Club Loyalty - Easily Demonstrated - Easily Faked |
.... not thoroughly fed up of the names Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney, and Luis Suarez?
- They are all multi millionaire footballers.
- They are all being courted by other clubs.
- They are all being touted around at ridiculously inflated fees (£100m, £30m and £50m respectively).
- Suarez has given interviews indicating he wants a move to either Real Madrid or Arsenal (who have bid £40,000,001) - but other than vague suggestions that he had 'an agreement' with Liverpool about £40m being a release clause if Liverpool failed to get a Champions League spot, he hasn't actually taken action that we know of - he's since had a series of minor injuries which have mostly kept him out of the pre-season friendlies until last week.
- Bale and Rooney haven't actually said anything - Bale seems set to go, but no bid from Real Madrid has formally been stated as being received, he could be priced out of a move. Rooney' like Suarez has also had a series of minor injuries, which have mostly kept him out of the pre-season friendlies until now, and Chelsea have made at least one formal bid.
Now I am aware that there is not much honour amongst thieves, or club loyalty in football anymore, but if you want to leave, and are already so rich that you earn more money in a week, than most in your family earn in a year, then surely whether or not you get another £3 million, £4 million, or even £10 million, should not be a factor in whether you leave a club or not. However, so far not one of these players has formally request a transfer in writing.
(a) Let the player run their contract down, or
(b) Keep a player who wants to leave, and who has publicly disrespected the club (except maybe Liverpool who are desperate to keep Suarez).
So the reason why we are doomed to have weeks more of these three wealthy young men dominating the back pages of our national press, is greed. If they really wanted 'away', then they simply have to put their names to a bit of paper stating that they want to go, and in the modern game that will usually trigger the transfer/loan. Its a sad indictment of the modern game that when you pay millions for a 'star' man, as soon as he gets bored, he can engineer a move via the press, or effectively sulk his way out of a contract if another club comes in for him.
The losers are invariably the fans (especially the younger ones), who often idolise the 'Stars' - buy the replica tops, posters and other paraphernalia from the club shops etc, only to find 'last seasons hero', is now a 'traitor' reviled from the stands ..... it just didn't happen in my day!
I guess I am officially growing old ......
So that's what transfer fees are about? even more ridiculous than I couldn't be bothered to imagine! I'm always bemused by celebrities who partake in irresponsible publicity campaigns (eg. payday loans) when they must NOT NEED the extra dosh!? Pure greed is the only explanation which seems to fit.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, it was only Bale who moved, and then, only on the final day. What a farce, but at least we spent the dosh wisely.
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