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Bradford City manager calls for rethink on young player wage structure

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Bradford City manager Phil Parkinson says a major overhaul of the amount young English players are paid is needed.

Two years ago Ruben Loftus-Cheek, then 17, signed a deal with Chelsea that would see him net ÂŁ1.7m before he turned 20, despite never having played a league game.

Parkinson says that there is a very large pool of talented young English players, but they get paid far too much, too soon. This leads to their development being harmed, due to the possibility of maybe being more motivated by money then actual development of their talent.

Bantams boss Parkinson said: “It’s a problem which needs to be rectified.

“There’s so much money in the game at the moment and I think we’ve got to be careful that we don’t give our 18, 19, 20-year-olds fantastic salaries.

“My view on it is that English football has a great pool of talent, but there’s a big problem in that we pay our young players far too much money before they’ve actually done anything.

“You get players who are 19 or 20 in the Premier League who are multi-millionaires before they’ve achieved anything and that, for me, takes the hunger and desire away from them.

“All of a sudden they’re millionaires. There’s so much improvement they still need to make and subconsciously they’re thinking ‘why do I need to improve? I’m not doing too badly as it stands’.

“But I think in terms of players in this country and the suggestion there’s a shortage of talent, you only have to look at the options Roy Hodgson has going forward with exciting young players, there’s more than enough.

“But I do feel we’ve got to maintain that hunger and desire that is required.”

 

by Steve Osborne

 

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