Rationing of the expats – Why don’t we see more British Players Abroad

Rationing of the expats

Today I am going to look into an age old debate – Why don’t we see more high profile British players plying their trade at top teams abroad?

I have often wondered would Frank Lampard be able to smash in 20 a season in Spain or would Wayne Rooney’s powerful game be as effective – And most importantly will we ever get to find out?

So many Brits succeeded abroad in the past – Lineker, Keegan, Lambert, Francis, Platt, Waddle etc. But what has changed nowadays?

I’ll cut to the chase, it’s obviously for financial reasons . . .isn’t it? Well I believe that finances play a massive part in it, but surely there’s more to it than just plain finances. I mean there are a lot of wealthy clubs out there with money to burn, why aren’t they buying British?

Yes of course there is/was David Beckham. But he was a one off. When he signed for Madrid, they signed him for one reason only – He is a money making, media spinning, one man machine. It was reported that Madrid made a tidy sum of  €560 million Euro from  Beckham-related merchandising alone. Beckham is a model-professional both on and off the pitch. What current British player is in the media for the right reasons nowadays?

Culture

It could just simply be that Brits don’t travel well? Ian Rush famously said of his time in Italy ‘Was like living in a foreign country’. Most British footballers can’t even speak fluent English, let alone another language. They are comfortable in their homeland and why would they want such a culture shock?

No end product

Could it be because they simply aren’t good enough? Seriously. When was the last time a British national team won a major trophy?

Yes I know that in the past few season’s there has always been a British club there or there abouts in the Champions League, but what percentage of their team were British in comparison to say Barcelona’s team is Spanish?

The academy system over here is a farce compared to most. We simply aren’t producing enough top class youngsters. Or more like, we do have the talent, they just aren’t being given the chance to shine on the big stage. Why would a foreign club break their balance and smash their wage structure when they can get success from cheaper alternatives (Academy, Africa, South America . . .)

Can the same be said elsewhere?

You can of course say the same about all of the other European Nationalities as well. Pepe Reina, Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres are the only three players in the current Spain squad playing abroad. Giuseppi Rossi is the only Italian playing our of his homeland and still in the Italian squad. The ratios are similar in most of the other countries too, There are a couple of exceptions though – most of the French and Dutch team play abroad. But why? It’s simple, their leagues aren’t strong enough to keep their top players there. This brings me to my conclusion.

My personal view is that we don’t see Brits abroad because the Premier League is too strong. Both financially and competition-wise. I do not think we will ever see a mass exodus of Brits mainly because of the current climate that we are in with footballers being disgustingly overpaid. They are treat like kings over here, close to their families and if they are at a top club, chances are they will get a pop at the National squad.

These are just a couple of ideas. I didn’t want to write too much and make your eyes bleed. But what I want to know is – What are your thoughts on this matter – Why don’t we see many top Brits abroad?