With Jack Rodwell having just completed a £15 million move to Manchester City, and now the Champions sniffing round Scott Sinclair, it makes you wonder just how much playing time would these two actually get at Manchester City. Of course for such young players it must seem like a fantastic opportunity when a club like City comes knocking on your door, but in reality is it just a way for them to essentially go into retirement from first team football?

Time and time again we have seen promising young players make big money moves to the biggest clubs in Europe and falter time and time again, essentially destroying their career in the process. The examples go on and on –look at Kakuta who Chelsea fought so hard for. After the transfer embargo debacle we did not hear from the player again, and now he is moving on.

Even players like Scott Parker struggled when they made a move to a big club at such an important age – Parker wasted years sitting on the bench at Chelsea and then essentially has to start from scratch when leaving the club.

Some look at the clubs and state they are to blame – they should not be buying players to leave them rotting on the bench with little first team action during what are the most vital years of their career – and yes this is a valid point, and buying for buying’s sake is something that is not right or fair from clubs, but is it not time the players took a look at themselves?

Someone like Sinclair who could not break into the Chelsea team for love nor money must know that to enter an equally competitive – if not more – squad at City just when he is getting regular games at Swansea and making a name for himself would be a downright stupid decision.

Of course a player has to have the faith in himself and believe that he can be the very best, otherwise there would be no point in even turning up for training in the morning, but a reality check is also required, and to sacrifice first team Premier League action after just one season of making an impact for a big move is not the way for these players to develop their careers and move forward.

It is not just the clubs and players however who are culpable here – of course a young player is going to have their head turned by a big club and at least consider ‘the move of their career’- it is also their agents who more often than not are concerned with the cut they will receive in the transfer and at the end of the day are not too interested in their players welfare.

You can never say never, and some players who make a move so young flourish – Rooney to name but one, and Nick Powell could well be another – but it is also the club you move to that will make a difference – Arsenal and Wenger are well known for spotting talent at a young age and bringing it through, nurturing it and making sure that the player does get experience and playing time. Chelsea and City are perhaps not known for this, and players should keep that in mind before deciding to up sticks and move to a club with big bucks, big names and most vitally little chance of first team action.

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