The £35 million transfer of Andy Carroll seems to have started something of a trend when it comes to what myself and many others would describe as paying over the odds for young home grown talent, with three big money moves for England's supposed future stars being completed already in the forms of Phil Jones, Ashely Young and Jordan Henderson.
When Carroll made the move from Tyneside to Merseyside there weren't many that agreed with the hefty price tag that came along with him, but that hasn't stopped Reds boss Kenny Dalglish from splashing the cash once again with Jordan Henderson joining his ranks for the small price of £20 million this summer.
Henderson seems to be somewhat of an unproven player, due in no small part to the fact that he has only just turned twenty one, with Sunderland being his only club to date aside from Liverpool, and not having much of an impact on the England under 21's recent poor campaign at the Championships in Denmark. Yet because he is a young English player a seemingly ridiculous transfer fee has to be paid. His move has come at almost the exact same time as Kevin Nolan's £3 million transfer to West Ham, peanuts compared to Henderson's fee, yet Nolan was the top scoring English midfielder in the Premier League last term.
Liverpool's bitter rivals Manchester United have followed suit in paying big for English youngsters with centre half Phil Jones, another player not long home from Denmark, joining Sir Alex Ferguson's side from Blackburn Rovers for a reported £16.5 million. Many United fans aren't even sure who Jones is, whilst others are wondering why he is needed with young defenders Chris Smalling and Johnny Evans already plying their trade at Old Trafford. Another point raised is that the general consensus among football fans is that Chris Samba is the star defender at Ewood Park and perhaps he is the one who deserves a big money move. Then again, who is anyone to question how Sir Alex goes about business?
Another new face at Old Trafford is Ashley Young, who arguably has already proven his worth with what he has done for Aston Villa the past few seasons, but at the age of twenty five and something in the region of £20 million being paid for him he has to also fall into the category of one of England's future stars, and again someone you would think is surplus to requirements with Nani, Antonio Valencia and Ji-Sung Park all playing regularly for United on the wings.
Ferguson definitely has an eye for a bargain, Javier Hernandez, Cristiano Ronaldo and the previously mentioned Nani just to name a few, but he has also been known to spend a lot of money on players he has faith in and you would be hard pushed to find a time when one of those decisions has completely back fired on him.
England isn't the only place where clubs are demanding massive transfer fees without having had to have proved much. Alexis Sánchez of Chile has caught the eye of many of Europe's top clubs, but Udinese are unwilling to let the twenty two year old leave the club for anything less than £40 million! Elsewhere no one is a stranger to Barcelona's pursuit of Cesc Fàbregas as the Catalan club continue to haggle over the price of Arsenal’s captain, in what must be becoming the longest transfer pursuit in football history.
It would seem nowadays if you are young, and most of the time English, you don't have to have done much for your asking price to be, in some cases, astronomical. And let's be honest, judging by some of the talent England has produced in recent years and the continuous disappointment in major tournaments, you wonder why managers are placing so much faith and risking so much money on this latest crop of youngsters.