I think you are over-egging the standard of that team in 2017
Randolph wasn't a regular at West Ham
Christie was in the Championship
Duffy was just after getting promoted with Brighton a couple of weeks earlier
Long played 3 games in the PL the previous season
Ward was a regular at Burnley
Whelan had just left Burnley to join Villa in the Championship
Arter was a regular at Bournemouth
Brady had just left Norwich in the Championship for Burnley
Hendrick was a regular for Burnley
Hayes was with Aberdeen
Walters with a sub at Stoke and on his way to Burnley where he didn't play
Of the subs
John O'Shea had just been relegated with Sunderland
McClean was a regular with WBA
And the rest were playing Championship or below.
Hardly inspiring -
Now - on top of that - since mid 2017 a stack of PL clubs have been taken over by vulture funds - Villa, Bournemouth, Burnley, Eveton, Newcastle, Wolves - to add to the others already owned by billionaire funds - and they are looking more at their balance sheet than anything else. Irish players do not traditionally generate high transfer fees, especially in comparison to English players (and our traditional involvement in English football and prejudice against the Irish leads Irish players being regarded as second class English players). If Rice had remained with Ireland, West Ham would have got £50m or less for him - same with Grealish. Interesting side fact - the five most expensive English footballers of all time all hold Irish passports.
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