- Jun 8, 2004
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I think the only young English player who has gone to Chelsea or City in the last decade or so and actually been a success has been Joe Hart. Pretty much every other player has been an overwhelming failure.
James Milner, Joleon Lescott (not a complete failure), Joe Cole all did alright. To be fair to Rodwell he has suffered badly with hamstring injuries as much as anything.... Which players that have gone to city and Chelsea have actually been massive failures (Sinclair, )?
We have just as big a record of ruining players that were extremely promising: Dean Parrott, Lee Mills, Calum Davenport, Wayne Routledge, John Bostock are the few I can think of. Only under Poch/Sherwood can we say we are bringing through a number of academy players.
For any young player there is a big risk in going to a big team for a pay day. Ultimately if they are good enough and motivated enough they will make it. The state of the England teams of the last 10 years says we haven't produced enough talented players to fill every top premier league team.