Jack Rodwell and the EPL Buy and Stash

If there is one thing about supporting an "Other-16" club in the English Premier League that really makes life painful, it's when your club develops a truly great young player and the "Big 4" vultures start circling trying to take him away. In the case of Everton it's a familiar feeling and one in which all the financial windfalls don't ease the frustration.



The Independent is reporting that Chelsea have made a £14 million pound offer for Jack Rodwell. Everton rejected the bid, but this is what all Toffees fans have been waiting for and dreading. Rodwell has all the tools to become a huge star for club and country and it only makes sense that the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United are breathing down David Moyes' neck trying to secure the services of Rodwell.

It's an annoying truth about the EPL. The richest clubs don't have to have academies, don't have to develop talent. It's a busted system in which everyone else signs and develops talent and the same four clubs swoop in a buy it away. The really sad part is that most smaller clubs have to sell to survive. Despite all the money earned by being a part of the EPL, it's not enough to compete with favored four and their endless, and often debt-enabled, coffers.

Even worse is that Chelsea doesn't need Jack Rodwell. They want to buy up an immensely talented young player and relegate him to the bench or reserve squad as nothing more than a stop gap for their current starters. Sure he'd get time in Cup ties and the occasional league match, but rather than have Rodwell at Everton playing regularly, developing his skills and potentially helping beat the likes of Chelsea, it's better for Big 4 clubs to buy and stash, often to the detriment of the player's career.

Fans on the periphery of the game wonder why the English National Team and many other national sides have so many problems. When the best young stats from countries are bought by European super clubs then stashed away on the bench, they fail to get what they really need, consistent and significant match time. Two or three years for a player like Rodwell sitting behind established starters, playing lesser competition in reserve league matches and never seeing quality time against quality opponents does nothing to improve the player. Instead you see players never develop, never reach their full potential, all in the name of protectionism and greed.

It's a practice hurts clubs and it hurts countries when the best and brightest are not allowed to develop on the pitch and are instead expected to develop behind the scenes and away from meaningful action. Young players need to feel pressure, need to make mistakes and playing in reserve league matches is the not the place for that to happen. But that is the system and I expect short of the financial collapse of the EPL or a Big 4 club, things will never change.