07 Apr 2017 10:33:09
A question for ed002 if I may?
I see a lot of transfer business happening between clubs from other countries happening quite alot. I. e. german clubs usually buying players from other german clubs and not going abroad to shop for players. But here in England we seem to mostly shop abroad for talent, do you believe this is because clubs get priced out by other clubs in England or is it due to more respect other teams have for one another in other countries or is it the buyout clauses? Sorry to throw a random question at you but was just something that intrigued me.
Many thanks.

{Ed002's Note - It is an interesting subject and there are a number of reasons - some I won't think of but I will try and provide some rationale. In terms of pure numbers (and putting aside less major leagues such as Scotland, the Championship, Cyprus and Luxembourg), the Premier League is some distance ahead of the main protagonists in Europe. Right now England has around 70% foreign players with Portugal, Belgium and Italy all around 50% to 55% and Russia, Spain, the Netherlands and France all around the 40% give or take. You would need to check the exact figures with the CIES Football Observatory reports which come out with boring statistics all too often - try not to read too much in to any you stumble across. The reasons behind this include (but are not limited to): (a) There is far more money in the Premier League so clubs can cherry pick players from around the world. (b) The Premier League is attractive because of the profile and media coverage. (c) English clubs often price English players out of a move to other English sides. (d) European sides (e.g. Italy) have to work with in a far more demanding quota system. (e) Some countries have the benefit of agreements (e.g. Spain which has the Cotonou Agreement where African and Caribbean players are not counted against non-EU quotas) that are beneficial to clubs. (f) Some countries have quotas which are game based rather than squad based (e.g. Ukraine limits non homegrown players on the pitch to seven etc.). (g) Some countries have clubs that realise players from their home nation most suit the type of game played in that country and there are benefits in terms of moving players between clubs - as opposed to taking a youngster out of his comfort zone of sunny South America to move to the grim, wet and cobbled streets Northwest of England where there would be a significant cultural change, smog, dead & dying pit ponies laying on the street, little chance of football at the highest level and only chips and fried curry to eat.

So it is a number of issues, many of which are not reflected in the data and statistical analyses you will come across - quotas, Kolpak ruling etc.. This is one of the major reasons you will never see a level playing field for the professional game - ll of these anomolies would need to be worked out before you can start to get the balance right. England would need to give up the media money it has - or all media money would need to go via FIFA or UEFA and be distributed. Then you would need to address the disparity of other income from commercial routes - and that certainly isn't going to happen.}

1.) 07 Apr 2017
07 Apr 2017 12:49:27
Can't beat a bit of fried curry 😂.

2.) 07 Apr 2017
07 Apr 2017 13:16:49
Just a note of this - the BPL number of homegrown players is bad but it is not as bad as the official figures say. This is because the official figures count the number of English players in the BPL which isn't fair because we have Welsh teams in our league as well - a few years ago our league was 10% Welsh teams! The number is actually closer to 60% rather than 70% when you count English and Welsh players.

TBH we are actually about 50-50 if we looked at all the players eligible to play for England and Wales at the start of their career - the British Isles relationship with Scotland, Northern Island and the Republic of Ireland making so many players eligible to play for multiple countries. Obviously that still puts us way behind the kind of numbers that other top leagues have, but it's not quite the unclimbable mountain of being twice as bad as them either.

{Ed002's Note - That is an entirely different matter and not the question. The figures about homegrown are nothing to do with Nationality at all. Again it is nothing to do with the British - you seem to be trying to twist my answer. It was obviously a waste of my time typing.}

3.) 07 Apr 2017
07 Apr 2017 13:52:41
Thanks for your time in such a detailed answer ed002. It was just something that took my interest as I seen bayern are getting Sule and can't remember the other player and I think they look most likely to bring in brandt. I know not many English players moved abroad and as I thought seems money is the issue. Again thanks for your answer hope you well and still provide many of us "football fans" the answer to our questions.

{Ed002's Note - Plenty of clubs organise transfers in advance of the window and they discuss options on a regular basis.}

4.) 07 Apr 2017
07 Apr 2017 15:12:51
You can get some good curries in lancs.

5.) 07 Apr 2017
07 Apr 2017 19:55:12
Thanks ed002, you're a ledge 😘
🤠.