tbh,I tend to agree with Jenks point .It isn't about bias to big n09 .It is more of bias towards proven players in your own league
No one claimed they are doing gr8 business in the transfers,but let' be honest here ,every big club in the world will have a certain bias towards players from their own league .that includes us,Bayern,PL clubs etc
They are players who are used to the language(even in english speaking language it can be problem for many foreign players) ,country & the league . so usually they can adapt more quickly.
It is just like John Stones and how Chelsea made a 50M bid just to get rejected last summer.they wanted a young CB and there was no CB in England who met those requirements more than Stones
As for Benteke ,Atletico & Juve are interested in him (probably on a bargain deal) so he might still have a chance for a career in big club.It was just his 1st year in a new club tbf
It's about bias towards proven players in their own league, I agree, but if that proven players usually share the same core quality (Carol, Benteke, Lukaku and others, big no9s with their physique as their main strenght), then the bias is actually related to that primary quality which makes them to be proven in the first place. Do you think Benteke and Carol type of players would be proven in La Liga for example. Probably not. Why? Because the qualities that are viewed as the most important in Spain are not their main strenght. They are big men that don't have the finesse and the technique to survive in a football that is tactical, and extremely technical. Unfortunately for Liverpool and other british teams, that is the football that is played right now in the world - the modern football. So, what is "Proven in PL" has become dated in world football. Nobody other than PL clubs chases "PL proven". But "La Liga proven", or "Bundesliga proven", or even "Ligue 1 proven" (see Lacazette, Dembele etc.) is desired in every top league (see Barca connected to Reus, to Lacazette, or Dembele). Do you ever imagine Bayern, Barca, Real Madrid, Atletico, Dortmund, PSG, being interested in Carol and Benteke for those prices? That will never happen, because he is viewed as not having the right skillset from the start. Benteke's skillset would not make him truly succesful in any top league except England. So, it's no surprise that a manager who came from outside of the british football culture has benched him pretty fast.
Every club has bias towards players from their own league, I also agree with that, but the problem then is about the quality of players which that league produces. Right now, having bias towards the players that play in Premier League is a loosing strategy.
Let's see Pep at City. I'd be surprised (if not shocked) if I see him sign a single player from the Premier League that would form his first 11. A SINGLE PLAYER. Premier League can only be succesful at this moment in time, by attracting top talent from other leagues. Because whatever is viewed as "PL proven" is not at the required standard to succeed in Europe. But considering the only certified top british talent left for Real Madrid not long ago, the hopes are not that high. You have to keep your golden talent first, to be able to attract the foreign talent. And when a certified class player like Di Maria signed for United, what did it happen? He looked lost, because he has arrived in a football that doesn't maximize his ability, but instead, is build on basics that does not favour him. Now, if Di Maria had Ronaldo's ambition, he would've prevailed probably and turned the odds upside down. But few players have that ambition (and let's not forget that Ferguson probably played a big part in helping Ronaldo adapt to a football that DID NOT favour him). So, when Di Maria had problems adapting, like Ronaldo also had, he didn't stay and fought it out, but left at the first chance he had.
PL proven in Premier League means Benteke with 6 goals in 6 years at the NT (not counting goals/mins. played), that's not good enough. If PL proven is not quality enough you start looking elsewere. Liverpool's best strikers in the last 10 years were Torres and Suarez. Latin, technically gifted players. When they got payed over 100m. pounds for them two, why didn't Liverpool follow the same pattern. Instead, they signed "PL proven" players and have now lost the appeal they had back in the mid 00's to attract top top players.
