I have never been an advocate of spending big bucks for potential english players.If we want to comply with the homegrown rules,we already have plenty of homegrown talent.Kelly,flanagan,carragher,gerrard,spearing.
We could argue that shelvey and henderson have about the same potential.But look at the difference in their prices.We missed out on phil jones.But do we not have martin kelly who has about the same talent?How much did he cost?
Lets just take a look at barca.Their spine is made of catalans.Xavi,iniesta,busquets,puyol,valdes.They hardly cost 55mil like what we paid for downing and carroll.
if anything we should aspire to follow barca's model.Build a strong spine with academy players who are most likely to be scousers.Then add foreign flair to the team.English players are not know for their flair.Can you tell me who was the most skillful english player in the last decade?I don't think there was anyone better than joe cole.And that says alot of about english flair.
Paying 20million for downing 35 million for carroll is huge mistake in my opinion no matter how you try to sugar coat it.Carroll i believe was a panic buy and i cannot blame the club much for it.Downing was a gamble considering we wanted to play to carroll's strength.It's turned out to be a huge disaster.I pity carroll as he is the scapegoat for everyone despite him playing very few games and receiving poor service.
Irony is that all our best players bought either in summer or last january are not english.
Sigh.This is anfield has become this is drawfield.