da 888casino： Some would say that I’m quite bitter about the accusation that Manchester City are ruining football with their financial clout and the money that they have spent over the last few seasons: £24m for Yaya Touré, £24m for David Silva, or £27m for Edin Dzeko, for example. None of them have been value for money. Definitely not. No sir. Impossible. Those who would say I’m quite bitter would be absolutely spot on, as it happens.
da prosport bet： I’ll be less bitter when I hear those self same accusations from the fans of Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham et al and the pundits alike directed towards the clubs that have just spent big on transfer deadline day. Is there an echo in here?
£50m for a striker with previous injury problems and an interest level that, despite having played the majority of this season, would make the rates you can get on a saving account at a high street bank look like we were still enjoying the boom years. Quality, no doubt and a player I probably wouldn’t have been too dissatisfied had City taken a gamble on, but a gamble is exactly what it is: And a big one at £50m.
Then there’s £35m for a striker who has been playing regularly in the Premier League for half a season, having had a good campaign in the Championship the year earlier. And people thought Darren Bent, a proven goalscorer and someone who has been in perhaps the best form of his career recently, was over priced at £24m… There’s no guarantee it’s going to be £35m well spent.
And how would the Liverpool fans have felt had it been Hodgson doing the spending on Carroll and the selling of Torres? I’m not convinced it would have been the same had it not been Dalglish in charge.
Then there’s been Tottenham this window, a team that seem to spend money under the radar and are often priced out of the market by others as the manager would have you believe. They have had bids turned down for four players over the weekend, perhaps the most notable being a £38.5m bid for Sergio Aguero. There was also the missed attempt at signing Charlie Adam from Blackpool – I’m not entirely sure how Tottenham can be so disappointed missing out on a last minute deal; it’s not like they haven’t had the last 31 days to sort something out, is it?
I assume everybody is so disgusted at the money being spent à la last summer and the summer before? All that money that could have been spent on hospitals etc that is ruining the national sport… Of course not and, to be honest, I don’t think they should be: the money that is being spent is privately owned. It wouldn’t have been spent on hospitals, libraries, leisure centres anyway. Though my understanding of finances is limited (there’s a reason why I’m not Chancellor of the Exchequer), in a strange way, some of the fees now will be, since those fees, and subsequent wages and signing on fees, are subject to tax.
That football shaped black hole that didn’t materialise when City signed those cheques for their transfers since Sheikh Mansour took ownership of the club in September 2008 still hasn’t materialised now. And it won’t, just as it didn’t when tens of millions were being spent by Chelsea or Manchester United before City had financial clout.
But if City are going to be criticised, then it’s only fair some of the other clubs are, eh?
With the panicking that has been happening nationwide on the final day of the transfer window, I must admit that I’m quite pleased City conducted their business earlier in the month. Sure, there have been one or two final tweaks and a look at a couple of loans since Adam Johnson has been sidelined, but there was no big money, over the odds transfer on the final day just for the sake of it.
Instead, only Edin Dzeko has come in. And, from what I’ve seen so far, I have been quite impressed with the big centre-forward. He’s not been at his best, but that’s hardly surprising given he’s come in to a new league having not played first team football for a few weeks due to Germany’s winter break. He’s certainly no more of a gamble than Carroll or Torres, especially at £8m or £23m cheaper, respectively.
What Dzeko has shown since his arrival has been brief. But, at times, he’s been strong, he’s held the ball up, he’s kept possession in and around the box, he’s been good in the air, he’s linked up quite well with Tevez and Touré… All that and he’s not yet found his feet in England. So, we can only imagine what he’ll be capable of in a few weeks’ time.
Without going into too much detail about the cup game with Notts County (I’m sure we all feel the same: disappointing to need a replay, happy to take one having fallen behind against a team making it difficult for City, concerned that we can’t really cope, especially against lower league opposition, without the spine or Kompany-de Jong-Tevez), Dzeko has been looking sharper and was rewarded with a goal. In the end, it was a tap in, but nobody’s complaining about that. He could have scored with a testicle for all I cared.
The point is, so much is made of transfer fees when they’re largely irrelevant. Dzeko signing for City for £27m isn’t too much different to Torres signing for Chelsea for £50m or Carroll signing for Liverpool for £35m – if they do the job they are being bought for, then it’s money well spent. If they fire enough goals to win enough games to win cups, titles, or Champions League positions, then where’s the problem?
Transfer fees are compared all the time: Hell, I’ve even done it in this bloody article. But they’re incomparable – it’s so much more than how much a player costs because every player offers something different to a team. Has Tevez’s contribution to City since he signed been £32m, while Kompany’s only £6m? Of course not; a player’s value is set by factors including, but not limited to, what the buying club is prepared (and able) to pay and what the selling club is willing to accept.
Football isn’t being ruined. Not by City, not by Chelsea, not by Liverpool, not by Tottenham, not by anyone. Though, the one thing that did interest me this transfer deadline day was how Manchester United didn’t delve into the market for some more quality signings – those signings that Rooney was apparently promised when he signed his improved contract.
I guess there’s no value in the market. Or something.