Built, Not Bought

Remember the good old days of a team looking at their youth teams and promoting from within? They would then supplement this with one or two talented players to not just lift the profile of the team but to fill the skill gaps within the team.

Now it seems like the converse is true. Teams seem to ignore the in-house talent that they’ve spent years investing in, in lieu of the glamour that they get from the foreign big names. But is this the right model for success? And more than that, is this what success looks like these days?

The biggest spenders over the past year have all been a mixed bag of results. At the time of me penning this, the top four biggest spenders in Europe have been Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Liverpool. Bar Liverpool’s Premier League victory last season and Chelsea’s victory in the very shaky Club World Cup, the other two teams prove that throwing bags of money at teams and leagues doesn’t automatically equate to success. Manchester United finished two places above relegation last season and were generally underwhelming in all the tournaments that they entered. Their fellow Mancunians were equally disappointing after having won the treble the season before.

The converse to this argument are teams like Barcelona that have spent approximately 88m Euros and finished the season with the league, and even though they were narrowly booted out of the Champions League by Inter Milan, were generally the one team that no one for the majority of the season wanted to play against. Another great example of this is Crystal Palace. After spending what can be seen as a measly 94m Euros, they had a season to remember. They defeated the financial giant of Manchester City in the FA Cup final of the 2024/25 season after sweeping aside fellow Premier League team Aston Villa (who themselves spent big that season in the hope of a European position as the return). Palace then followed up this performance with a victory over Liverpool in the Community Shield, albeit on penalties. Their ability to punch above their weight against these supposed financial heavyweights was not down to just individual talent, but rather the result of a well-coached team. At no point during those three matches were they outplayed or at risk of the match running away from them.

Regardless of which side of the fan spectrum you lie, whether you like riding the wave of heavy investment or you prefer seeing youth team players breaking through and developing into superstars, I think there is merit in tipping your hat to teams that still believe in the strength of their internal systems and ability to scout and develop talent. I think this is a more sustainable model than buying 50 players and hoping something sticks. Maybe I’m sentimental like that.

At the end of the day, football has always been a balancing act between tradition and ambition. The allure of marquee signings will never disappear, but history continues to show that money alone doesn’t guarantee silverware. Teams that blend smart investment with a strong core of homegrown talent often find themselves not only winning trophies but also building legacies that last beyond a single transfer window. Perhaps the true measure of success isn’t how much a club spends, but how well it can remain true to its identity while still competing at the highest level. And in that regard, maybe the “good old days” aren’t so old-fashioned after all.