Is it ethical the way football clubs take smaller clubs talent?
Wilfried Zaha moved from Crystal Palace to Manchester United in the summer of 2013. Originally bought in by Sir Alex Ferguson, Zaha has made just two appearances for The Reds under new manager David Moyes, leaving him to sit on the bench.
When Zaha moved to Manchester United for a fee of £10million, potentially rising to £15million, Crystal Palace let their top star go, but were compensated with a large fee for such a young man.
This is an example of something that happens all too often in football. Yes Crystal Palace have been compensated by a bigger club buying one of their top players, but now this talent, instead of playing regular football in the Premier League, is left to watch from the side-lines.
It is a common part of the game. The top teams send scouts to watch players at teams in the lower levels of English football, the top teams buy these players and then leave them on the bench or out on loan, stopping the players development.
Is it fair on the smaller clubs? Is it fair on the footballer’s that have been sold?
“It’s frustrating when you’re a perceived to be smaller club and you spend this time bringing through kids and developing coaches to be as good as they possibly can, and then the big clubs come along”, said Mark Devlin, CEO of Brentford Football Club.
“The new EPPP system is tilted in favour of the bigger clubs and as a club ourselves we decided to meet it, rather than just assume they are going to come along and nick our best players. If our coaches are good and the way we look after our players and their families is smart then players will want to come to us even though they may initially be attracted to the more glamorous clubs.”
When Zaha moved to Manchester United for a fee of £10million, potentially rising to £15million, Crystal Palace let their top star go, but were compensated with a large fee for such a young man.
This is an example of something that happens all too often in football. Yes Crystal Palace have been compensated by a bigger club buying one of their top players, but now this talent, instead of playing regular football in the Premier League, is left to watch from the side-lines.
It is a common part of the game. The top teams send scouts to watch players at teams in the lower levels of English football, the top teams buy these players and then leave them on the bench or out on loan, stopping the players development.
Is it fair on the smaller clubs? Is it fair on the footballer’s that have been sold?
“It’s frustrating when you’re a perceived to be smaller club and you spend this time bringing through kids and developing coaches to be as good as they possibly can, and then the big clubs come along”, said Mark Devlin, CEO of Brentford Football Club.
“The new EPPP system is tilted in favour of the bigger clubs and as a club ourselves we decided to meet it, rather than just assume they are going to come along and nick our best players. If our coaches are good and the way we look after our players and their families is smart then players will want to come to us even though they may initially be attracted to the more glamorous clubs.”
Is it ethical the way football clubs take smaller clubs talent? Scott Field, of The FA tells us more...