Money vs Talent

A lot gets made of some of the frankly jaw-dropping transfer fees that are paid for players during the transfer windows, particularly the usual mad-house January window.

Up to a point I used to justify the amounts being paid, professional footballers are a rare commodity so you pay top money for the more talented players, if you think about them as collectables Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would be limited edition players, whereas your Dean Whitehead type player is ten-a-penny.  Players are also great sources of revenue for clubs generating shirt sales, ticket sales and allowing clubs to have more sway over television money (particularly in countries like Spain where clubs negotiate their own TV rights).  Having said this, when players are regularly changing hands for in excess of £20m, I find it a bit hard to believe my own reasoning especially when you're average lower league team probably hasn't spent £20m on players in their entire history!  It makes it even harder when you look at some of the hefty transfer fees paid for players who didn't deliver;

• Chris Sutton, Blackburn Rovers to Chelsea, £10,000,000 (1999).  Having been one half of the truly devastating S.A.S partnership that scored goals for fun at Blackburn, Sutton was transferred to Chelsea with high expectations...28 league games with only the solitary goal in his one and only season saw Sutton quietly ushered towards the exit door moving to Celtic for £6,000,000 in the summer of 2000.
• Robbie Keane, Coventry City to Inter Milan, £13,000,000 (2000).  Robbie was one of the hottest young talents in the Premier League whilst at Coventry having signed from Wolves for £6,000,000 and scoring 12 goals in his debut season.  This led to somewhat unique move from Coventry to his "boyhood club" Inter Milan for a fairly hefty fee to play under manager Marcello Lippi.  Unfortunately for Robbie, Lippi was sacked fairly soon after his arrival and his replacement Marco Tardelli froze Robbie out, so after a mere 6 league appearances and zero goals Robbie was on his way back to Blighty on loan to "boyhood club" Leeds United in December 2000, with the deal being made permanent for £12,000,000 in May 2001.
• Denilson, Sao Paulo to Real Betis, £21,500,000 (1998).  Undoubtedly a talented player, Denilson was transferred from Sao Paulo for a world record transfer fee to Spanish side Real Betis after the 1998 World Cup with some of Europe's top clubs chasing his signature.  An indifferent first season was followed by relegation in his second and after a loan spell back in Brazil, Denilson was no more than a bit part player until his transfer to Bordeaux in 2005.  No matter what you say about him, he was a one man highlight reel.
• Robinho, Real Madrid to Man City, £32,500,000 (2008).  Another hugely talented player who was maybe a victim of his own transfer fee, especially when you see some of the scintillating form he's shown at Milan.  Whilst a return of 14 goals in 41 league appearances doesn't seem too bad, it also doesn't tell the whole story of how disappointing Pele's god-son was in Manchester.
• Andrey Shevchenko, AC Milan to Chelsea, £30,800,000 (2006) and Fernando Torres, Liverpool to Chelsea, £50,000,000 (2011).  One of Europe's top strikers moves for big money to the big spending Chelsea with an owner who expects them to deliver...only to show a woeful lack of form, disinterest in anything round and white and look like they would rather be anywhere in the world other than West London...sound familiar?
• Gaizka Mendieta, Valencia to Lazio, £40,000,000 (2001).  I think if I was ever asked to describe Mendieta I would probably use the terms 'solid' and 'does a job', but in what world is he worth £40,000,000?  He could have moved mountains in Rome, scored 30 goals and I still think I'd struggle to believe he was worth that...beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so maybe his wiley agent just kept showing this video.
• Carlos Tevez, Man City to whoever is stupid enough to buy him for anything.  Cracking little player and for at least a season will play for the shirt...but a combination of ego and poor advisors mean that whoever signs Carlos up needs their head examined.  Any player who refuses to come on as a sub (sorry "allegedly") and then goes AWOL in a sulk doesn't deserve to be playing the beautiful game...I say let him rot in Argentina.

There are a number of players who are missing off this list such as the like of Sabre Veron and Kaka who made somewhat ill-fated moves to Man United and Real Madrid respectively, but I genuinely couldn't bring myself to put them on the list because I do like them just too much.  Its not that either player was/is particularly bad for their new club, its just they've been somewhat overshadowed by they teammates in the case of Kaka and was unfortunate enough to be blamed for Fergie's decision to play Paul Scholes wide left in the case of Veron....oh, and no Andy Carroll purely on the basis of his flick on to put Dirk in against United earlier today...subjectivity is a bitch isn't it!

Carlos' £9.3 million

Whilst Tevez's "advisors" claim that his leaving Manchester City is not about money, losing out on a reported £9,300,000 through loss of wages, bonus' etc must hurt a little.  What also doesn't quite make sense is that if the reasons for leaving are either a) Footballing or b) For family reasons, why is he leaving the club currently top of one of the best leagues in the world to, and isn't Milan further from Argentina than Manchester, and don't they not speak Spanish in Italy do they?

Anyway, all this analysis of the Tevez transfer sage is for another day, what I am more interested in bringing you good people is a list of our top 10 things that wee Carlos could have got for his £9,300,000;

• Chris Sutton circa 1999.
• 6 Bugatti Veyrons
• 54,705,882 Freddo chocolate bars (or Fudge bars if he preferred)
• Dinner for him and 54,704 friends at the best restaurant in the world Noma
• 9,393,939 McDonalds Cheeseburgers.
• 1 Stuart Hughes iPhone 4 Diamond Rose edition (its not even a 4s!!!)
• 845 bottles of personalised Sperion Lambda Olive Oil
• 3 of the worlds most expensive stamp, the Treskilling Yellow dating from 1855 Sweden.
• 990 Tigers from www.buytigers.com (and I'm being serious...you even get 3 Tiger toys with your purchase of a REAL Tiger...)

or...

• 186,000 Inter Milan replica shirts.

So there we have it, for Carlos it may not all be about the money...but look at all the cool stuff he could have got had he not been such a....

Goal of the week

Before we get into the nitty gritty of goal of the week we're going to take a slight detour down the route of Assist of the week purely for this magnificent assist from the African Cup of Nations game between Libya and Zambia earlier today...unfortunately since it only happened an hour or so ago its not up on youtube yet, but if you get a chance it is a majestic bicycle kick onto the head of a teammate...if I get a chance (and remember) I will post it.

Onto the more regular goal of the week, and this week it is a chance for a true legend to take home the award.  Anyone who tuned into the Coppa Italia game between Juventus and Roma was treated to something a little special from Mr.Juventus, Alex Del Piero...you never lose it!!

"A gentleman never leaves his lady" - A. Del Piero

Only 187 days to go...time to start the arguments

As anyone who lives in London will know, you can't get away from the countdown to the 2012 Olympics, selection for the majority of the events is a fairly straightforward (if brutal) selection based on tournaments, trials an qualifying times, but for Stuart Pearce and the Team GB football team the selections they make will be open to huge media scrutiny.  This will be the first time Team GB has gone to the Olympics since 1960 tournament which took place around Italy, despite this, the team will have to live up to being previous winners in both 1908 and 1912 in London and Sweden respectively.

There has already been so much media coverage of the team and as to whether it should even exist, it is understandable that the Welsh and Scottish FA are worried about FIFA revoking their member status and making Great Britain form a permanent team...but what they failed to realise is that FIFA hate the English, and wouldn't want to strengthen the team by allowing the addition of the likes of Gareth Bale, Jordan Rhodes or Aaron Ramsey...either way, we have a coach, we have a kit, all we need now is the squad.

The selection rules are fairly straight forward;

• The selection will cover players being drawn from Great Britain (Scotland, Wales and England) and Northern Ireland.
• The selection is limited to players under the age of 23 with the exception of three players within the squad who are allowed to exceed this limit.
• Players who have played in the Euro 2012 championships will not be considered for selection (this one has been stipulated by the FA, not the IOC).

...but choosing the right players and keeping all the nations happy may be a little more difficult.  In order to help Stuart Pearce pick his squad, here is my provisional 23-man squad (assuming that a couple of players don't get called up for the senior team for the Euro's and that Jack Rodwell will make the plane to the Ukraine);

GK - Jason Steele (Middlesbrough, English)

GK - Ben Amos (Manchester United, English)

DEF - Nathaniel Clyne (Crystal Palace, English)

DEF - Danny Wilson (Liverpool, Scottish)

DEF - Kyle Walker (Tottenham, English)

DEF - Grant Hanley (Blackburn, Scottish)

DEF - Chris Gunter (Nottingham Forest, Welsh)

DEF - Craig Cathcart (Blackpool, N.Irish)

MID - Gareth Bale (Tottenham, Welsh)

MID - Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal, Welsh)

MID - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal, English)

MID - Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace, English)

MID - Joe Allen (Swansea, Welsh)

MID - Jordan Henderson (Liverpool, English)

MID - Tom Cleverley (Manchester United, English)

FWD - Connor Wickham (Sunderland, English)

FWD - Victor Moses (Wigan, English)

FWD - Scott Sinclair (Swansea, English)

FWD - Jordan Rhodes (Huddersfield, Scottish)

FWD - Sam Baldock (West Ham, English)

Over-age Players;

GK - Paul Robinson (Blackburn, English)

DEF - Ledley King (Tottenham, English)

MID - Danny Murphy (Fulham, English)

Reserves (if players get England call ups);

DEF - Martin Kelly (Liverpool, English)

MID - Josh McEachran (Chelsea, English)

FWD - Conor McAleny (Everton, English)

Unfortunately, being English I feel I may have somewhat weighted the squad more towards and England U21 team (15 English, 3 Scottish, 4 Welsh and 1 Northern Irish if you're interested) than anything else, but I have tried to be fair.  Obviously there are a couple of players on the list (Scott Sinclair, Kyle Walker and Tom Cleverley who may yet get a call-up for England, but at the moment I'd consider them to be on the fringes and not going) and hence the three reserve players.

In terms of the over-age players, I think it will be key to have a strong spine in the team.  Paul Robinson is a commanding figure in goal, and will be able to command the respect of his back four whilst still having the ability to pull off world class saves.  Ledley King is no longer built for tournament football, however with the current fixtures for the group stage, Ledley would be able to play the first and third games...and I defy you to find a better British defender who won't be going to the Euro's.  Danny Murphy never got enough of a chance for England, but as a calm head in the middle of the park with immaculate delivery of a set-piece and an eye for a pass, he could be just the man to be sat in the middle pulling the strings and driving the team forward.

Whilst you may not agree with the squad above and without wanting to sound like I'm writing for The Sun, I think there is definitely enough quality between the four countries to mount a fairly serious challenge on the gold medal...lets just hope Spain send their U12 team by accident...

G.Nev - Player, Pundit...hotelier

Before we cue the music, I know that as a player G.Nev wasn't everyones cup of tea...especially if you happen to be from anywhere that wasn't the red half of Manchester, but it is undeniable that at his peak he was the ultimate Mr. Consistency.

Poor Gary was never blessed with pace, finesse, skill, power, height etc etc, but what he did do well was defend.  In this modern era where we have been blessed with the kind of cavalier styled full-backs of Roberto Carlos and Cafu and others who had poise, time on the ball and oozed class like Maldini the right back from Bury more than held his own and would have walked into any team in the Premier League if not the world.  What he lacked in pace, he made up with impeccable timing, and what he lacked in power he more than made up for with aggression...on an attacking front he was never going to be as good as Cafu, but when he played behind Beckham for club and country he didn't need to be.  He was even good enough that when a young, raw, tracking-back-shy Cristiano Ronaldo joined the club, Fergie had no problem sitting him in front of G.Nev...and unusually for a modern day pro, G.Nev knew when enough was enough, but then everyone who saw his last game against West Brom knew...

Moving away from his playing career he has now become a firm favourite in the Sky Sports studio, even Arsenal fans have been heard complimenting his views and analysis and he makes a welcome break from the usual p*ss poor punditry we are subjected to in this country...how hard can it be to say something interesting and insightful without making a fool of yourself!?

And now another string to the bow...step forward G.Nev, hotelier.  As part of a consortium this week, G.Nev submitted a request for planning permission to erect a Man.Utd themed hotel in the shadows of Old Trafford...is there no end to his talent?

Don't get me wrong though...I'm not totally convinced about the idea of a Man.Utd themed hotel, hairdryers in the room that scream Scottish obscenities at the user whilst, somewhat ironically, drenching them in spit...the Eric Cantona restaurant only serving sardines...David Beckham bell-boys to provide immaculate service...special rates for Thursday nights...and be wary of the young gentleman checking into the Ryan Giggs suite...

...cue the music!

Indian football set for the IPL treatment

If you were asked to name to most popular sports in India you'd probably be right if you answered cricket and hockey.  In the last few years cricket has benefitted from the economic boom in India and money has been ploughed into the IPL bringing in top players from around the world to play in the tournament...and now the super powers in India have turned their attention to football (and no, I don't mean the Venky revolution).

It has been announced today that the Celebrity Management Group have gained the rights for a tournament to be held in India for the next thirty years.  The initial tournament will feature six teams and will run from February 25th until April 8th and is rumoured to have already signed up a number of "world class" stars.  Big names already signed up are Robert Pires, Fabio Cannavaro, Robbie Fowler, Hernan Crespo, Jay Jay Okocha, Fernando Morientes and Maniche...now one thing that immediately jumps out from this list, with the exception of Maniche and Fowler, is "I thought they'd retired".

Every team will be allowed to spend $2.5m in their first season and will be allowed a maximum of four foreign players and must have at least six Indian players under the age of 21.  The domestic league in India isn't particularly well followed, however it is estimated that 60million fans in India watched the English Premier League.  What the hope of the tournament will be is that the young players will learn from the old pros and boost the profile of the team in India and also boost the standard of the national team...maybe they'll even qualify for the World Cup before too long.

My fear is that rather than being a festival of football, this tournament is in danger of being a few old boys going through the motions to pick up one last big pay day.  The main evidence for this (apart from the average age being about 83) is that none of the players have actually signed for a team, they've signed up for the league with 30 players and 6 managers being auctioned off in the city of Kolkata closer to the start of the league.  Each team will be given a salary cap of $600,000 and be allowed to sign one 'iconic' player each...now the numerically astute of you will have noticed that there are in fact 7 'iconic' players listed, i wonder who will be the proverbial 'last kid picked in the playground'...I really hope its not Robbie.

Goal of the week...

After a few weeks without a goal of the week offering we're back with a cracker from Portugal and a goal with perhaps the second most swerve I've ever seen, only Roberto Carlos and that free-kick against France bends more!

So here we are, Artur for Beira Mar vs Braga.

Also a special mention to Arnaud Mendy for his effort the weekend before in the FA Cup against Bolton...proof that there is life below the Premiership.