da supremo：
da apostebet： The Premier League has an obsession with transfers. Every summer and every January fans await eagerly to see who their club will sign to drive them on to new success. Fans watch Sky Sports News waiting for a glimpse of a potential signing visiting the club’s training ground, they read the gossip columns to see has been linked to their club. Discussing who your club should sign in a pub is an enjoyable activity, whilst watching a big transfer flop generates much glee from rival fans. Pity the poor Gunners fans who had to withstand the barrage from their Chelsea supporting friends during Francis Jeffer’s inglorious time at Arsenal. All teams have examples of bad transfers, it is an inevitable by-product of large expenditure. The solution to a club’s problems is almost invariably seen as either new transfers, or a change of manager; but maybe this shouldn’t always be the answer.
It is easy to see why club’s think transfers will solve their problems, and in many cases it can do so. Big spending Chelsea and Manchester United have dominated the Premier League in recent years, and Manchester City are trying to emulate them. Tottenham Hotspur have had a large transfer outlay in recent seasons as they tried to gain a Champions League place; and they have ultimately been successful, for one season at least. It is easy to see why club’s lower down the league try to mirror this model. Yet there are pitfalls. Pinning a club’s hopes on one big money signing is always risky, and does not always work out. The temptation to overspend is always there, and damage that can do can be seen in the examples of Portsmouth and Leeds United, both of whom spent large sums of money on players. During these periods of expenditure, it is true that both of these club’s experienced success, but perhaps a more long-term view would have brought far greater benefit to these clubs. The Premier League’s obsession with transfers has also arguably had a detrimental effect on the English national team, as youth development has often been neglected, leading to a lack of quality English players plying their trade at the top level.
If a club does not want to spend huge amounts of money, the alternative is to develop a good youth system at the club. A good academy can bring great reward to a club. Manchester United saw David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville play huge roles in the success of the club, and all were developed by the club’s youth system. In the early 2000’s West Ham United developed players such as Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Michael Carrick, all of whom have gone on to successful careers and brought in big transfer fees for the club. In Europe, Barcelona have unearthed gem after gem and created a massively successful side built mainly around players developed in their academy, whilst arch rivals Real Madrid have attempted to buy their way to European success and have so far been found wanting. Arsene Wenger has looked to youth in recent seasons, and all though it hasn’t yet yielded a title the club has continued to play the Champions League football that is now so important. Of course some transfers are necessary, but if a Premier League club wishes to have long-term success, they may want to invest their money in their academy this summer rather than a big money transfer.
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