With arguably the most competitive and financially backed league in the world, it seems slightly odd that England doesn’t really produce the best home-grown talent compared to our competitors, on an international level. Sure England are, somewhat mysteriously, currently ranked 4th in the world, but after failing to perform in major competitions it seems common place to talk about our country’s inability to nurture world-class talent.
However, recently there appears to be a new wave of talented individuals coming into the England ranks whom, if guided in the right way, could have a real career and international future ahead of them. Amongst others, one of the major influences in bringing young English players to the forefront at a top level recently has been Sir Alex Ferguson.
His decisions to invest in home-grown talent with the likes of Ashley Young, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones has given these players the chance to prove themselves to be candidates for places in the national side. Maybe Young had already made a name for himself and cemented a place in England’s first team before his move, but his partnership with Wayne Rooney at the start of the season for Manchester United looks to be a great one for England and one that could grow as they work together on a weekly basis.
Not only this, but Ferguson has given opportunities to Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck, who were by no means guaranteed a place in the United line-up before the season began. But by giving these players a chance at the highest level, it offers them a perfect platform to try to advertise themselves as emerging international options. In a sense, Sir Alex is doing some of the work for the English national team scouts and Capello in bringing new players forward and demonstrating what they can do, without leaving them to try to gain attention at lower clubs.
Bringing these players together on the same centre stage has made it easier for Fabio to see how they can work with each other. If Cleverley and Welbeck were left on the bench, it reduces the options for England because it becomes very tricky to judge potential players without decent knowledge of their capabilities on the pitch and where they are at in terms of development.
Not only does it give the players a great shout at getting into the England team in the future, but it gains them experience playing with their potential future team mates before being thrust into an international fixture. In an attack which we want to be coordinated and ‘on the same wavelength’, it’s great to see the likes of Young, Rooney, Cleverley and Welbeck all playing clubs football together. Rather than for example, leaving Tom waving his arms in the air trying to be seen at a club like Wigan on loan, or Danny Welbeck warming up a bench on the side of the pitch, it instead gives them a chance to develop a style of play together and learn how to better create pacey attacks.
With players such as Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Michael Carrick at the club, the new breed of English talent coming through also have old hands to learn from to blend into the team. They’ve been to major international competitions and played in big games, thus having gained the experience and understanding about how to balance international and club football responsibilities. Even lesser known squad members such as Ravel Morrison and Ben Amos, who have both won England caps at youth level, will hopefully be spurred on to try and emulate the achievement of others.
The atmosphere, facilities and personnel at Manchester United are probably the best for any young England hopeful to benefit from on their way to international success. Alex Ferguson has to be given credit for this, particularly looking at who he has nurtured in the past with David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Nevilles. With the money at his disposal this summer and the speculation surrounding purchases of big names like Sneijder, Sir Alex has mostly kept faith with English contingent, which could be of great benefit to the national side.
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