The Color of Money
Sir Alex is in a dilemma. Given the scarce funds thanks to the Glazers, he has no scope of buying some of the hottest prospects in Europe. Thanks to Russian mafia-money, Chelsea has emerged as a top destination for world-class players and other greedy ones who look to make a killing just by warming their benches. Difficult times lie ahead for Fergie as he struggles to keep hold of his top players. Adding to his dilemma is the fact that Juventus players are available for cheap after their demotion but this would be just a short term strategy as most of them are in the last stages of their career. As I write this, I hear Thuram and Zambrotta have joined Barcelona...finally some good news, but that's entirely different matter.
Sir Alex has seen a host of talented players snub United and moved on to Chelsea just because they get larger pieces of the pie that is the Russian mafia-money. Adding to Fergie's woes is that ManUtd from a profit-making plc, has become a club riddled with debts thanks to the Glazers' takeover.
The transfer market scene has changed entirely after the arrival of Roman Abramovich who is willing to shell out obscene amounts of money for overrated players. 25 million pounds for Essien and 20 million for SWPhilipps - Bull shit! Fergie points out to Chelsea spending 30 million for Shevchenko, while arguing his case for more money for Ruud Van Nistelrooy whose position as Europe's top goal scorer is very similar to that of the former AC Milan striker. 12 milion pounds for Ruud is peanuts for a guy who guarantees 20 goals a season and a few in the Champions League as well.
Torres might be an upcoming player but he is still unproved at the elite level in Europe and he might even struggle to adapt in the EPL. 25 million for him? No way! Diarra preferred a move to Real than to ManUtd but Real have signed on Emerson, which opens the way for a move to OT...but the transfer fee demanded by Lyon - 25 million! Absolute crap!
Some of the players recently bought were extremely high-priced. No guesses for which club bought them. Given below are the actual money paid/demanded and the real worth according to me.
Player - Demanded/Paid Fee - Real Worth
Essien - 25 million - not more than 14 million
SWP - 20 million - maximum 15 million
Horno - 8 million - 3 million
Drogba - 24 million - 15 million
Shevchenko - 30 million - 22 million ( he is 30, for goodness sake!)
M.Diarra - 25 million demanded - not more than 17 million
F.Torres - 43 million (buy-out clause)...at least 26 million demanded - 22 million max!
I have to agree with Arsene Wenger for once...the price of players just inflate when clubs know Chelsea are also interested. Some clubs allege Chelsea are looking to buy their player just to increase the fee. It's definitely not a good trend and is sure to affect the EPL as the gap between them and the rest of the teams would widen to such high levels that ultimately one team will dominate, resulting in serious lack of interest.
Sir Alex has seen a host of talented players snub United and moved on to Chelsea just because they get larger pieces of the pie that is the Russian mafia-money. Adding to Fergie's woes is that ManUtd from a profit-making plc, has become a club riddled with debts thanks to the Glazers' takeover.
The transfer market scene has changed entirely after the arrival of Roman Abramovich who is willing to shell out obscene amounts of money for overrated players. 25 million pounds for Essien and 20 million for SWPhilipps - Bull shit! Fergie points out to Chelsea spending 30 million for Shevchenko, while arguing his case for more money for Ruud Van Nistelrooy whose position as Europe's top goal scorer is very similar to that of the former AC Milan striker. 12 milion pounds for Ruud is peanuts for a guy who guarantees 20 goals a season and a few in the Champions League as well.
Torres might be an upcoming player but he is still unproved at the elite level in Europe and he might even struggle to adapt in the EPL. 25 million for him? No way! Diarra preferred a move to Real than to ManUtd but Real have signed on Emerson, which opens the way for a move to OT...but the transfer fee demanded by Lyon - 25 million! Absolute crap!
Some of the players recently bought were extremely high-priced. No guesses for which club bought them. Given below are the actual money paid/demanded and the real worth according to me.
Player - Demanded/Paid Fee - Real Worth
Essien - 25 million - not more than 14 million
SWP - 20 million - maximum 15 million
Horno - 8 million - 3 million
Drogba - 24 million - 15 million
Shevchenko - 30 million - 22 million ( he is 30, for goodness sake!)
M.Diarra - 25 million demanded - not more than 17 million
F.Torres - 43 million (buy-out clause)...at least 26 million demanded - 22 million max!
I have to agree with Arsene Wenger for once...the price of players just inflate when clubs know Chelsea are also interested. Some clubs allege Chelsea are looking to buy their player just to increase the fee. It's definitely not a good trend and is sure to affect the EPL as the gap between them and the rest of the teams would widen to such high levels that ultimately one team will dominate, resulting in serious lack of interest.
posted by Lucas @ 10:10 AM
5 Comments:
Chelsea are waiting to poke their noses even to nab some under 17s and under 19s under Wenger's radar. Daniel Sturrock of ManC is one example. 10 million for Curtis Davies, 9 million for Andy Johnson and 16+ for Carrick, FA or UEFA have no rights to accuse Wenger of not nurturing home grwon talent. Rubbish!!!
And not to mention, Spurs, who must be having some money minting machine given that they try to buy players for themselves and also to ship-wreck bid of other clubs, particularly Arsenal.
A cap on money spent is becoming a necessary evil if bright british youngsters are to play top football regularly with top clubs.
A very good post.
The ones which hurt me the most :
Theo Walcott (11million).This was mainly bcos Chelsea were after him too.
Reyes (20+...cant remember the exact fee)
All the players that you rightly mention are overpriced. No way can Manu, Arsenal etc compete to sign players when the prices are so high.
For the record, i think that RVN is better than Shevchenko.I wouldnt pay more than 15 mill for Sheva.
As Marauder says managers like Wenger have no other choice but to go tapping talent in feeder clubs like Beveren. Wenger wanted to sign Essien,Diarra,Torres but the 20 mill plus tag on all of them gives him no chance to compete. Hell even a Ya Ya Toure will now cost him 8 million. Bollocks!
Same goes for Fergie after signing Rooney for that much.
yes, ManUnited have been struggling in the transfer market but I also believe that Fergusson's record over the past three years have played a small part too.
The club simply doesnt have the same pull as before. And plus the club is on a downward slope when compared to a club like Liverpool who are now on the ascendancy after 20 years of non-performance.
I think Fergie has to go. But being the stubborn Scott that he is, he wont. I wonder who he is going to sign in this transfer market. He should try and get Vieira, whether the frenchman would come is a totally different issue.
As I might have broadcasted my view about Chelsea so many times, I guess you all could not agree more that Chelsea has been manipulating the transfer market. With no consideration for cost, (as Lucas calls it 'mafia-money'. Haha.) the Blues are almost as certain as landing player after player once sights are trained on them.
And since Abramovich's takeover, we have had episodes where Chelsea snatched players inteneded for rivals right under the other clubs' noses. Take ManU for example: Robben, Ballack, John Obi Mikael... Players who are ManU bound got hitchhiked by Abramovich's benefits. They claimed it's not money though.
The recent Italian scandal might make it all the worse and what I can only do is to do nothing, just bracing myself for another nightmare.
@Z
There is always a chance that you will start to go down after u have reached the summit...that's happening with ManU at this moment. Yes, ManU needs a new manager...Fergie has been at OT for too long a time now. But having people like the Glazers at the helm doesn't help either.
@Marauder
A cap on money spent is not feasible but a salary cap is! It's so obvious as to why Robben, Duff, Mikel chose Chelsea over ManU!
@Sriskandh
Thanks. Yeah...Reyes at 20 million (dollars, i think)was way too expensive. For Walcott, Arsenal have just paid 4 million BP which shd increase over the years if he proves his worth. I am only too happy that Rooney wasn't linked to Chelsea b4 he signed on for ManU!
@Soccerguy
Crespo has been promised by Abromovich among other things - a yacht, a private jet and some more benefits if he stayed at Chelsea! Who wouldn't wanna go to Chelsea with all the mafia-money flowing so freely out there, except of course the fans who just dont want to see the boring football played by their team!
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