Over Hyped and Over Valued- Young English Footballers

Over priced English youngsters means they're never likely to succeed, writes Dean Mears.

Connor Wickham became the latest English youngster to make a big money move. His performances for Ipswich in the Championship has persuaded Steve Bruce to part with £13 million pounds to bring the wonderkid to Sunderland. So that's a million for every goal Wickham has ever scored.

The pressure on young Connor to succeed and repay the money spent on him will be huge, he will be expected to fill the boots of Darren Bent who was the highest scoring Englishman whilst at the Stadium of Light. At just 18 years old, Connor should be being nurtured into a superstar, somewhere like Arsenal or Liverpool, where strikers at the club could teach him more than any other coach, however he will be put straight in the thick of things and expected to succeed.

Andy Carrol and Jordan Henderson are other recent examples of young English footballers moving for vast amounts of money. Both moved to Liverpool for £20 and £30 million respectively, neither have set the world alight nor have either of them won a trophy. Carrol was on fire in the Championship, and was the top scorer in Newcastle's promotion winning team, and after only half a season in the Premiership, Liverpool deemed him worthy of a £30 million bid. (Overpricing may have been due to desperation from Liverpool for just having sold Torres for £50 million, but you must rate a player to pay that money for him.)

Henderson also had a great season for Sunderland last year, starring in their midfield with his impressive passing and assist ratio's. Talk of the Liverpool move however, must have weighed down on Henderson's shoulders, he had an extremely poor U21 tournament and left many wondering why Liverpool had paid so much money for the youngster.

Phil Jones and Chris Smalling both moved to Manchester United for fee's in excess of £10 million pounds, both showed great promise at their previous clubs, which tempted Sir Alex to flash the cash. Chris Smalling had a particularly good season covering for Ferdinand and Vidic last year, whilst Jones was extremely impressive at Blackburn, especially against the bigger sides, most notably Chelsea.

These youngsters, all cost vast amounts of money, with the expectation of Chris Smalling, none have won a major trophy or succeed at the highest level. If you compare these to Spanish youngsters who have attracted a high transfer fee's, David De Gea and Juan Mata (£17.6 and £18 million) one has won the Europa League (aged 18) and the Euro U21 Championship while the other has a World Cup Winners medal to impressive potential suitors.

English youngsters are being vastly over hyped and over valued, they shouldn't be deemed Superstars until they have succeed in the game. The transfer fees are putting far to much pressure on young shoulders who have no experience of how to handle it, they need to be nurtured and educated into making right decisions. Then they can help their club and national sides onto glory.