Why Luke Shaw’s £30m Move to Spurs Is A Bad Idea
Over the last couple of days the papers have been reporting thats Spurs and Chelsea are interested in signing Southampton’s highly rated 18 year old left back in January, with fees ranging as high as £30m. This to me is yet another example of what is wrong with the game in this country. Players are being sold on to the big clubs before they have really had a chance to develop and for many it is spelling the end or at least a massive blip in what could have been a glittering career.
There are always success stories in transfers like this. The likes of Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are examples of players that have gone on to be successful after being big money signings from smaller sides. Ironically the selling club in all the above cases was in fact Southampton. So with this in mind it could be argued that as a club they are very good at preparing their younger players for what it’s like to play at the very top level of the British game. For all of these cases there are cases that indicate the exact opposite. We are seeing, or rather not seeing some examples of that this season. Wilfried Zaha made a large £15m move to Manchester United in January only to be loaned back to his old club Crystal Palace for the rest of the season. In his first full season at Manchester United he has failed to make a single league appearance despite impressing the fans in the club’s pre-season tour. It is more than likely that he will either languish as a squad player or spend the next several season out on loan before either being given a shot at the first team or sold to a club outside the top echelons of the Premier League. My question, is why couldn’t he have spent those season’s playing for Palace improving his game and with it supporting the team who made him the player he is? Then making the move to the large side a la Manchester United when he is proven at Premier League level and would be able to slot straight into the first team side rather than having to miss out on even a place on the bench almost every week. Zaha is certainly not alone in this plight. When Spurs signed promising youngster John Bostock from Crystal Palace almost the same thing happened. He spent several seasons out on loan but never made a single appearance for Spurs. He now plays in the Belgian second division. We may hear of him again one day because he is still young but it’s plain to see that his development was not helped by transferring to a big club at such an early age. Wouldn’t his career have been much better off just staying at Palace?
Last season saw the transfers of Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell to Manchester City in big money deals. We can only assume that the club thought they would be players for the future. Despite the fact they were already performing well for their respective Premier League clubs. Of course last season neither of them really made any impact and only made 23 appearances between them, most of which came as substitutes. Sinclair finds himself out on loan again. At this point in his career you can’t imagine he’d want to be out on loan. Especially when he was already settled at a club and performing well. Money talks and players listen, they seem to value all the extra zeros on the end of their paychecks more than the careers they could have that would enable them to earn the big money later on in their careers if they put the work in.
For Luke Shaw i would imagine things going a very similar way if he was to make the move to Spurs. Who have already forked out £107m on player this season alone. Would he be able to get first team action? Would it be the best move for his career in the long run? Would he want to make a move to a club that could conceivably finish lower than his current club Southampton this season if things carry on going the way they are going? I do however feel that if he does leave the South coast in January or the summer he may be better prepared than some of the other young signings in recent years thanks to his time at Southampton. A better move for him would be to Chelsea. Ashley Cole will not be able to hold down the first choice left back spot there for much longer and Shaw could be the perfect replacement, but i think another season of Premier League football under his belt at Southampton first would be a big help to his career. Especially with Southampton enjoying the success they are having at the moment.
I believe it won’t be long until we are hearing the same kind of speculative transfer stories surrounding the likes of James Ward-Prowse also of Southampton and the West Brom’s Saido Berahino. The latter of which has been very impressive this season and has seen the club offer him a new contract worth in excess of £15,000 per week. That may sound like a lot of money for a player of his age, but i personally think it’s better for him to get that money from West Brom than it is to get it at any of the big clubs and never play for them. It is also much better for the English national team in the long run as more young players would be staying put during the early parts of their careers. This could potentially lead to them becoming world beaters without their growth being stunted by a lack of playing time.
About the Author
SYC Matt A football fan just like the rest of us. Battling with the usual ups and downs that come with supporting one of the less glamorous teams. Crusader for footballing justice.
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