- Oct 1, 2005
- 2,918
- 5,299
Motivated by the 'sell Lennon for £20m we could replace him with [insert name of player from abroad who you've seen twice in a match and several times on youtube] and the constant JD bashing and whining about how we should get someone else in I took a look at our appearances list.
Current players by appearances, league and total:
Ledley King 254 307
Jermain Defoe 211 273
Aaron Lennon 178 244
Michael Dawson 172 239
Tom Huddlestone 124 180
Benoit Assou-Ekotto 116 154
The top five current players, in terms of appearances are all home grown British players. If you look at the list of premier league appearances the first 14 are from the UK or Ireland.
It seems that if we buy British we have a better chance of keeping the player for the long term, and therefore although the transfer fee may be higher, there are almost certainly considerable transaction fee savings over the long term.
Not sure why this should be...
They may be more attached to the club, and feel more settled than their foreign counterparts?
Given that British players feel less inclined to move abroad their options for moving are less?
Even so, it seems to make the suggestion that we get rid of a long term player who is doing a job for the team seem more ill thought out when whatever replacement you manage to attract may well not be as committed to the club and be looking to move on in a season's time.
On an unrelated note
Sol ****bell 255 315
Ledley King 254 307
we need to get at least 9 more games out of those knees!
Current players by appearances, league and total:
Ledley King 254 307
Jermain Defoe 211 273
Aaron Lennon 178 244
Michael Dawson 172 239
Tom Huddlestone 124 180
Benoit Assou-Ekotto 116 154
The top five current players, in terms of appearances are all home grown British players. If you look at the list of premier league appearances the first 14 are from the UK or Ireland.
It seems that if we buy British we have a better chance of keeping the player for the long term, and therefore although the transfer fee may be higher, there are almost certainly considerable transaction fee savings over the long term.
Not sure why this should be...
They may be more attached to the club, and feel more settled than their foreign counterparts?
Given that British players feel less inclined to move abroad their options for moving are less?
Even so, it seems to make the suggestion that we get rid of a long term player who is doing a job for the team seem more ill thought out when whatever replacement you manage to attract may well not be as committed to the club and be looking to move on in a season's time.
On an unrelated note
Sol ****bell 255 315
Ledley King 254 307
we need to get at least 9 more games out of those knees!