I read one of these today where the writer actually referenced the £35M that has been bandied about, and added "seems unlikely, double that would be closer"
Of course training is valuable, and better quality training gets better improvements, no elite level of sport is reached by just having an innate ability, but the difference between the very best, and the rest is vast, not 1%, which your statement, "99% of skill" suggests should be the only...
David Beckham perhaps is an example of diligent training forging a top level career, but however hard he trained, he would never be Zidane. Hundreds of lads with the athletic ability train hard and never have a pro career, there is something else, the way the brain is connected maybe,
Each rung on the ladder is worth the best part of a couple of million pounds, for those that think bottle caps are banned for commercial reasons, there is not much hope we will be risking missing out on a place higher up the table, to blood a youngster.