Should Wenger pay the English premium for Cahill?

Should Wenger pay the English premium for Cahill?

As Arsenal prepare to buy another 17 year old from Southampton for a combined fee of £12m, I wonder whether Arsene Wenger should also consider paying an inflated sum for another promising ( but already established ) English centre-half.

We all know that British players are over-priced. Arsenal fans have known for years that Wenger has been unable to buy English players over the years because its a transfer market where Henry was purchased for £10.5m while Crouch went to Spurs for £11m.

I laughed when I saw a washed-up 31 year old like Robbie Keane being transferred to Birmingham for a staggering £6m despite spending the last three years warming the benches of Liverpool and Spurs.  As an indication, Wenger picked up a 22 year old van Persie for just £2.5m.

Wenger’s global scouting network is of the highest quality ever and he has purchased many world-class players for less than £10m. Not only is he able to purchase foreign stars on the cheap, but he is able to develop them and that is the mark of a great coach.

However, I wonder why we cannot pay the £ 15m asked by Bolton for Cahill if we are able to pay a total fee of £12m for Oxlade-Chamberlain who is just 17. Cahill is 25 and already has 96 appearances for Bolton.

I am not saying that he is worth the £ 15m or £20 m being asked - far from it. Its not right but it is a market where Rooney earns £250k-a-week while Messi earns “only” £140k-a-week (around 200k euros per week).

I am aware how over-priced British players are in this market - Wenger has experience of that himself. He paid £500k for a 16-year old Fabregas while a 17-year old Ramsey was bought for £5m. A 17 year old Anelka cost £500k while a 16-year old Walcott was bought for £5m (although the total figure will reach £12m considering the number of adds-on in the contract).

The point is that if Gary Cahill is indeed Wenger’s top target then he should perhaps pay the premium and shore up that defence for good - as opposed to go for the usual cheap short-term target. The last time he broke his salary structure was to secure Campbell in 2001 for a huge signing-on fee (believed to be £5m)- a move that gave us 2 League titles and 3 FA Cups.