Belgium just lost in Bosnia (1-0 goal by Barbarez) and is very likely to miss its first World Cup since 1978.
One of the main reasons behind it (except traditional ones: coach, lack of motivations, ref, bad pitch,...) is the fact that there are too many foreigners playing in the Belgian league aka Jupiler League.
The argument is tha signing (cheaper) foreigners blocks our own youth, and thus prevents young players to get experience and eventually making it to the NT.
The only good players often leave to foreign clubs where they are too often subs (ex: Sonck, Buffel, Pieroni, Van Damme,...)
Meanwhile, in Belgium clubs like Beveren field 11 foreigners on the pitch. Mostly Ivorians that are brought on the cheap and paid peanuts. How can a local guy hope to get to that first team? His wage will be higher, and most of all: the cost of training him to a first teamer will be much higher than bringing an Ivorian.
Conclusion: we lose most of the potential talent we got.
Counter argument: 1. It's cheap, but most of the clubs are poor and only survive by these kind of deals.
2. The real talents make it to first team football, some great guys emerged in the last years: Kompany, Vanden Borre, Proto, Buffel, Daerden,....
My opinion on this matter is that we should limit foreigners in the league (say minimum 5 or 6 belgians on the field), with helping clubs a lot more financially. There is something now like a formation compensation, giving the formation club X% of the next transfer of their player (ex: Diest is suying PSV for the formation compensation of Timmy Simmons). This system is good, but small clubs only breed such players only once in 40 years, so they need more...
The basic idea is to allow foreigners, but only the better ones. Guys like Wilhelmsson, Conceiçao, Akin, and now Portillo help to improve the level, and are needed.
The thing is to stop average foreigners to block young belgians.
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I was talking about Belgium, but this dicussion applies to any league. Of course guys like Nedved, Zlatan or Thuram help a team like Juve, and raise their performances, but wouldn't it be better to have a young Italian instead of the likes of Zebina, Kovac, or Oliveira?
One of the main reasons behind it (except traditional ones: coach, lack of motivations, ref, bad pitch,...) is the fact that there are too many foreigners playing in the Belgian league aka Jupiler League.
The argument is tha signing (cheaper) foreigners blocks our own youth, and thus prevents young players to get experience and eventually making it to the NT.
The only good players often leave to foreign clubs where they are too often subs (ex: Sonck, Buffel, Pieroni, Van Damme,...)
Meanwhile, in Belgium clubs like Beveren field 11 foreigners on the pitch. Mostly Ivorians that are brought on the cheap and paid peanuts. How can a local guy hope to get to that first team? His wage will be higher, and most of all: the cost of training him to a first teamer will be much higher than bringing an Ivorian.
Conclusion: we lose most of the potential talent we got.
Counter argument: 1. It's cheap, but most of the clubs are poor and only survive by these kind of deals.
2. The real talents make it to first team football, some great guys emerged in the last years: Kompany, Vanden Borre, Proto, Buffel, Daerden,....
My opinion on this matter is that we should limit foreigners in the league (say minimum 5 or 6 belgians on the field), with helping clubs a lot more financially. There is something now like a formation compensation, giving the formation club X% of the next transfer of their player (ex: Diest is suying PSV for the formation compensation of Timmy Simmons). This system is good, but small clubs only breed such players only once in 40 years, so they need more...
The basic idea is to allow foreigners, but only the better ones. Guys like Wilhelmsson, Conceiçao, Akin, and now Portillo help to improve the level, and are needed.
The thing is to stop average foreigners to block young belgians.
_______________________________________________________
I was talking about Belgium, but this dicussion applies to any league. Of course guys like Nedved, Zlatan or Thuram help a team like Juve, and raise their performances, but wouldn't it be better to have a young Italian instead of the likes of Zebina, Kovac, or Oliveira?
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