Jamie Carragher wants no foreign players in English Sports Academies

Jamie Carragher

“Academies should be for our kids, give them a chance,” quotes Carragher, former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher. He stated this because, according to him, England has stopped producing world class players for the national side and he believes the importing of foreign players to the academies in England is the reason behind it.

Carragher’s disappointment was clear in his interview to The Independent. According to him, the top Premier League clubs find foreign youngsters far cheaper to buy than the best English talent and so they go in for the foreign product.

“Academies should be for our kids and if you buy foreign players they should be for the first team,” said Carragher, who has represented Liverpool in 737 matches. “I don’t think it should be made easy for players to get into your first team. The foreign players have been brilliant for this country.

“But it’s at the stage now where reserve and youth teams are full of foreign players and what chance do young players have if they can’t get into the youth or reserve team? Let’s give them that chance to show a manager what they can do and then ask, are they ready?”

With a declining number of English players in the Premier League, there is a detrimental effect on the England team, for which Carragher believes some strong action is required.

He concluded: “You can buy a young foreign player for £250,000 but you’ll buy 10 of them and think one of them will probably do well , as things are, clubs take these players and say, ‘If it doesn’t work out at the end of the day it only cost us £250,000.’ If I was in a youth team and Liverpool bought the French Under-18 captain in my position, that would deflate me.

“I don’t think it’s that good for the foreign players either leaving home at 15 or 16 without their family and friends, adapting to a new style of football. I just don’t think it works.”