Aside from picky up valuable experience and injuries (! - Vladi comes to mind
), the value for sending our players to internationals can be calculated in $$ signs. I think the following article has a valid point:
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England appearance adds up to good value for the clubs
By Henry Winter (Filed: 10/09/2002, Telegraph Sport)
At the risk of upsetting the Football Association by fighting their battles for them, this follower of England's fortunes has turned his abacus away from keeping up with Sven-Goran Eriksson's substitutions and on to working out the vast sums Premiership clubs owe England.
Some chairmen are discreetly lobbying for the FA to recompense them for wages while their players are away with England. Rather than counter this Premiership argument with fine words about "patriotism", "every man's duty", "lucky to be selected" etc, the FA should go head to head, calculator to calculator, with the Premier League accountants and fight the issue on financial grounds.
Let us go through the figures. Taking David Beckham as the top earner on £90,000 a week and Paul Robinson as the lowest on about £10,000, England's squad cost their clubs almost £1 million in salaries during each international week. This issue - and many others - will be mentioned by the Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, when he meets his FA counterpart, Adam Crozier, in a fortnight.
The clubs should keep quiet; they are getting a bargain. In fact, the FA should start charging them. Crozier needs only whisper in Scudamore's ear the names of Rio Ferdinand, Alan Smith, Wayne Bridge and Beckham. A footballer's value to a club spirals the moment he excels for England.
Take Ferdinand. The defender was probably worth £20-25 million on the eve of the World Cup having developed promisingly after arriving at Elland Road for £18 million. Five games later - and amid rumours that his England shorts required pockets for him to put Gabriel Batistuta and Jon Dahl Tomasson in - the feted Ferdinand was valued by Manchester United at £30 million.
Ferdinand's glorious summer with England was worth £5 million to Leeds; every World Cup minute Ferdinand was in an England shirt generated £11,111 for Leeds. As one FA official remarked mischievously: "Maybe we should invoice Leeds for Rio's increased value."
Smith even improved as an asset for Leeds when Eriksson ignored him for the World Cup; this so upset the feisty forward that he vowed to sort out his hitherto awful disciplinary record and has now gone 15 games without a caution. Perhaps Crozier could bill Leeds for Eriksson's inspired man-management from afar.
The invoice could be hefty in the light of Smith's swollen transfer value following his stirring first start for England. Smith was probably worth £10-12 million at 4pm on Saturday. By 5.50, as he was swapping shirts with Hugo Viana and being interviewed following a bravura, all-round goalscoring display, Smith's price had probably risen by £5 million. So every minute Smith was in an England shirt on Saturday has, on paper, made £55,000 for Leeds, whose wayward pair of Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer have also had their career prospects - and potential price - enhanced by Eriksson.
England exposure adds value to most players, barring the odd exception, such as Bolton Wanderers' Michael Ricketts. Anyone wanting to buy Wayne Bridge off Southampton will have to pay far more now the full-back has established himself in the England squad. Ditto West Ham United's Trevor Sinclair. Michael Owen's wonder goal against Argentina four years had one newspaper valuing him at £50 million.
On to Beckham. When Peter Kenyon, United's widely respected chief executive, mused last season that Beckham being captain of England was of no commercial value to Old Trafford, everyone outside Salford rightly scoffed. Young children watch Beckham lead his country out and crave association with him, which inevitably means splashing out on United as well as England strips emblazoned with Beckham's name.
Clubs' debt to England would be deepened further if the FA charged them for the expert tuition players receive from Eriksson, whom Mr. Ferguson and Arsene Wenger describe as one of the best coaches in the world. All of England's internationals talk warmly about how the Swede has made them think about their game.
Eriksson earns approximately £40,000 a week but the FA would never dream of passing the cost on to clubs. Soho Square could also consider seeking a cut of the increased gate and merchandising revenues enjoyed by United, Liverpool and Arsenal following successful summer showings by England. The Reds are in the red to England.
