Dominic Vose and Fabian Delph

Increasing number of talented youngsters is poked by the big clubs such as Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal and ‘small’ clubs simply don’t have the means to keep them. Two exciting prospects are currently under the spotlight, Fulham’s Dominic Vose and Leeds’ Fabian Delph. The 15-year-old Vose is part of the Fulham academy and he is ineligible to sign a professional contract until he turns 17. He is already dubbed the ‘new Paul Scholes’ and he is in the middle of a battle between Manchester United and Arsenal. Being unable to sign the players at this fragile age, the clubs invite them to spend a week or two with the club and that is when they try to convince him to return when he becomes eligible. Vose has already spent time with Manchester and now it’s Wenger’s turn.

Leeds have a gem of a player in Fabian Delph and he is already considered the key player in the team even though he is only 18. Delph is touted the ‘young Steven Gerrard’ and Newcastle and Arsenal are thought to be leading the race to sign him. However, he recently signed a new contract and chairman Ken Bates is desperate to keep him at the club for a while longer. Young Delph has similar playing style to Gerrard, as he possesses an excellent pass and also he is a strong tackler, which he is showing even in training.

These two players are just some of the examples and there are a lot of youngsters in England tracked by the big clubs. The only problem is that their current clubs cannot compete with the richer clubs and this creates even bigger gap between the Premier League clubs and those outside the Premier League. The fact that Premier League clubs will earn more than £2.3 bn over three years and only £90 m will go to the Football League clubs is really shocking. This is not healthy competition and how can you expect any club to emerge as the dominant force in English football aside of the current big four. I, for one, would like to see the club like Hull continue their rise and fight for the title few years from now, but that is highly unlikely if the current trend continues.

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