Fabio Capello said last night that the failure of English clubs in the Champions League this season was inevitable after they became “obviously weaker” by failing to invest in their squads when their overseas rivals were strengthening last summer.
Defeats for Arsenal and Manchester United in last week’s quarter-finals ensured that there is no English team in the last four of the Champions League for the first time since 2003, with Chelsea eliminated in the first knockout round and Liverpool falling at the group stage.
Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti dismissed talk of a power shift in European football, but Capello agrees with Uli Hoeness, the Bayern Munich president, that the economic climate — unfavourable tax conditions in England, the weakening of the pound against the euro and the financial circumstances at certain clubs — has damaged the Premier League contingent.
“It is obvious that the financial crisis has affected the English clubs in Europe after years when they have been among the biggest spenders,” Capello, the England manager, said. “Compared to the previous season, all the clubs have sold important players. Some went overseas and others moved to Manchester City. They [the so-called ‘Big Four’] got obviously weaker.
“In my experience, if a club is at the top, it should buy one or two high-level players every year to remain at the top, given that the opposition is getting stronger. The clubs that spent most last summer are now semi-finalists — Barcelona, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich. Only Real Madrid and Manchester City spent more than these clubs. Florentino Pérez [the Real president] had to bring his club back into the frame. Inter bought six new players.”
Capello’s frequent references to City’s financial strength extend to an increasing regard for the Manchester club and, in particular, for Adam Johnson, the winger they signed from Middlesbrough in January.
Johnson has long been regarded as an outside bet for England’s squad for the World Cup finals this summer, but Capello has indicated for the first time that the 22-year-old’s impressive form has brought him under serious consideration, particularly after the injury to David Beckham and concerns about the fitness of Aaron Lennon.
When asked which young English player had impressed him most this season, Capello said: “Johnson. He has come up from the Championship, where he played in a different position, and done well. Now it’s important he gets some international experience.”
Capello has few concerns about the fitness of Ashley Cole, who is soon to be fit for Chelsea after a rapid recovery from his broken ankle, and Wayne Rooney, who aggravated his ankle injury by playing for Manchester United against Bayern in the Champions League quarter-final, second leg last week.
• The FA will hold a meeting on Monday in an attempt to resolve the problem of the much-maligned pitch at Wembley Stadium. Representatives of the Institute Of Groundsmanship will attend the meeting and be asked to co-operate with whatever action is chosen, whether it means relaying the pitch before the FA Cup Final on May 15 or finding a longer-term solution. The pitch will be examined after the rugby union game between Saracens and Harlequins on Saturday.
Source
timesonline.co.uk
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