The most expensive un-capped English players

[Andy Jones]

Senior appearances rather than youth level..

• Jordan Ibe (£15M) Kopshites to Bournemouth
• Patrick Roberts (£12M) Fulham to City
• Connor Wickham (£10M) Sunderland to Crystal Palace
• James Tomkins (£10M) West Ham to Crystal Palace
• Dwight Gayle (£10M) Crystal Palace to Mags
• Nathan Redmond (£10M) Norwich to Southampton

Any others?

 

[BigDunc9]

Lookman. 7.5 million.

 

[Ivor Ballokov]

Benik Afobe to Bournemouth was £10m too I believe.

 

[Robbie Boy]

What a fecking waste of money Ibe has been for Bournemouth. Also, how teams have spent actual money on Wickham is beyond me.

 

[Andy Jones]

Lookman. 7.5 million.

The lad is only 19 to be fair and has only played, 3 or 4 games at the top level. Plenty of time for him although the Nigerian FA seem to be sniffing around him very early on.

Benik Afobe to Bournemouth was £10m too I believe.

Did Afobe not pledge his alleigence to Congo not so long back? Sure the FA got a bollocking for delaying the paperwork being sent to them.

 

[Ivor Ballokov]

The lad is only 19 to be fair and has only played, 3 or 4 games at the top level. Plenty of time for him although the Nigerian FA seem to be sniffing around him very early on.



Did Afobe not pledge his alleigence to Congo not so long back? Sure the FA got a bollocking for delaying the paperwork being sent to them.

Did he? Ah well, I'll take half a point.

 

[Rossa]

Wasn't Wickham touted as a big talent? He's big and strong, and...?

 

[Robbie Boy]

Wasn't Wickham touted as a big talent? He's big and strong, and...?

Aye, he broke into the Ipswich team as a 16 year old and the hype reached epic levels when he scored a hat trick when he was 17.

He was regularly linked with the likes of Liverpool when he was younger. A classic case of a player that was physically developed quite young leading to massive overrating. He's basically never developed further. Still amazingly only 23!

 

[Andy Jones]

Wasn't Wickham touted as a big talent? He's big and strong, and...?

I liked Wickham when he played for us. He was badly managed by Bruce and O'Neill at the start of his time with us. Having paid £9M for us, we should have either

• A) Give him opportunities to play games for us and develop at a decent speed.
• B) Loan him out as soon as we signed him, let him develop at his own speed without the pressure and spotlight on him.

We did neither, we just let him sit on his arse and play the odd U21 game here and there, making the numbers up on the bench. He went to Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds on loan for a while, scored goals and put in some excellent performances. We brought him back, played him straight up through the middle and he scored the goals that kept us in the league with 6 goals in 3 games. Everybody thought that it was finally the start of something for him, we clamoured for him to be given the opportunity to be the main man through the middle. He ended up playing out wide to accomodate Fletcher or Altidore and he still put in some good performances before we ended up flogging him to Palace.

I'd still have had him here to be honest. When he's fit and played in his correct position then he's a very good player.

 

[Andy Jones]

Aye, he broke into the Ipswich team as a 16 year old and the hype reached epic levels when he scored a hat trick when he was 17.

He was regularly linked with the likes of Liverpool when he was younger. A classic case of a player that was physically developed quite young leading to massive overrating. He's basically never developed further. Still amazingly only 23!

Unbelievable really. Spent 4 years with us.

 

[Rossa]

Aye, he broke into the Ipswich team as a 16 year old and the hype reached epic levels when he scored a hat trick when he was 17.

He was regularly linked with the likes of Liverpool when he was younger. A classic case of a player that was physically developed quite young leading to massive overrating. He's basically never developed further. Still amazingly only 23!

There are lots of players like that who develop physically ahead of schedule, sort of, and then they disappear when others catch up to them. That's one of the many reasons judging young talents is very difficult. You can have the physical specimens that are found out at senior level because then everyone is big and strong, and then you have the technical geniuses that you hope will develop physically but never reach those levels and thus are only great technically. You need a little bit of both.

 

[Rossa]

I liked Wickham when he played for us. He was badly managed by Bruce and O'Neill at the start of his time with us. Having paid £9M for us, we should have either

• A) Give him opportunities to play games for us and develop at a decent speed.
• B) Loan him out as soon as we signed him, let him develop at his own speed without the pressure and spotlight on him.

We did neither, we just let him sit on his arse and play the odd U21 game here and there, making the numbers up on the bench. He went to Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds on loan for a while, scored goals and put in some excellent performances. We brought him back, played him straight up through the middle and he scored the goals that kept us in the league with 6 goals in 3 games. Everybody thought that it was finally the start of something for him, we clamoured for him to be given the opportunity to be the main man through the middle. He ended up playing out wide to accomodate Fletcher or Altidore and he still put in some good performances before we ended up flogging him to Palace.

I'd still have had him here to be honest. When he's fit and played in his correct position then he's a very good player.

He could probably do a pretty decent job at a team like Sunderland. I haven't watched him that much, but I do recall him being hyped quite a lot. He's never impressed me much other than him being big and strong.

 

[Andy Jones]

He could probably do a pretty decent job at a team like Sunderland. I haven't watched him that much, but I do recall him being hyped quite a lot. He's never impressed me much other than him being big and strong.

I thought he had the potential to be a very good PL player. When he was with us, he had all the attributes of being a big target man, 6 foot plus, good in the air, strong etc. He has a very good turn of pace too which never seems to be highlighted. He's technically very good on the ball. Remember him getting the ball on the half way line a few times, turning and really driving towards goal with the ball. He's capable of scoring goals which he proved with us saving us from relegation.

I was disappointed when we let him go. I honestly do think that if he sorts out whatever problems he has with injuries, fitness or attitude that has held him back then he can get a few England caps. Allardyce clearly rates him as he tried to sign him a few times when he was at West Ham.

 

[Rossa]

I thought he had the potential to be a very good PL player. When he was with us, he had all the attributes of being a big target man, 6 foot plus, good in the air, strong etc. He has a very good turn of pace too which never seems to be highlighted. He's technically very good on the ball. Remember him getting the ball on the half way line a few times, turning and really driving towards goal with the ball. He's capable of scoring goals which he proved with us saving us from relegation.

I was disappointed when we let him go. I honestly do think that if he sorts out whatever problems he has with injuries, fitness or attitude that has held him back then he can get a few England caps. Allardyce clearly rates him as he tried to sign him a few times when he was at West Ham.

His pace is probably a little underrated - I was positively shocked when he raced away from Smalling - must have been suffering a knock - so he can't be slow. He's strong, decent in the air, but I don't think that's enough if you want to make it in the PL. Is he tough enough? If you want to be one of those big strong strikers in the PL you need to be tough as nails, and you have to have decent technique. Drogba wasn't just strong, he was fast, technically pretty good and had the vision to see players making runs. If your hold up play consists of Fellaini-passing-the-ball-back hold-up play, then you just won't cut it.

 

[Andy Jones]

His pace is probably a little underrated - I was positively shocked when he raced away from Smalling - must have been suffering a knock - so he can't be slow. He's strong, decent in the air, but I don't think that's enough if you want to make it in the PL. Is he tough enough? If you want to be one of those big strong strikers in the PL you need to be tough as nails, and you have to have decent technique. Drogba wasn't just strong, he was fast, technically pretty good and had the vision to see players making runs. If your hold up play consists of Fellaini-passing-the-ball-back hold-up play, then you just won't cut it.

That's the £10M question. Is he tough enough not only physically but mentally too? Is he capable of handling 6 foot plus 12 stone centre halves trying to batter him, does he have the desire to keep improving and being the best that he can be or does he think that because he has had 2 £10M Premier League transfers by the time he's 23 that he's made it?

 

[Pat_Mustard]

Francis Jeffers seems to have received his solitary senior England cap after joining Arsenal for £8 million in 2001, the bag of shite.

 

[R.N7]

Dean Richards £8.1m

 

[Gopher Brown]

Dean Richards £8.1m

God, didn't realise he was dead.

 

[giorno]

That's the £10M question. Is he tough enough not only physically but mentally too? Is he capable of handling 6 foot plus 12 stone centre halves trying to batter him, does he have the desire to keep improving and being the best that he can be or does he think that because he has had 2 £10M Premier League transfers by the time he's 23 that he's made it?

That's the thing, really. Physical CF like him need to be so tough it's the CBs who will be scared of bumping into him rather than the other way around. Look at Drogba, look at Zlatan, those guys don't wait for the CB to batter them, they go after the CBs first

 

[RamblingRebel]

I don't think that's enough if you want to make it in the PL. Is he tough enough? If you want to be one of those big strong strikers in the PL you need to be tough as nails, and you have to have decent technique. Drogba wasn't just strong, he was fast, technically pretty good and had the vision to see players making runs. If your hold up play consists of Fellaini-passing-the-ball-back hold-up play, then you just won't cut it.

Ruud Van Nistlerooy did alright doing this.

 

[Rossa]

Ruud Van Nistlerooy did alright doing this.

It's been a while, but wasn't he pretty eager to play one two's? He would make a simple pass and then run behind the defense, usually scoring a goal. There were, however, many who thought our play was boring with him in the side...

 

[RamblingRebel]

It's been a while, but wasn't he pretty eager to play one two's? He would make a simple pass and then run behind the defense, usually scoring a goal. There were, however, many who thought our play was boring with him in the side...

Yeah pretty much this, although itd be unfair on him to say thats all there were to his game. He was a fantastic player imho. In fact, Im struggling to think of a CF/lone striker in the history of UTD who Id choose above him.

 

[Treble_Winning]

It has been known for some time now that English players cost a premium, for no other reason than their nationality. It's quite bizarre. But it just goes to show how badly England as a country has failed in developing high quality talent.

 

[JulesWinnfield]

It has been known for some time now that English players cost a premium, for no other reason than their nationality. It's quite bizarre. But it just goes to show how badly England as a country has failed in developing high quality talent.

It's not actually true though, premier league players in general just cost more. Unlike other countries clubs really don't need to sell their players so anyone they fancy keeping you really have to make it worth it for the club. Hence you get people like Dejan Lovren moving for 25m and Moussa Sissoko for 30m, Bolasie for 27m.

 

[Treble_Winning]

Sure those are pretty high fees you mentioned there, but what about Sterling and Stones, who were just totally out of proportion to their actual quality?

And this isn't even a recent phenomenon, it's been going on for awhile. Remember the Andy Carroll transfer to Liverpool? That was quite a joke, he cost them more than Suarez!

 

[JulesWinnfield]

50m for Sterling isn't really any different though given his potential, and age when he was signed. He's already a far better player than say Bolasie is, yet alone taking into account future potential. Likewise for the hard time given to Stones, age is a big factor in his price.

Carroll signed on deadline day after they sold Torres for 50m, I don't think he's really a fair representation given they were obviously desperate for a replacement. Even then a couple of years later someone like Bony for 28m was scarcely better value for money.

If you want players from English clubs, waiting till they're a name to sign them is always going to leave you paying through the nose, regardless of nationality.