Rumors over Falcao’s age is one last pathetic welp from a proud English club now going mainstream

By on September 8, 2014

Manchester United didn’t lose just one part of their identity by brining in Louis Van Gaal as manager, the part which has had a manager born within the British Isles for its entire 136 year history. David Moyes, the great Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor, didn’t end that trend, like Van Gaal did, but started many others mow in motion. At the start of Ferguson’s last season in charge of the club his squad contained fifteen Englishmen, which was slightly diminished a season later as Moyes brought in foreigners – Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata. As the summer 2014 transfer window, Van Gaal’s first summer at the club, came to a club a little over a week ago, only nine Englishmen remain in United’s squad, just barely over the English Premier League’s Home Grown Player Rule minimum of eight (granted, their meaning of homegrown is different).

In some sense, Manchester United have lost their English soul. Under Ferguson, United were different from the “galacticos”, and most other top teams in the fact that a large portion of their squad did not necessarily come through their academy, like their famous Class of 1992, but was at least English. With Ferguson gone, the club has looked to what so many others have given in to in search for success: the wealth of foreign talent available. Of the club’s six big-name arrivals this season, only one is English, and that same one player, Luke Shaw, is their only arrival still in under development aged under 24. Not to mention the fact that they sold one of their few star English players in Danny Welbeck, a player who had been at United since the age of eight, which Ferguson had trusted at times more than Wayne Rooney the latter’s prime, and has his years ahead of him. All this sold for a surprisingly low price to a direct challenger for the Champions League fourth place finish United are targeting. The club have gone to the “galactico” philosophy.

According to data published by the CIES Football Observatory last January, United are finally just going mainstream in search for that success. That is how Manchester City, Chelsea, and even Arsenal went (Arsene Wenger has always taken a liking to foreign -particularly French – talent and was the first to feature an all foreign squad in the Premier League). Tottenham Hotspur recently did so as well as Gareth Bale went out the door to Spain and Erik Lamela, Roberto Soldado, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen, Paulinho, and Vlad Chiriches came in. Liverpool are perhaps the last big name club in England to stick with the old ways. CIES reported that 60.4% of Premier League players were foreign, a proportion that can only be found higher in Europe in the country of Cyprus.

The English FA has implanted rules to try and stop this, like the Homegrown Player Rule, but with minimal affect. The problem is clearly affecting the English national team, which has recently hit one of its lowest ever point in the FIFA World Rankings after their group stage World Cup exit, their worst since the World Cup adopted its current 32 team format. One by one, most English clubs have already fallen back on the galactico approach in their hunger for success.

One feeble question has been raised of United’s dealings in the transfer market (aside from the fact that they failed to sign a center-back), and that has come in the form of a petty, ridiculous rumor that Falcao, whom United have captured on a season-long loan, is actually two years older than he claims to be. This is one last pathetic finger raised about whether United really are doing the right thing in the transfer market, and indirectly one last feeble backlash against going mainstream galactico.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.