United: Europe's Spurs
Wed Jul 01 08:48AM
Sighs of relief all round at Old Trafford, then. For a minute it looked like Manchester United might not be able to field a full team next season, and would have to recruit some 13-year-old ringers from the local park.
But now they have splashed £16 million on Antonio Valencia (pictured). Who cares whether he is the right player? He's a player. And given the summer they have had so far, United will be grateful to get anybody on board.
It is the kind of signing that must make Arsene Wenger pound his fists in that ineffective way of his. The Arsenal boss and his scouts comb the world for emerging talents in the hope of landing a bargain. United just wait until a player is good, then they buy him.
A couple of
years ago, Wigan signed Valencia
for a fraction of the price they received from United. But having just had £80m
dumped into their bank account in exchange for Cristiano Ronaldo, does it
really matter if United overpay by £10m or so?
He might lack Franck Ribery's X-factor, but Valencia is quick, skilful and young, and Fergie knows he can do the business in the Premier League.
It is roughly the same price United paid for Serbian duo Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic, and less than they paid for Nani.
So a winger with a proven record of success in the Premier League seems like no bad thing - but then you have to be a certain kind of club to compensate for £32m of shaky spending by splashing out another £16m.
United are the big fish of the Premier League, snapping up Valencias, Carricks and Berbatovs from their smaller rivals.
But English football's great white shark encounters a blue whale of a club when it comes to dealings in Europe.
Real Madrid have already sucked Ronaldo from their clutches like just another piece of plankton, and are now busy hoovering up all United's main transfer targets.
Curiously, English 'giants' struggle to sign players who have already established themselves as world-class. Is it the weather? Is it the prospect of getting kicked by Joey Barton? Or is it that top stars hate Richard Keys?
Whatever the reason, United find it difficult to compete for those blue riband players. They are to Real Madrid what Tottenham are to them. And given Tottenham's status as a frequent laughing stock in the transfer market, that's not a good thing for Fergie.
Most of his major signings involve bringing players of obvious quality to a bigger club (Valencia, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy), or taking expensive punts on talented youngsters who may or may not be the next great thing (Ronaldo, Anderson, Nani).
But it seems that when faced with competition from La Liga's giants, United are unable to land that big catch (yes, broken metaphor alert - the clubs have just morphed from fish into fishermen).
Back in 2003 Ronaldinho snubbed United to join a Barcelona side that had just finished sixth, and this summer Ribery, David Villa and Karim Benzema appeared to go off limits as soon as Real Madrid expressed an interest.
Benzema might yet end up at Old Trafford, but only if Real decide they don't want him. He will be the scrawny trout that Florentino Perez chucks back into the river.
Even though the Premier League is demonstrably the strongest domestic competition in the world, its top clubs still lack the same allure as a transfer destination as Madrid, Barcelona or even Milan.
Still, ED suspects United will survive, especially with the £16m outlay being widely seen as just the starter for 10 of an epic spending binge.
Contrast United's largesse with Burnley, who yesterday splashed out a club record £3m fee to bring in Steven Fletcher from Hibernian.
Although Fletcher's record of one goal per three games in the SPL hardly suggests a world-class talent, he is almost certainly a more significant signing than Valencia.
While Valencia becomes just another component of a 30-man squad - virtually interchangeable with Park Ji-Sung or Nani - Fletcher's performances could very well determine whether or not Burnley survive in the top flight.
If Fletcher fails, Burnley cannot just conjure more money to sign another striker - they are stuck with what they have.
Fletcher might be the most important purchase Burnley ever make. Nobody is going to say that about Valencia and
United.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE DAY: How I was tapped up on multiple occasions then screwed more
money out of my club then ignored my wife's
wishes, by Nemanja Vidic: "My wife Ana is unhappy with our lifestyle in
Manchester but I am not going to change my mind as I am happy with the team and
Manchester and the club's ambitions
for next season. I got offers from Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid
and I played a very honest game - I disclosed all these offers to my boss Sir
Alex. He reacted quickly. I was told he was raising my pay to bring it to the
level where my reputation is in the Premier League and Europe.
After Milan
and Real Madrid made their offers, Barcelona
came in - they wanted to pay 30 million euros for my services but after Sir
Alex's move, I am definitely staying
in Manchester
until my contract expires in 2012. I don't care that I will still not be paid as much as my
good friends Rio Ferdinand or Wayne Rooney but I guess I will be at the same
level as Berbatov and Carrick."
COMING UP: It's a belting line-up the Wimbledon quarter-finals, while on a football note the proper Jim White (not the abovementioned irritatingly enthusiastic one) will be dropping some pearls of wisdom.
Very droll, Andy!!
From edgar_friendly on Wed Jul 01 11:33AM62-I would need to have a DECO at that theory to feel it had been proven Steve!!
From andy_lycett on Wed Jul 01 11:33AMAnd shouldn't that ready "...., pithy poth-t-th"
From edgar_friendly on Wed Jul 01 11:33AMAnnie - thlapped!!
From edgar_friendly on Wed Jul 01 11:34AM64 - DECO = QED. Thascha thould underthtand thith.
From edgar_friendly on Wed Jul 01 11:37AMPeter parker is a rich's man ED!
From irshad_0 on Wed Jul 01 11:40AM62 Steve I totally agree if I could Id leg it to the Med as well
or the Caribbean Italy, Spain, Caribbean
that'd be sweet - I was gonna write a novel but Ive been told off
.
From annieh97 on Wed Jul 01 11:44AMED jim white and that foolish parker always talk good about united and always agree on wat they do 100% bt they wil always disagree on arsenal chelsea and liverpool...............cant believe none of them have said man u will struggle without ronaldo all they say is they will become better like wat happend after the likes of cant beck nist left but they av 4gotten that clubs are hungry 4 success now and anytin can happen
From dimeji4lyfe on Wed Jul 01 11:50AM69- Fnarrrr
Andy, do the following count as pithy comments?
Orange
Lemon
Lime
Satsuma
TangerineFrom edgar_friendly on Wed Jul 01 11:51AMTypical ED bull****, so Madrid dont struggle to attract hugely overpriced players wow, thats news. All those mega millions and still potless last season. This is a knee jerk reaction to Barcelona becoming Big Man On The Block,.. lets see Real produce world class stars year in and out from there Youth set up ..they Dont, they simply trawl Europe and buy what some one else wants...has it improved the balance at Real?? they cant defent for toffee so Perez goes out to buy hundreds of millions of pounds worth of striking talant, BIZZZARREE!! end of the day, I know which of the two has balance, a long term future and not selling the family silver in the hope that a few shirt sales will solve every thing. I think Euro history over the past five years speaks for its self ..English team after team in the final 4 every year!! come on ED, STOP JUST BLURTING STUFF OUT FOR THE SAKE OF IT.
From patrickhendry on Wed Jul 01 11:55AM71-As long as it is done with zest, then absolutley old fruit!!
From andy_lycett on Wed Jul 01 11:55AMLet,s turf all the foreigners back to their own leagues,save the money and nurture some homegrown talent who in the end just want to play for the love and pride of playing professional football.
From jacqueline.chester on Wed Jul 01 11:56AMWow I got 69 today and I also had a 69 with bobo yesterday life doesnt get much better than this
From annieh97 on Wed Jul 01 11:57AMDinner for 2, twice Annie? You are a lucky girl!!
From andy_lycett on Wed Jul 01 12:00PMjacqueline.chester in your little dream world is the sky pink and the clouds all fluffy
From annieh97 on Wed Jul 01 12:00PMAndy you need to put a shirt on your back is sunburnt
From annieh97 on Wed Jul 01 12:06PMgood one Vidic ur ma idol
From saul312001 on Wed Jul 01 12:06PM62 - Can only go on the comments I see in the news Edgar, but apparewntly the 50% tax rate IS an issue to some. Arshavin in particular seems unhgappy with it as he will allegedly be taking home less than he did at Zenit. That must be a big blow.
From danny_saks on Wed Jul 01 12:07PMDanny Saks you make the fundamental error of believing what you read in the press. The Arshavin story has been denied and denied and denied each time the Sun and the Mail have run it. It was a hoax story, just designed to wind supporters up.
From tonyattwooduk on Wed Jul 01 12:07PMPat#72 Well said! Barcelona are the team to beat in Spain and will continue to be, that's not to say Real will be a push over this season or anything like it, but I think it shall take some time to get those big acquisitions/ego's playing as a team.
From lawrence.kavanagh on Wed Jul 01 12:12PMwhat if valencia scores in the champions league final./..surely then youll say hes important?
From raulpeeves on Wed Jul 01 12:13PM#83 - He signed for United.... not Liverpool!
Is it the 15th of August yet!
From who_are_ya_85 on Wed Jul 01 12:26PM81 - Fair comment. But I wonder how long it will be before one of our 'English' clubs sets up a housing estate, training ground and private airport in some tax haven or other to allow players to live outside the governments ability to capture half their players wealth? Must make good financial sense long term?
From danny_saks on Wed Jul 01 12:31PM83-Who will Valencia be playing in the Champs League final?
They don't usually get thru the group stages do they??From andy_lycett on Wed Jul 01 12:32PMWhat a load of @#$%, Real wanted Valencia as well but he only wanted to go to United!
Quite obvious ED is a pathetic Man U hater
From brianmccotter1984 on Wed Jul 01 12:34PM#86 - Oooppps we have forgotten United's god given right to be in ever final of every competition they compete in, that's if they don't pull out beforehand! Damn... another schoolboy error!
From who_are_ya_85 on Wed Jul 01 12:37PMYou are a bit @#$% at football aint ya Kev
From annieh97 on Wed Jul 01 12:40PM#88 - Was that after David Whealan said that he would'nt sell Real Madrid a virus?
That's a good boy Dave, do what Uncle Alex orders you to! (Num Num Num)
From who_are_ya_85 on Wed Jul 01 12:45PMpple are just dissappointed that of all the names touted for Man Utd only a mere Valencia turned up. but Man Utd have built on this syndrome from God knows when. anyways the argument for weather, language, culture and taxation don't really favour the english now do they only african players flock to england, reason: to maximise their profit a la the power of the pound sterling
From cobrabites69 on Wed Jul 01 12:46PM#89 - Well your a big girl, what would you know
From who_are_ya_85 on Wed Jul 01 12:46PM
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