Tweet
Too many people in football are afraid to take a chance on young players. Regular readers of this column will know I’ve been saying for some time Dele Alli is different class and I’m so pleased he did well for England in difficult circumstances this week.
There are people who don’t want to hype him up or say it is too early to see his quality at the highest level but anybody who watched that game could see he is a superb talent — tenacious in the tackle, excellent on the ball and all capped off with a top attitude.
It would be interesting to see all the reports on Alli from the so-called good judges who work for the Premier League clubs. Tottenham paid £5million for him in the end, which is nothing. It is an amazing buy. He’s worth at least £20m now if not a lot more. And Spurs had a clear run at signing him!
Why didn’t anybody else go for him? I bet if you went and asked these scouts or recruitment heads, they would trot out the line: “Oh, well I told the manager he was a top player but he didn’t want him.” But in truth those reports must have been full of negatives.
Player Ratings: England vs France
28
show all
As I’ve said before, my goalkeeping coach Kevin Hitchcock at QPR went to watch his son play at MK Dons last year and came back every week telling me Alli was an absolute genius. He scored goals, made assists and was League One Player of the Year. Tottenham stole him for £5m.
I never tried to sign him then because we were struggling all year and were just in for short-term fixes but it shames the recruitment networks at the top clubs — who could think further ahead — that they didn’t go in for him. Why didn’t Arsenal sign him? Don’t tell me Chelsea shouldn’t have bought him for £5m. What’s £5m to Manchester United, especially with the way they throw their money around now? Okay, Liverpool did show some interest but for, whatever reason, did not follow it through.
Look at John Stones at Barnsley. We tried to sign him at QPR but Everton went in — how did they nick him for £3m in January 2013? Where were all the recruitment ‘experts’ who have taken control of signing players away from managers nowadays?
It’s fine being a head of recruitment at a top club paying £20m for a superstar. Any mug can do that.
Go and pick a kid up from a lower division club. That’s when you earn your money in recruiting players. You are supposed to be qualified to identify a talent at a young age. It is easy to go and pay a fortune for some player already starting to show his best.
Take Callum Wilson at Coventry. I had people watching him for a long time and they always said to me ‘nah Harry, he can’t do this, can’t do that’ and he ended up going to Bournemouth last summer for £3m. You wouldn’t get him for anything like that now.
READ MORE
Tottenham's Dele Alli insists he's not thinking about Euro 2016
These young English players are down there but have the scouts and recruiters got the bottle to put their name to someone? That’s what it comes down to. They need to go back to the manager, be decisive and say: “He’s the real deal.”
With Alli, it was only Tottenham who did that. The rest of them sat on the fence and didn’t push their clubs into buying him.
We underestimate English players. Look at the France team on Tuesday. It was obviously a difficult game for them so forget their performance but look at them more generally in pure football terms. Hatem Ben Arfa was booted out by Newcastle yet he started for them and we say individually France have better players than us all over the pitch. The likes of Ross Barkley, Raheem Sterling, Stones and Alli are great individual talents and we should believe that.
We have to back our young players. Of course, with potential there is always the chance it could go wrong but there are clear signs we have a core group of youngsters not fazed by each challenge before them. The next one is to do it consistently for the season and then to deliver at Euro 2016.
Full credit should go to Mauricio Pochettino. He has thrown kids in at Spurs and they have thrived. Okay, they bought a couple of them in but basically Pochettino has developed a group of young players by giving them the self-belief to go and fulfil their potential. If only more people had that bravery.
It's time for Blues to give kids a go
RubenLoftusCheek.jpg
There's already talk of Chelsea trying to spend their way out of trouble in January but how do they find top quality ready to make an instant impact?
Who do you buy? The best players are at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid and they won’t leave.
I don’t know where they are going to go to get better players than the ones they have now.
One report suggested they could go for Saido Berahino from West Brom. Is he going to improve their team? I don’t think so.
They should only go for proven quality at the highest level and it is hard to sign players like that at the best of times but especially in January.
Nobody lets anyone go if they have a chance of making the Champions League or winning the title somewhere. They rarely have long enough to get anyone in.
Chelsea have enough strength in depth. Cesc Fabregas looked a world-class player again for Spain so maybe he will come back full of confidence and have a run where he produces his old form for Chelsea.
And they have plenty of kids in the reserves and players out on loan. Why not give some of them a go?
The transfer market may provide the answer but it won’t be easy.
Night when football did the world proud
FranceFlag.jpg
Everybody involved in England’s friendly with France on Tuesday night emerged with nothing but credit.
Shocking attacks like those witnessed in Paris on Friday evening seem to be happening more and more across the world. It is a horrific reality for everyone.
Thankfully, both sets of players and all the supporters came together and the tributes were very moving.
England managed to concentrate on the game and you imagine in the huddle they had just before kick-off, Wayne Rooney would have been telling them to turn in a performance for the fans who had braved the tension around the fixture to come and watch.
It was inevitably going to be harder for the French players.
The actual game was irrelevant but their bravery in playing was rightly recognised by everybody in the stadium and watching at home. Football did the world proud.
More about: Dele AlliTottenhamChelseaFootballHarry Redknapp
There are people who don’t want to hype him up or say it is too early to see his quality at the highest level but anybody who watched that game could see he is a superb talent — tenacious in the tackle, excellent on the ball and all capped off with a top attitude.
It would be interesting to see all the reports on Alli from the so-called good judges who work for the Premier League clubs. Tottenham paid £5million for him in the end, which is nothing. It is an amazing buy. He’s worth at least £20m now if not a lot more. And Spurs had a clear run at signing him!
Why didn’t anybody else go for him? I bet if you went and asked these scouts or recruitment heads, they would trot out the line: “Oh, well I told the manager he was a top player but he didn’t want him.” But in truth those reports must have been full of negatives.
Player Ratings: England vs France
28
show all
As I’ve said before, my goalkeeping coach Kevin Hitchcock at QPR went to watch his son play at MK Dons last year and came back every week telling me Alli was an absolute genius. He scored goals, made assists and was League One Player of the Year. Tottenham stole him for £5m.
I never tried to sign him then because we were struggling all year and were just in for short-term fixes but it shames the recruitment networks at the top clubs — who could think further ahead — that they didn’t go in for him. Why didn’t Arsenal sign him? Don’t tell me Chelsea shouldn’t have bought him for £5m. What’s £5m to Manchester United, especially with the way they throw their money around now? Okay, Liverpool did show some interest but for, whatever reason, did not follow it through.
Look at John Stones at Barnsley. We tried to sign him at QPR but Everton went in — how did they nick him for £3m in January 2013? Where were all the recruitment ‘experts’ who have taken control of signing players away from managers nowadays?
It’s fine being a head of recruitment at a top club paying £20m for a superstar. Any mug can do that.
Go and pick a kid up from a lower division club. That’s when you earn your money in recruiting players. You are supposed to be qualified to identify a talent at a young age. It is easy to go and pay a fortune for some player already starting to show his best.
Take Callum Wilson at Coventry. I had people watching him for a long time and they always said to me ‘nah Harry, he can’t do this, can’t do that’ and he ended up going to Bournemouth last summer for £3m. You wouldn’t get him for anything like that now.
READ MORE
Tottenham's Dele Alli insists he's not thinking about Euro 2016
These young English players are down there but have the scouts and recruiters got the bottle to put their name to someone? That’s what it comes down to. They need to go back to the manager, be decisive and say: “He’s the real deal.”
With Alli, it was only Tottenham who did that. The rest of them sat on the fence and didn’t push their clubs into buying him.
We underestimate English players. Look at the France team on Tuesday. It was obviously a difficult game for them so forget their performance but look at them more generally in pure football terms. Hatem Ben Arfa was booted out by Newcastle yet he started for them and we say individually France have better players than us all over the pitch. The likes of Ross Barkley, Raheem Sterling, Stones and Alli are great individual talents and we should believe that.
We have to back our young players. Of course, with potential there is always the chance it could go wrong but there are clear signs we have a core group of youngsters not fazed by each challenge before them. The next one is to do it consistently for the season and then to deliver at Euro 2016.
Full credit should go to Mauricio Pochettino. He has thrown kids in at Spurs and they have thrived. Okay, they bought a couple of them in but basically Pochettino has developed a group of young players by giving them the self-belief to go and fulfil their potential. If only more people had that bravery.
It's time for Blues to give kids a go
RubenLoftusCheek.jpg
There's already talk of Chelsea trying to spend their way out of trouble in January but how do they find top quality ready to make an instant impact?
Who do you buy? The best players are at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid and they won’t leave.
I don’t know where they are going to go to get better players than the ones they have now.
One report suggested they could go for Saido Berahino from West Brom. Is he going to improve their team? I don’t think so.
They should only go for proven quality at the highest level and it is hard to sign players like that at the best of times but especially in January.
Nobody lets anyone go if they have a chance of making the Champions League or winning the title somewhere. They rarely have long enough to get anyone in.
Chelsea have enough strength in depth. Cesc Fabregas looked a world-class player again for Spain so maybe he will come back full of confidence and have a run where he produces his old form for Chelsea.
And they have plenty of kids in the reserves and players out on loan. Why not give some of them a go?
The transfer market may provide the answer but it won’t be easy.
Night when football did the world proud
FranceFlag.jpg
Everybody involved in England’s friendly with France on Tuesday night emerged with nothing but credit.
Shocking attacks like those witnessed in Paris on Friday evening seem to be happening more and more across the world. It is a horrific reality for everyone.
Thankfully, both sets of players and all the supporters came together and the tributes were very moving.
England managed to concentrate on the game and you imagine in the huddle they had just before kick-off, Wayne Rooney would have been telling them to turn in a performance for the fans who had braved the tension around the fixture to come and watch.
It was inevitably going to be harder for the French players.
The actual game was irrelevant but their bravery in playing was rightly recognised by everybody in the stadium and watching at home. Football did the world proud.
More about: Dele AlliTottenhamChelseaFootballHarry Redknapp
Comment