Liverpool FC: Why Even Overpaying for British Talent Might Be Good in Long Run

In the footballing world, every team faces the need to loosen its purse strings every now and then to dip into the transfer market to get the players that the team deems necessary for improving its fortunes on and off the field.

However, over the past couple of seasons, one has seen a number of clubs ready to pay a lot more than what most people would feel is appropriate for the player.

One understands when it happens for top players in the world like Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso or Carlos Tevez.

However, the recent trend seems to suggest that British players, nowhere near the class of the players mentioned above, are commanding similar transfer fees.

The most shining examples of the above seem to be the recent transfers of Darren Bent and Andy Carroll worth £24 million and £35 million respectively.

One is a 27-year-old striker who is far from being the best striker in England, let alone amongst the best in the world, and another is a youngster who just has half a season worth of credentials in the Premier League.

Liverpool FC seem to be at the forefront of that queue with reported interest in players such as Ashley Young, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing with transfer fees of over £15 million being quoted for each one of them.

So, why are teams bending over to get unproven British players when they can get better and proven players for the same amount?

One can only think of two possible reasons.

One, to get the English flavor back into the top teams in England, which for some reason was starting to wane over the past decade.

However, the second and more important reason seems to be the gathering pace of the movement to get more and more British players playing in the Premier League.

One does not need to a footballing genius to see that major teams in the League had started to get a foreign flavor to them. Liverpool started looking like a Spanish team, Arsenal like a French one and Manchester City like a World XI. 

Hence, there is a growing feeling among people that due to the large number of foreign players playing in the Premier League, the development of British players is being hampered.

That was one of the primary reasons for the eight homegrown players rule that came into effect in the 2010-11 season. 

Until people see a rise in the fortunes of the English national team in prestigious competitions like the Euro and the World Cup, that momentum is expected to continue.

Since the number of quality British players is limited, it might be wise to get British talent before the transfer fees are inflated beyond one's reach.

Another minor advantage of pursuing this strategy is that the team would be able to recruit players who have Premier League experience. There have been many great footballers who have found the going tough in the Premier League like Shevchenko and Forlan.

Along with targeting players for the first team, Liverpool also seem to be ready to splash the cash to get promising youngsters on their books.

Raheem Sterling, signed from QPR last year, is already one of the most exciting 16-year-olds in the country. Connor Wickham, another promising youngster from Ipswich, seems to be on Liverpool's radar as well.

Liverpool are also investing heavily in their youth setup with a very visible strengthening of the youth program over the last five years with the arrival of Rodolfo Borrell and Jose Segura into the youth setup at Liverpool. 

A big contributor to this strategy of going after British talent seems to be the new ownership, which wants to rebuild the club on the lines of the Liverpool of old, when local talent was the backbone of the team.

Hence, by adopting this strategy, Liverpool could again lay claim to being "The British Club" with the added advantage of being safe against any future ruling with regard to the number of British players required in a squad.

So, considering all the facts, even overpaying for British players now, along with the ever-improving youth setup at Liverpool, might just turn out to be a very wise strategy in the long run.