Foreigners Out?

Why does the President of Uefa always try to court controversy with new ideas and comments. Funny how ol wily fox such as Ferguson gets embroiled in such ideas is really beyond me. Platini's wishes to limit the number of foreigners in club football in Europe is really a funny thing.

The French national squad has benefited the most from plying their trade abroad. Imagine the likes of Desailly, Vieira, Anelka, Henry and co all play in the French Ligue. They probably would not get past the group stages in the world cup let alone win it. Surely Platini, who bear in mind spent most of playing career in foreign land (Italy), has got it wrong.

No disrespect to the great man but this new idea is quite absurd. Sure, the younger players in the motherland would get more chances at big clubs. Sure, the national teams would have larger pool of players to choose from. But it really defeats the purpose ain't it. If one is really good enough then by right he would have come through the ranks.

The only thing that foreign players bring to the leagues is the extra class and technique which would benefit the young players in their upbringing. Imagine Fergie's team, no Saha, no Tevez, no Anderson, no Ronaldo. They'll be happy just to get into Europe, let alone the Champions League.

The game of football is there to be improved, but limiting the number of foreign players is not one of it. If this is the case, we would never have seen the many greats that were in action. Imagine never getting the chance to see Fabregas. If he had stayed at Barcelona, he would've been just another player and subsequently sold to lower rank teams where he would just played out the rest of his career without ever realising his full potential.

Very big if but one in which football purist would regret to see happen.