I do understand your point and I am not against recruiting the best talent globally. I just worry about the feasibility of it. What age group are we talking, as it remains very difficult to pull under 16's from abroad across without running the risk of huge fines. Likewise you can get some under 18's but invariably you have to pay (relatively) big fees and often huge wages and sign on fees. I do wonder what impact that has on other young players in the academy. You have a settled and successful group of lads up to 16 and then look to start bringing star names in once they are 18 who are paid more than the rest of the squad are put together.
You are right to talk about the different approach City and Chelsea have taken. However I see their attempts to recruit internationally as a sign of weakness not strength. For Chelsea, post Terry they have brought no local lad through their academy. I simply think recruiting lots of highly paid teenagers attempts to cover for a weakness in their system. Likewise with City the local talent has really dried up. it's a bit different for City as they are hovering up the best local talent but are really struggling to bring anyone through.
The obvious point it would seem to me is that the more time they allocate to recruiting international players the harder it becomes for local talent. The solution to their problem appears to be spending even more which then goes on highly paid talent.
Alternatively since moving to FF in particular we have shown a pretty decent conveyor belt. Likewise we have Connolly, Holland, Ledson, Yates, Davies, Kenny, Evans who are all regularly capped by England youth teams and lads like Walsh and Dowell who are very well thought of. All of them are within 30 minutes drive of our stadium. The questions I would ask are;
1) How much effort/money/time would it take to recruit a similar group of young players/internationals from abroad?
2) Could that money be more efficiently spent on local talent?
I think what I shows to me, is that there is more than enough talent within the local area for us, and our strength is tapping into that. That's not to say it shouldn't be counter balanced by bringing others in, but I do think you need to be careful. How would the above lads moral have been impacted if we'd have brought in a series of very highly paid foreign youngsters who are on a similar level to them?
The biggest worry I have for Everton currently is Manchester City. Their best player in their under 16's (who may leave) used to be with us. They've got another great prospect from Huyton in the same year group. We should not be losing out on those players and we do need to think of ways to try to combat City on that.