Cantera Vs Imports
During the 1990s the poaching of players took on a new dimension. Real Madrid in particular have regularly produced quality players unable to establish themselves with their home club. Some critics have argued that this has partly arisen because these clubs continue to use imports at the expense of cantera players. As a result many graduates of the canteras seek their fortune elsewhere and are willing to be poached. Initially cantera players only moved to other Spanish clubs. However in more recent times, English Premiership clubs have begun to recognize the potential of the Spanish canteras. In 2003 Arsenal persuaded Cesc Fàbregas to leave FC Barcelona B with a much higher salary which FC Barcelona could not offer due to the Spanish contractual law; and more recently teenage star Fran Mérida also followed Fàbregas' footsteps and played some time for Arsenal's reserve team, before returning to La Liga in 2010 for Atlético Madrid. Another emerging FC Barcelona B player, Gerard Piqué, subsequently signed for Manchester United, though has since moved back to FC Barcelona. Since then Rafael Benítez, himself a product of the cantera, has recruited Luis García, Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres for Liverpool and Mikel Arteta established himself at Everton. Luis García, Reina and Arteta all began their career at FC Barcelona B, Alonso started out at Real Sociedad and Torres grew up in the Atlético Madrid system.
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Famous quotes containing the word imports:
“French rhetorical models are too narrow for the English tradition. Most pernicious of French imports is the notion that there is no person behind a text. Is there anything more affected, aggressive, and relentlessly concrete than a Parisan intellectual behind his/her turgid text? The Parisian is a provincial when he pretends to speak for the universe.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)