It finally looks like the Wilfred Zaha saga is over, after months of speculation and rumours it appears that only one club were really that interested. Manchester United are said to have agreed a deal with Crystal Palace in the region of £15,000,000 – Shocking I know. Whoever values our young English talent nees to take a good look at themselves, a good look.
Not only is the sizeable figure damaging to a clubs bank account, but it can seriously damage a player career. We, as inpatient English football fans, expect too much too soon. Two or three good performances for a young English midfielder and the media think they’ve unearthed ‘The New Paul Scholes’ – it doesn’t work like that.
We as a nation need to nurture the young English talent that is found, we needn’t rush them but let them grow naturally as players. In most cases, it seems that after a promising season for a young footballer, they are snapped up by a bigger side and made to sit on the bench and sometimes to play at reserve level.
This doesn’t only happen at club level, in the national side young players are in the under 21 side for almost no time at all before they are hastily called up to the first team – sometimes they bypass the under 21’s altogether. But how many times has this actually worked? With the exception of Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere not many have actually succeeded. Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Jack Rodwell, Jordan Henderson have all been called up too soon and are now vying for spots at this years under 21 European championships.
Money is infecting the English ame and a solution needs to be put into place, not only to save our league but to create a national side that may one day replicate ’66.