I saw an article during the week that Nathaniel Chalobah is
now on £35,000 a week. Whether the statistic is correct or not it is clear that
youngsters are given wages that are too high with Chalobah yet to make a big
impact on a premier league first team. I saw Chalobah play last season a number
of times and it is clear that the boy has big talent but that is all it is at
the moment. Put yourself in Chalobah’s shoes, I don’t know what wages he was on
before he signed his new contract but I’d be shocked if it was above £3,500 a
week which of course is a still a large wage by society’s standards. The point I’m
trying to make is that Chalobah was probably quite comfortable living on his
previous wage, and it being increased by around 10 times would be difficult for
anyone to comprehend and it certainly makes it difficult for players to stay
grounded. If you were living comfortably off a wage and it got increased by 10
times, you’d probably want to spend the increase in wages and lead a more
lavish lifestyle, it’s human nature. Young footballers don’t have a clue what
to do with £35,000 a week and that is the key reason for the unnecessary lavish
lifestyle footballers lead but it’s difficult to blame them for doing so. The
wage could make Chalobah think that he’s made it and ironically that could lead
him further away from making it as an England star. Chalobah’s case is common
amongst the big clubs of England. There is evidence of this in the case of Nile
Ranger, whilst I’m not saying that Ranger had the ability or potential of
Chalobah it is shown that his problems at Newcastle started with a big money
new contract. Whilst he’d had problems at other clubs, his problems had died
down upon joining Newcastle before his 5 year contract. Similarly, I see the
same potentially happening with Raheem Sterling who has already been involved
in off- the pitch problems since his new contract. Clearly, I’m not saying that
every youngster who gets a big new contract causes trouble off the pitch, but
it is a very big ask for youngsters to ignore their new found riches and to
live the same life as they did before. I saw an article in the Newcastle Journal about Newcastle blaming youngster James Tavernier for celebrating his new contract with a new car, but I wouldn't say that is an unexpected reaction to having a new contract. It’s difficult to blame anyone for their role in these affairs. For example, if Chelsea hadn’t offered Chalobah a huge wage increase, it’s possible
he could have gone elsewhere with Arsenal showing an interest, this doesn’t
shock me as Chalobah has huge potential and I think he could make it at the top
level given the chance, Chelsea need to make sure to protect their investment I
understand that. Clearly Chalobah is not going to ask for less money as that is
not how most people work. The solution I think that could be used is some sort
of universal wage cap on players, that until they have played over a certain
amount of professional games, say 100 they should not be allowed such money,
and then move the pay scheme up gradually not by giving players huge wage
rises.
Secondly the length of the contract causes problems. Again
taking Chalobah’s example as an 18 year old, he has a 5 year contract. If
Chalobah becomes a first team regular at Chelsea within a couple of seasons
this will not be an issue. However, if it so happens that in two years time, Chalobah
has still not got a path to the first team, then it becomes complex and let’s
face it, that is quite possible as Chelsea do not have the best record for
bringing through young players. In an ideal situation, Chalobah would leave to
another premier league club, and at 20 would still have time to make it as a
star. However, with a 5 year contract,
Chelsea would demand a big fee for him and the wages will mean that it would be
costly for a potential bidder and it is likely to put off other premier league
clubs. Therefore, it is possible that a cluster of loan spells will be all a
youngster has to show by the time he is 22 or 23 when he would eventually leave
the club. Whilst I’ve seen fans argue that the best youngsters will rise to the
top , many of the youngsters that were so talked about have barely progressed
at all. Josh McEachran is one such example. Whilst he is only 20, he was talked
about as Chelsea’s star of the future only a couple of years ago but he hasn’t
stepped up at all. He hasn’t impressed in loan spells and is probably as far
away from the Chelsea first team as ever and he probably needs a move to fulfil
his undoubted potential and it’s not too late for him. But guess what, he has
given a 5 year contract meaning he has another 3 years left on his contract, another
2 or 3 years without first team football would mean it will be too late for him
to become a world class player as he was once hyped to be. Team’s would have to
pay a decent sum to sign him and his wages may be quite expensive. People argue
Chalobah is the best thing to come through the Chelsea academy in years, but
they argued the same about McEachran only 2 years ago.
On the flip side of this,
Ross Barkley may finally be given a chance to fulfil his potential at Everton
which is really pleasing to see, I felt that it may be time for him to move on
after a couple of unsuccessful loan spells but due to Martinez’s faith I can
see him thriving and this shows that sometimes youngsters just need a run of
games and a manager that believes in them. Andy Carroll is a good example, he
was almost sold by Newcastle for £1million but upon relegation Newcastle were
forced to rely on him. In the first half of the championship season he was
average at best. The second half of the season saw him take off and the rest is
history. A number of years ago Glen Johnson was sold by Chelsea at a young and
Portsmouth took the chance and he has become one of the best right backs in
England. For that to happen now, it takes a huge gamble due to the length of
contracts and high wages being offered to young players. It means a high net
cost for clubs. Liverpool had to pay £12million to sign Daniel Sturridge and
must people at the time thought it was a waste of money, its turned out to be a
very good signing but how many managers would have taken that chance? The funny
thing is that Sturridge would probably be Chelsea’s top striker now, but they
didn’t give him a run of first team games in his best position and it meant
that Sturridge’s career had to be saved by Liverpool.
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