Player Migration Quotes

Just about every Latin American country has sent players to the big leagues, from the Dominican Republic to Costa Rica.

That is the issue with signing young players from other big European football nations - at some point, they will want to go home.

We need more of our players to follow the trend and move to Europe, which is the biggest stage in world football, but we're not doing that, and that makes it difficult for us to compete with other countries.

It's been a big flaw of ours in the soccer department that a lot of our best athletes go and play other sports. But I think young players have seen me, and others, go over to Europe and play in some of the best leagues - and MLS is improving so much, too.

It's strange that we don't see more English players going to the Spanish league.

All the best players wanted to come to Italy.

Everybody respected my choice to join the ISL. I was the one to decide to come to India and then many other foreign players decided to do the same.

When a Brazilian player comes to England and is successful, he ends up opening doors to other players.

Brazilian boys as young as 14 and 15 are now based in Europe. They spend their best years in Europe and come back to Brazil when they are past their prime. This has destroyed local clubs and championships.

There seemed to be a feeling that switching from the Belgian league to the Premier League was too big a step and therefore too big a risk. It needed a few players to prove otherwise then it paved the way for others.

It's up to the national associations and their leagues to limit the entry of foreign players.

I haven't seen a professional player come out of New York in over 20 years since my brother Patrick came out. Blake spent a few years in Harlem, but he moved to Connecticut when he was a kid.

Only 38 per cent of players in the Premier League are English; that is a damning statistic. Soon, the England manager will have to go scouting for players in the Championship - and when I say 'soon' I mean the next four or five years, perhaps even for the next World Cup.

There is a movement in club football, which I don't necessarily consider a prime example of solidarity, because it leads us to conclude the rich are getting richer and they are using everything in the market to create an exodus from Africa.

We've got the greatest Premier League, greatest domestic competition in the world but the downside of that is we've got fewer and fewer English players playing in that league.

A lot of players were going to Europe, but there were always stories of teams not being able to pay, and the players and girls were stuck with no money for airfare to come home. So I got a nice contract from Japan and decided to play there.