England’s top division buys more teenage players than any top European league, and it’s creating a market all its own
The boy prophesied to be the next Frenkie de Jong made a mere 20 first-team appearances in the Eredivisie for Ajax before moving on to Newcastle United this summer. Sean Steur is 18. And once a credible Premier League club came calling, there was little the four-time European champions could do to hang on to a prodigy who would sooner play for the 1968-69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup winners. Newcastle were willing to pay $27m (£20m) for him, or north of $1m per senior appearance.
De Jong, for what it’s worth, had been a regular in the Ajax first team for two years, before departing for Barcelona at age 22.
