What price loyalty?

Thursday, 09/06/2011

Loyalty is a word that is increasingly being lost in the world of cash-dominated football. The number of stars who remain loyal to their clubs is shrinking every day.

The £16.5m move of Phil Jones to Manchester United is just the latest transfer to back that belief. In May last year the defender agreed a new five-year deal with Blackburn to keep him at Ewood Park until 2015.

He's come through Rovers' youth system to the first team and after very few Premier League games he's gone. A nice earner for Blackburn, disappointment for their fans.

It was the same last transfer window when Andy Carroll moved from Newcastle – where he too had come through their academy – to Liverpool in a £35m deal. It was less than three months earlier that he had agreed a new five-year deal at St. James' Park.

Carroll claimed that he wanted to stay on Tyneside. If that was the case, he had the deal in his pocket. The club couldn't sell him against his will. There were claims he was told to put in a transfer request – again he didn't have to.

Less than two years ago Jordan Henderson, then 19, agreed a contract with boyhood idols Sunderland that would keep him at the Stadium of Light until 2013. He's now gone to Liverpool for £20m. The player hasn't yet said whether or not he wanted to go, and the Black Cats probably had to cash in with such a big offer.

Yet less than three months ago Henderson said: "I'm young and I'm playing for Sunderland. It's something I love doing. I just want to keep doing that, keep improving, keep getting better as a player."

Is Henderson a victim of loyalty failing on a club's part? Should we also be berating clubs who don't want to hang on to their best players once they see the carrot of a big cheque dangling in front of them?

* Tell us what you think! We are certain you can name other players who should also have stayed with their clubs.

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