Danny Murphy believes young footballers are given too much too early in their careers.
The former Liverpool star and talkSPORT pundit was responding to claims Pep Guardiola wanted to give Premier League winners medals to a number of Manchester City’s youth players, just for training with his champions.
City were awarded 40 gold medals to hand out to players and staff after they successfully defended their title last season.
But Guardiola asked for six extra to acknowledge the efforts of six starlets who he feels helped his squad pip Liverpool to the crown by a point – but his request was rejected by league bosses.
The general rule in the Premier League is that a player who makes five or more appearances will be rewarded with a medal if their team is crowned champions.
And Murphy believes Guardiola’s sentiment would only add to the dangerous precedent that has been set in recent years.
“I think Pep is an unbelievable coach, one of the best, I love everything about him and I’m one of his biggest fans – but I don’t agree with him on this,” Murphy told talkSPORT hosts Jim White and Natalie Sawyer.
“There has to be something in football that are a carrot for players, you have to have incentives to do well.
“When you’re a scholar, it’s getting a pro contract, it’s getting in the first-team dressing room, it’s getting in the first-team squad and then it’s getting in the starting XI.
“Pep is trying to give medals to lads who have trained with the first team and have helped them along the way but without playing any minutes, but giving players a medal for not playing any football, I think, that’s a step too far. It’s getting a bit silly.
“I personally think you should have to play some part in the journey of winning the trophy to get a medal.
“I understand his sentiment – we’re together, players and staff alike and everyone supports each other – but you’ve got to be careful because we’re in an age now where young players are getting financially rewarded without doing anything, based on potential.
“There are young players who haven’t played a first-team game are are earning £20,000-a-week, and others could be earning double that just based on potential and I think it’s ludicrous.”
Murphy’s verdict comes amid reports 19-year-old Jadon Sancho has been handed a new £190,000-a-week contract, including bonuses, at Borussia Dortmund, while 18-year-old winger Calum Hudson-Odoi is set to pen a new £200,000-a-week deal at Chelsea.
“You’ve got to give young players something to aim for,” he added.
“If you’re handing a Premier League medal on a plate to a lad who has just trained with the first team, he hasn’t earned it. Does he actually believe he’s made a difference to getting that medal?
“The five appearance rule I think is decent. In five games you can be a match winner and that could be the points that win you the league.
“But if you don’t play a minute of a Premier League campaign, you should not have a medal. Not in a million years.”
Murphy is speaking from experience, as he explained to Jim and Natalie on Thursday.
The midfielder scored four goals, including two in the semi-final, on the road to Liverpool’s 2001 League Cup victory, but he missed the final against Birmingham in Cardiff due to injury and was not given a medal.
He did get one eventually, though, thanks to a kind gesture from manager Gerard Houllier…
“When I played I didn’t really care that much about the medals,” he said.
“I played in the League Cup 2001, scored in the third and fourth round and got two in the semi, so I contributed, but I missed the final.
“The only medals of the day where the players stripped, starting and on the bench, so I didn’t get a medal, but I deserved a medal.
“Luckily Houllier, being the gentleman he is, he gave me his medal. It was a very nice gesture from a very nice man.
“But it wouldn’t have changed how I felt, because the contribution I made was big, I felt I really contributed on that journey to win that trophy.”
Asked if he considers that medal his or Houllier’s, Murphy added: “It’s mine – I got two goals in the semi!
“But the point is, if I had not played in any of those games and then was sub in the final, didn’t come on and still got a medal, I would have offered it [to other players who contributed more, like himself].
“I think players generally want to feel like they have contributed to get a medal.”
