Lets open up with a bit of total honesty here, a surely beyond dispute fact. Our big Summer signings have been bitterly disappointing so far. Give or take the odd million quid, they were Carroll at 35 million, Downing at 20 million and Henderson at 16 million. I'm certainly not going to dispute that we could have got better for the money, only a fool would do that and I aren't one of those. Nor am I going to dispute that Mata is a better player than Downing, or that Ramires is a better player than Henderson, or that Robin Van Persie is a better player than Carroll. Is it the case though that only fools buy British as some on here would suggest? I'm not so sure it is. Nor of course am I saying that we shouldn't buy from abroad either, that would be ridiculous. My point is that British transfers are only the same as any other transfers, you've just got to make sure you buy the right players in the first place.
For example. As already stated Mata is a better player than Downing, anyone can see that. That said, so is Ashley Young. The Mancs paid 4 million quid less than we paid the same club for Downing, had we signed one and not the other would we be better off? Of course we would. Was Ashley Young a bad buy at 16 million quid? Of course he wsn't. Similarly, was Phil Jones a bad buy at 16 million quid? Of course he wasn't (and lets not forget we tried to buy him too). Was Gary Cahill a bad buy at 7 million quid? Of course he wasn't.
My point is essentially that oft' stated generalisation on here that buying British is silly, (which is then used as a stick to beat Kenny with) isn't true. Look at the Manc team for example. Rio Ferdinand was a big money purchase from these shores, as was Carrick, Valencia, Rooney etc etc. In the past they bought the likes of Keane and Ince and Pallister and Bruce and Sheringham, so clearly their policy has included buying British AS WELL AS foreign.
Quite simply where players come from doesn't matter, they just have to be good players who can handle the Premiership. Buying ALL foreign probably isn't the answer, and buying ALL British isn't the answer either. Buying good players is the answer, it's really as simple as that.
It then follows that this Summer we must either buy better players, or some of the players we have bought need to start playing much better. Or both.
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