The 2013-14 Premier League season
just ended, and Manchester City has won its second league title since 1992. Notably, City did it with a global roster: only one of its starting 11 players Sunday was English – Joe Hart, the goalkeeper. (Rounding out the starting lineup were players from Argentina, Spain, Belgium, Serbia, France, Ivory Coast and Bosnia and Herzegovina.)
Having a majority of international stars is not new to the Premier League, long a symbol of the modern globalized game. But Manchester City still stands out. Aside from Hart, only one other English player started more than 10 matches for City this season: James Milner, a midfielder who has scored just once.
The table above is the result of a little thought experiment: What would the standings look like in a hypothetical league in which a goal does not count unless it is scored by an English player? Today's 2-0 win, for example, would have been a 0-0 draw, as City’s goals came from French and Belgian players. (When we say "English", we mean players born in England or those who have played for England’s national team or its national youth squads.)
No league would ever work this way, of course, but it does show which clubs rely most on outside talent. Instead of holding the trophy, Manchester City would find itself relegated to the second-division League Championship, contemplating next year's matches against teams like Brentford, Watford and Nottingham Forest. Cardiff City, which had more than 70 percent of its goals from English players, would jump 11 slots to 8th place – ahead of clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham.
And Liverpool, which came
tantalizingly close to the title this year with some of England's brightest stars, would get to raise that trophy after all.
