Premier League transfers broke all records this season with expenses of up to £630 million having been incurred. This was only the tip of the iceberg however since this kind of expenditure not only existed at the first level but extended through all leagues in football. There has been a general rise in the amount of money that clubs use to acquire players, including the young ones whose talent seems promising.
These young players go through the academy system of training where they sharpen their skills. It is apparent that expenditure of this kind has had a positive effect as seen by the results shown by Leicester City. It has now started competing effectively with established academies that have huge budgets on player acquisition and training.
It is becoming more apparent that football is big business with first level clubs offering more money to recruit hot potential talent. City boys have started reaping the benefits of being in top tier football that involves big spending. The increasingly competitive bidding between the clubs and the recruiting agents has had a toll on City this season. City’s academy team has suffered defeats to many teams with an international standing such as Manchester City, Manchester United, Everton and Aston Villa.
The development team fared slightly better in their campaign. They scored a convincing 2-1 victory over Stoke last week. This win put them in the 11 top teams in this Premier League. They will have to try hard to retain their position when the league splits towards the end of the season. The losers will be classified in the bottom half and the top division will retain all the top teams.
The victory against the Stoke side is particularly sweet for them because the Stoke team had players like Jamie Ness, Mo Edu and Brek Shea who was acquired for a £2.5 deal, the American international. Jamie Ness and Mo Edu are former Rangers players. Steve Beaglehole, Development Manager, also agreed that expenditure had risen of late at the youth and development level. Football, which has always been big business just, seems to be getting bigger.