[caption id="attachment_704" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="Bargain Baggie: Peter Odemwingie was a steal at £1m."]
[/caption]Of course, a transfer fee does not dictate the quality of the player, often there is a positive correlation between the two but it is not directly indicative. Players like Peter Odemwingie, signing for a mere £1m for West Brom was a much more efficient player last season than the much more expensive Mario Balotelli, signing for Manchester City for around £24m. There are countless other examples but many examples can be found comparing a cheaper foreign equivalent of an overpriced English player.
Let's look at the list of players that have been called up to the England international squad within the past 12 months that cost their clubs at least £10,000,000 (these are the total fees, so include add-ons, bonuses, etc.):
| Player | Club | Fee | Date |
| Ashley Cole | Chelsea | £25,000,000 | 2006 |
| Rio Ferdinand | Manchester United | £29,100,000 | 2002 |
| Glen Johnson | Liverpool | £17,500,000 | 2009 |
| Joleon Lescott | Manchester City | £22,000,000 | 2009 |
| Frank Lampard | Chelsea | £11,000,000 | 2001 |
| Gareth Barry | Manchester City | £12,000,000 | 2009 |
| Stewart Downing | Liverpoool | £20,000,000 | 2011 |
| Michael Carrick | Manchester United | £18,600,000 | 2006 |
| James Milner | Manchester City | £26,000,000 | 2010 |
| Theo Walcott | Arsenal | £12,000,000 | 2006 |
| Ashley Young | Manchester United | £15,000,000 | 2011 |
| Jordan Henderson | Liverpool | £20,000,000 | 2011 |
| Andy Carroll | Liverpool | £35,000,000 | 2011 |
| Wayne Rooney | Manchester United | £25,600,000 | 2004 |
| Jermaine Defoe | Tottenham Hotspur | £15,750,000 | 2009 |
| Peter Crouch | Tottenham Hotspur | £10,000,000 | 2009 |
| Darren Bent | Aston Villa | £24,000,000 | 2011 |
| Jermaine Defoe | Tottenham Hotspur | £15,750,000 | 2009 |
| Total | £354,300,000 |
A whopping £354,300,000 for just 18 players – that’s just short of £20,000,000 per player. Now there are often big money moves in the world of football, the top 4 highest transfer fees have occurred within the past 24 months too – £80,000,000 on Cristiano Ronaldo, £56,500,000 for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, £55,000,000 for Kaka and £50,000,000 for Fernando Torres but it is English players who appear most in the list of large transfers within this period.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the 4 aforementioned players have proven themselves over the years, whereas some of the recent large English transfer deals do not share this sentiment.
Andy Carroll’s £35,000,000 to Liverpool came after a very good first half of the season – let’s remember that he was playing his trade in the Championship the previous year and was offered out to various clubs for around £1m at around that time.
[caption id="attachment_705" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="Unproven?: Henderson's big money move to Liverpool has come under fire."]
[/caption]Another player which meets this criteria is another Liverpool signing – Jordan Henderson for £20,000,000 from Sunderland. Henderson had a near full season at just the age of 19 in 2009/10 for Sunderland and continued this into the following season with a string of performances that showed promise. However, few would’ve suggested that he would’ve been leaving the North East club for such a large figure come the end of last season.
There’s no doubt these players have promising futures ahead of them and often risks like this can pay off, but if these players were not English there would be a significant difference in the transfer fee paid. One prime example would be Javier Hernandez – a promising striker, farily unproven, but signed for a mere £7,000,000 – would this have been the case if he was English?
It’s worth arguing the fact that players like Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Ashley Cole would’ve commanded as large a fee as any other player of their quality when bought. It is only recently that English players have consistently commanded the larger fee’s, but what has brought on this sudden influx?
1. Home-grown player rules
As of the 2010/11 season, the home-grown player rule was enforced on the Premier League. This rule states that there must be at least 8 home grown players declared in the 25-man squad for the season, any less than 8 players would lead in a deduction to the 25-man squad. 8 players roughly equates to a third of the squad, which is not a huge amount, but if UEFA and Michel Platini have their way there is no doubt that this number will rise.
Premier League teams have always been able to attract foreign talent as it is one of the most established leagues in the world but with the requirement of English players, the big spenders have been forced to cast their scouting nets more locally. Other clubs are aware of this and we have your standard GCSE taught example of supply and demand.
[caption id="attachment_706" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="Home-grown: Walcott was one of only two English players for Arsenal between 2006 - 08 seasons."]
[/caption]Previously, Arsenal used to be the club who were ridiculed for having so few English players, for example in the 2006/07 & 2007/08 season they started just two English players in their league matches - Justin Hoyte and Theo Walcott. This figure has steadily grown over the years since with more youth products making their way through the ranks at the Emirates but the lack of an "English backbone" that was present in their invincible's team is still one of Arsenal's main criticisms.
However, Arsenal also employ a tactic of buying young that can be used to get around the home-grown rule over time. If a player has been with the squad for at least 3 years before their 21st birthday then this gives them the status of "home-grown" - something that Cesc Fabregas qualifies for. A workaround, but not an instant fix.
This is no doubt the key reason that English players command a more expensive fee than foreigners, because they are essential, but other factors could also contribute to their fees.
2. Settling In
Another factor can be how well a player settles. It may not add £10m onto a transfer fee, but if a club can be reassured that a player will instantly settle to his surroundings then his talent and morale will be unaffected plus for younger players there should be no hindrance on their development.
With English players they have already experienced the style of play of the Premier League and they are always within a reasonable commute of their nearest and dearest.
Therefore the "settling in" factor can be split into 2 sub-sections;
a) On the pitch
"He wouldn't cut it in the Premier League" - a quote often heard by old school British fans of the game, often attributed to skilful, foreign players (and often with a hint of jealousy). As clichéd as it is, there is a valid point there. Take your Andrei Shevchenko's, your Diego Forlan's or your Juan Sebastian Veron's. These are players who had immense talent at their previous clubs - they didn't simply lose this talent when they started plying their trade in the Premier League.
Whether it's the pace of the game, the physicality or even the occasional volatile behaviour of the fans which make a player not perform up to scratch, they can all have an affect.
We all probably know what happened to those three aforementioned players after leaving the Premier League, but let's remind ourselves. Shevchenko moved back to his home country after Chelsea and is near on retaining an expected 1 goal in 2 game ratio for Dynamo Kyiv - the club where he started his career, arguably at home and settled.
[caption id="attachment_708" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="Happy at Home: Veron's move back to Argentina is proof that players excel when settled"]
[/caption]Juan Sebastian Veron also returned to his first club, Estudiantes, and has reaffirmed critics and fans alike of his talismanic abilities in midfield. Once again, at home and settled.
Finally, Diego Forlan moved to Villarreal after his stint at Manchester United and since he's moved to Atlético Madrid. He also did alright at the last World Cup too - Golden Ball winner and joint top scorer, not bad for someone who "can't cut it in the Premier League" eh? Granted, Diego Forlan is not at his first club, Independiente, or back at home in Uruguay but you can't deny the fact that he's settled in Spain.
b) Off the pitch
Despite popular opinion, football players are people too. They have wives, they have children, they have private lives - if any of these things are put into disharmony then the subsequent affect on their morale can cause problems on the pitch.
[caption id="attachment_709" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="Unsettled: Tevez has made it public that he wants to be closer to home."]
[/caption]The key example of this theory is Carlos Tevez. Tevez has been in the Premier League for almost 5 years now after his shock move to West Ham and subsequent transfers to both sides of Manchester. In his fleeting visit to East London I can't recall him complaining about his surroundings but it did take him time to adapt to the British game (not to the point where I would've placed him in category a) though).
It was only until Tevez's move to Manchester that the off pitch drama began. Tevez has been consistently linked away from Manchester City since around December 2010 where he voiced his concerns about the distance he has from his family and would prefer to be closer to his home country of Argentina.
This is an understandable burden that you would not wish upon anyone, but sometimes the passionate football fan forgets that their idols in the pitch have lives outside of football and problems in their private lives suddenly become a case of disrespecting the club. Fans grow anxious, the player wants away, and madness ensues. All credit where credit is due to Tevez however, as he has maintained his talent on the pitch fantastically, for a person who obviously does not want to be in England.
3. The Fans
The final source of the "English Premium" can be attributed to the fans and the expectation of the manager. The majority of fans that will come to each home and away game for a Premier League club will be based in or around the club's home city or town. Subsequently that means that they will most likely be English (with the exception of Swansea City, of course). Therefore as a proud Englishman would prefer to see your team be a key source to the national squad, or possibly have the majority of the squad being born and bred in the city or town? This is a huge generalisation but one which does have some validity for the run of the mill football fan.
Once again linking to Arsenal; fans and pundits alike criticise the Gunners squad for having a severe lack of British players which has materialised rumours of the club looking to buy British players such as Gary Cahill, Roger Johnson or Scott Dann - suggestions which the fans also echo.
[caption id="attachment_710" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="True Red: Neville is the perfect example of a local club hero."]
[/caption]Fans also idolise the local lads in a team. Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Alan Shearer, Gary Neville, the list goes on - but all will remain close to the hearts of their local teams that they played for.
So with so many potential contributors to the rising fees of English players, does it justify their price tags? We can only speculate, because English or not, a football player can only justify their price tag on the field.
