FACT OF THE WEEK

Eleven Premiership midfielders have created more goals than Steven Gerrard this season.

• Cesc Fabregas (15) Free.
• Frank Lampard (14) £11m. A bargain signing. 100 goals in 300+ appearances in 9 injury-free seasons.
• Ryan Giggs (12) Free.
• James Milner (11) £12m
  
• Ashley Young (10) £8m (with add-ons) signed in Jan 2007.
  
• Nani (9) £14m (with add-ons)
• Aaron Lennon (9) £1m. Steal from the sinking ship of Leeds United.
• Matthew Etherington (9) £2m. Sold by West Ham following gambling problems.
• Antonio Valencia (9) £15m Big-money signing from Wigan last summer.
• Shaun Wright-Phillips (7) £8.5m A return home for the prodigal son.
• Gareth Barry (7) £12m - could have, would have, should have?
  

Of these dozen players, 5 cost over £10m:

• Lampard was signed in 2004 for £11m when we spent a similar sum on Xabi Alonso.
  
• Milner was signed in 2008 for £12m while we spent £8m on Riera, £7m on Dossena, £3m on Diego Cavalieri and "free" Philipp Degen (who has cost millions in wages): none of whom have featured regularly except Riera who has talked his way out of the club.
  
• Nani cost £14m in 2007 when we spent £70m (£35m net) on the likes of Torres, Lucas, Babel and Benayoun.
• Valencia was signed last summer from Wigan when our only big outlay was on Aquilani. Only a fool or blinkered optimist would argue Aquilani has contributed more than Valencia this season and will in the future.
• Barry would have been signed for £18m in 2008 but was prevented by Alonso's reluctance to leave. Barry could not been signed in 2009 for £12m because Rafa was desperate for the Basque midfield maestro to stay! At 29, probably a good call although again in the context of Aquilani's acquisition potentially questionable in the long term.
  

Fabregas and Giggs were signed as youth internationals so just a case of a missed trick by the academy and youth scouts. Something now being addressed by Rodolfo Borrell at the helm of the academy. He has vowed to focus on nurturing more local talent in the way he did at Barcelona with the likes of Fabregas (who he discovered locally at the age of 10 and later signed him for Barca), and nutured a good chunk of both Barca's dominant European Cup winning squad and Spain's superb World Cup squad come from Borrell's spell at the Catalan club's youth academy.

Now let's look at the more affordable players in the list:

• Young £8m signed in Jan 2007 in a season we signed Jermaine Pennant for £6.7m and a £2m deal for Sebastian Leto was agreed. Neither of whom shone in a Red shirt.
  
• Lennon £1m in the summer we signed Antonio Nunez for £2m.
  
• Etherington £2m signing from West Ham in a season where Dossena and Degen came in.
  
• Wright-Phillips £8.5m signing from Chelsea, a price not available to Liverpool at a time when City were not considered direct rivals for Chelsea.

Of the 11 players with the most assists in the Premiership this season, by this analysis only Milner (a player coveted by Liverpool at the time but deemed too pricey), Young and Lennon were missed opporunities. All were acquired from clubs in turmoil and England under-21 internationals who have gone on to earn full honours at international level.

The lessons to be learned are although speculating on young players who are proven at under-21 level can be risky (Pennant was a hot property as a youth international), the risk is outweighed by the enormous rewards of developing the talent to a world-class level and potentially huge transfer fees.