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The British Premium

As the Gareth Bale saga rumbles on, I can’t help but wonder why do football clubs pay such extortionate prices for players who are “British”? The figure widely quoted in the press is that Real Madrid will pay Tottenham £86 million for Bale, PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year in the same season. This price is extraordinary. It seems more extraordinary when you consider that Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid in a deal worth £80 million.

Let’s compare the two players briefly. Bale last season made 44 appearances in all competitions and scored 26 goals and was single-handedly responsible for Tottenham winning a number of games. Ronaldo, on the other hand, scored an incredible 55 goals in 55 appearances for Real Madrid, double the amount Gareth Bale scored. So why is Gareth Bale destined to become the world’s most expensive player? Because he is British!

It seems to be an unwritten rule that if a footballer is British, their transfer value is well in excess of their actual real value. Bale is not alone in having his value overinflated due to his nationality. Andy Carroll moved from Newcastle United to Liverpool in a deal worth £35 million, making him the most expensive British footballer in history, having only scored 12 Premier League goals in his career. Stewart Downing moved to Liverpool from Aston Villa in a deal worth £20 million, Downing went on to register no goals or assists in his first season at Liverpool. James Milner joined Manchester City from Aston Villa in a deal worth £24 million, again an overinflated price tag. It is worth noting that both Carroll and Downing subsequently have moved on from Liverpool having failed to live up to their price tags and being sold on at a considerable loss to Liverpool.

Back to Bale though. Bale had an outstanding season at Tottenham, but I can’t help but feel that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is an excellent negotiator. He has a history of selling his club’s prized assets for high prices to the big clubs and turning a huge profit. Bale was purchased by Tottenham for £7.5 million in May 2007 and six years later Tottenham stand to make nearly £80 million in profit on this deal. Simply because he is British, Bale was not the top goal scorer in the Premier League last season; he was outgunned by both Luis Suarez and Robin Van Persie. Therefore, surely Suarez and Van Persie must be worth more than Bale? No. Figures quoted in the press were that Suarez was worth in the region of £40-50 million despite scoring more goals than Bale and being an accomplished international with Uruguay.

It would seem this premium on British players has been prevalent for many years and personally I fear it will be for many more to come.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Macdonald .