Hardly had the cheering at the Brandenburg Gate died down than the wailing in England began: why can’t we be more like the Germans? Why can’t we nurture home-grown players rather than throwing open our national league to foreign mercenaries?
It is a fallacy that the Bundesliga doesn’t have many non-Germans in it. The rules on foreign players were relaxed in 2007 to prevent it descending into mediocrity. Now, like an organic farm shop, German clubs merely need eight “locally sourced” players on their books, but not on the field at any one time. Last season 46 per cent of