Merchandise
Bondscoach Hodgson juicht spelen McEachran bij Vitesse toe
De bondscoach van the Three Lions merkt op dat veel Engelse spelers bij hun clubs op de bank zitten, omdat buitenlanders de voorkeur krijgen. Daar is Hodgson logischerwijs niet blij mee.
"We moeten accepteren dat er Engelse spelers zijn die in mijn ogen goed genoeg zijn om wedstrijden voor ons te winnen op de bank zitten bij hun clubs", zei de keuzeheer. "Als je het mij vraagt is het dan beter voor deze spelers om naar het buitenland te gaan, zodat ze aan spelen toekomen. Als bondscoach zou ik dat natuurlijk graag zien.
"Hodgson weet dat de hoge salarissen in de Premier League een vertrek naar het buitenland niet altijd mogelijk maakt. "Spelers zitten nu op de bank bij topclubs en stellen zulke hoge financiële eisen dat een andere club ze niet kan betalen", realiseert de bondscoach.
"Het is ook niet mijn taak om de spelers te vertellen wat ze moeten doen, maar ik denk dat bepaalde spelers de kans om naar het buitenland te vertrekken moeten pakken."
Roy Hodgson open to England players heading overseas
Roy Hodgson says the England team would benefit if some of its players headed overseas to secure regular first-team football. The Three Lions manager believes his current crop of youngsters are good enough to “win games for England” but could flourish away from the Premier League. Hodgson said: “With England we had a very young side at the World Cup and could be even younger going forward.
"We are going to have to accept that some young players – who I think are good enough and can win games for England – will not always be first choice for their teams in England.
“It wouldn’t hurt them at all to go abroad. Most of our players – although they don’t all play regularly – play at very good clubs at a very high level.
“They play in clubs with very important fixtures in the Champions League and the Premier League.
“It would take a pretty good club to come in and take them – or even afford them. The players command high transfer fees and high wages that clubs in other leagues can’t always afford to pay.”
He added: “But if you’re asking me would it be better for some of our players to be playing in good teams abroad rather than warming the bench, then of course, as a national team manager I would like to see that.
“Even as recently as five years ago, certainly 10 years ago, it would unthinkable for any England manager to pick a player who wasn’t the first name on his club’s teamsheet.
“Now more than half who start for us are certainly not the first names on the teamsheet. Sometimes they might not be a regular starter.
“But that’s where we are with our league, where there is a predominance of foreign players, because of course the clubs can afford the best players.
“That could also occur later on in teams that are in Germany and Spain – who knows?
“Outside of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, there aren’t many clubs who can tempt players away from English clubs and there are a lot English clubs who can tempt away foreign players.”
This week England Under-21 midfielder Josh McEachran joined Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem on a season-long loan from Chelsea, and Hodgson believes others may soon follow suit.
He said: “It is not my job to tell players what to do but I would think that, if the opening was there for players to go abroad, then a lot of them would take it.
“Chelsea have a lot of young players and they send them to Vitesse Arnhem. Manchester City have a lot of farm clubs.
“In my days in Sweden, where the season runs from April to October, a lot of English players used to go out there and play in the summer. But that doesn’t seem to happen anymore.”
“National team managers would welcome anything that would protect their players from foreign player invasion but whether the Premier League or the Bundesliga will bring in rules that restrict foreigners then I’m not sure.”
England U21s midfielder Josh McEachran this week joined Vitesse Arnhem
