English Premier League teams spent close to a record £1.2 billion on players in the summer transfer window.
The massive outlay brings Premier League investment on talent from around the world to just under £7 billion since the transfer window was introduced in 2003.
Despite splashing huge amounts of cash, English teams consistently fail to deliver the goods on the European stage.
Although Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool have each won the Champions League since 2003, European honours go to Spain, with Barcelona and Real Madrid lifting the trophy six times in the same period.
Italian sides have also chalked up three successes.
Team GB should inspire
Meanwhile, the English national side has continued to disappoint, failing to reach a major final for 50 years. The last and only major achievement was winning the World Cup at Wembley in 1966.
The questions is whether English soccer players are good enough to compete against European and international competition?
Team GB’s success at the last two Olympic Games would seem to rule this out.
British athletes punched above their weight to bring home hauls of gold, silver and bronze medals and seem to have a ruthless winning way.
They too failed to impress on the international stage as a team despite having some world class individuals over the years.
Athletes praise the cohesive Olympic team management style and point to top class training, facilities and technology as underpinning their success.
Nurturing talent
However, the investment in the Olympic team over the years comes to less than the £89 million Manchester United paid as a world record transfer fee for French midfielder Paul Pogba.
The English national soccer team are an embarrassment. The pampered millionaires lost to minnows Iceland in the last Euro finals and were humiliated by an astounding performance put in by Wales, who battled further in the competition with many players from lower leagues and earning less cash.
It must be time for the English FA to re-examine their methods.
More money needs investing in young talent and developing players with the skills and tactical ability to take on and beat foreign teams.
Perhaps English talent ought to be taken away from club academies and nurtured in a national set-up under a common structure where they can learn how to ply their craft and play together as a unit rather than a collection of individuals lacking direction and inspiration.
>