evidence that he saw that as a possibility all along.

The injuries Pellegrini has had to deal with are not ideal, but Pellegrini is far from having to create something out of nothing. He built his own squad knowing its limitation, he made his own bed, and now he has to sleep in it. He’s not working with twigs and sellotape this season.

Man City: Patrick Roberts poised to shine after learning from the best

The Manchester City youngsters has settled well at the Etihad and has the chance to perform in familiar surroundings at the CFA for England Under-19s.

Patrick Roberts has to pinch himself on the training field as he struts his stuff alongside Manchester City’s world stars.

The young winger’s summer move from Fulham, which could be worth up to £12 million, slipped under the radar slightly as the Blues spent big money on Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne.

However the 18-year-old has been involved with the first-team squad and has already made three first-team appearances.

And Blues fans can get to see him in action on his home patch again when England’s Under-19s take on Japan at the City Football Academy tomorrow.

Roberts is loving life with City.

He said: “There was definitely a moment of getting on to the training pitch and looking around at some of the players like Aguero and thinking ‘wow, he’s my team-mate’.

“Even now I get that. It’s just been really good.

“It’s a step up in terms of size and stature from Fulham – and I’m really enjoying it. “

Roberts in action

Despite being amazed at their ability, Roberts says all the players have made him feel welcome.

“When I got to City I must say Joe Hart, Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph were all brilliant with me,” he said.

“I guess that’s because of the English connection, but they really helped me settle in and feel right at home straight away.

“David Silva was also really good to me, he came up and starting talking to me straight away.”

His first appearance came in the Blues’ pre-season’ friendly against Real Madrid in front of more than 100,000 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground which was ‘incredible’.

David Silva

He said: “The manager spoke to me before the game and told me I’d have a few minutes.

“Myself and Fabian had only just come off the flight so it was only ever going to be a short amount of time on the pitch, but it was incredible.

“There were about 100,000 fans inside the stadium, screaming and shouting. An unbelievable experience – some game.

“Ronaldo and Bale had just come off before I went on unfortunately. But regardless of that, to be playing against Real Madrid in my first game for City was very special.”

Roberts is set to line-up for England under-19s against Japan on Sunday, the first international to be held at the Blues Academy Stadium at the CFA.

Roberts in action

He said: “Lots of people say it’s the best training complex they’ve ever seen – and that’s from people who have trained at elite facilities all over the world.

“The stadium itself is as good as any stadium around, so it will be a great place to host England.

“We will have to be at our peaks – both technically and athletically – to ensure we get something from the game.”

De Bruyne relishing return of 'amazing' Silva

After helping Manchester City score eight goals in their two starts together, Kevin De Bruyne is keen to link up with David Silva again.

evin De Bruyne is relishing David Silva's return to the Manchester City side following the international break

Belgium attacking midfielder De Bruyne has started just two games with Silva since joining for a club-record fee from Wolfsburg in August due to the Spaniard's injuries.

City won both of those matches - against Newcastle United and Borussia Monchengladbach - scoring a total of eight goals, and City manager Manuel Pellegrini said last week he was hopeful of Silva making a comeback for the visit of Liverpool on November 21.

Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri are also targeting returns ahead of that game following hamstring injuries.

Asked about Silva by City's official website, De Bruyne said: "On the ball he is amazing.

"He can do everything and dictate the tempo of a game from start to finish, so he's a great player to have when you want to control the game – I'd say that's one of his best traits.

"He has great vision, can find anyone with a pass and it is great to have him as a team-mate. Obviously we are all looking forward to his, Sergio and Samir's return as soon as possible."

De Bruyne leads Belgium past Italy in first game as FIFA No. 1

BRUSSELS - Kevin De Bruyne scored one goal and added an assist in Belgium's 3-1 victory over Italy which underscored its position as FIFA's top-ranked team and further established it as a leading challenger for next year's European Championship.

After Antonio Candreva gave Italy an early lead, Belgium came back with goals from Jan Vertonghen, De Bruyne and Michy Batshuayi in a sparkling performance.

By the end of game, Belgium was toying with the Azzurri, a four-time World Cup winner clearly looking in need of rebuilding ahead of next year's tournament in France.

Belgium, meanwhile, continues to impress with a cast of players that dominate the English Premier league and have a big impact in the French and Italian leagues too.

And even in the absence of injured goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, Simon Mignolet proved he is an adequate replacement with several key saves when the game was still tight.

"I have an excellent goalie," Belgium coach Marc Wilmots.

Italy took the lead in the third minute when Graziano Pelle tested Migolet with a low drive and Candreva swooped in ahead of the flatfooted Belgian defence to slot home the rebound.

But the Azzurri couldn't live up to their reputation for being the best to protect any lead. After 13 minutes, De Bruyne placed a curling corner kick on the forehead of the unmarked Vertonghen and the bouncing header from the defender left Gianluigi Buffon with no chance.

And in the 74th, Leonardo Bonucci gave away the ball in defence and De Bruyne capitalized by bouncing it past Buffon.

Belgium capped its comeback when Yannick Carrasco and Batshuayi combined through the centre for another excellent goal.

"The spirit of the group is perfect," Wilmots said. "Collectively, we kept our cool, came back, and won."

The game came to a complete halt in the 39th minute, when the sellout crowd started applauding for the 39 mostly Italian victims of the 1985 Heysel drama who scrolled across the public address screens. The King Baudouin Stadium is the rebuilt Heysel Stadium, where fan violence at the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus killed 39 people.

In the second half, Italy came closest to scoring when Eder hit the underside of the bar in the 61st minute before a slew of substitutions by both sides.

It was Belgium's first game as leader in the FIFA rankings but Wilmots treated it very much like a preparation game for next year's Euros with several experiments. In the absence of captain Vincent Kompany, the defence often looked wobbly, especially with Trabzonspor's Luis Pedro Cavanda insecure on the right.

Italy was without the injured Marco Verratti and is struggling to find a replacement at playmaker, meaning the 36-year-old Andrea Pirlo could still play a major role in this team.