‘Players not affected by huge cash on offer’

Football Association technical director Dan Ashworth does not believe the vast sums on offer to young players in the Premier League is stopping young English players from fulfilling their potential.

This year’s record-breaking television deal has seen already lucrative transfer fees and wages in English football’s top flight increase still further.

Everton’s John Stones, the target of interest from Manchester City, is now valued at £50 million (Dh241.1 million) despite having just 10 England caps to his name and not getting on the field at Euro 2016, while 20-year-old Jordon Ibe cost Bournemouth a reported club record of £15 million.

Following England’s embarrassing exit from Euro 2016 at the hands of Iceland, some pundits said the rewards on offer to young English players meant they get too much too soon and so didn’t perform to their best at international level.

However Ashworth said this was not a peculiarly English problem, explaining: “It’s certainly not anything we can control, the level of transfer fees and wages. The going rate is the going rate. It is up to the FA and to the clubs to ensure players are motivated to go and perform.”