Early Doors - Your morning briefing blog

Benz merks United

Thu Jul 02 08:45AM

For today's Early Doors, see yesterday's Early Doors.

Manchester United have failed to sign another transfer target, with Karim Benzema about to sign for Real Madrid.

Whether United matched Real's £30 million bid is frankly academic because, as Lyon's club statement last night pointed out: "Madrid was always his preference after Lyon."

And this morning, Franck Ribery has said that if he leaves Bayern Munich, it is: "Real Madrid or nothing."

Why is it that one self-styled Biggest Club in the World consistently proves so much more attractive than another self-styled Biggest Club in the World?

Let's start with financial considerations. Is it the 50 per cent tax rate for high earners in Britain?

Andrei Arshavin prompted this discussion when he demanded changes to his £80,000-a-week contract based on "unpleasant surprises" in his deal with Arsenal - namely that HM Revenue and Customs was siphoning off half his earnings.

He said: "I have a problem with my contract. Certain nuances emerged linked to taxation and some other things. As a result, I'm getting less money than I expected."

Arsene Wenger said he thought it could cause problems for English clubs trying to attract foreigners, but ED thinks that if Arshavin - who does not appear in any way stupid - is prepared to put pen to paper before discussing net earnings, then taxation is probably not high on the list of footballers' specialist subjects.

And as long as most agents get their 10 per cent paid into some shady account in the Cayman Islands, there seems very little incentive for them to take night courses in accountancy.

In any case, exchange rate fluctuations have given English clubs a much larger headache.

If an English club had wanted to pay a foreign player the equivalent of €100,000-a-week in 2007, they would have had to shell out £66,000. Now that figure is £86,000.

But as long as there are clubs seemingly willing to pay Samuel Eto'o a quarter of a million quid a week, ED is not going to take too seriously any claims that English clubs cannot compete in the wage market.

It has also been suggested that life in Spain is a little cushier for the discerning player. Referees afford forwards more protection, while training sessions are less rigorous.

It is true that in the later 'Galactico' years, managerial discipline at Real became so non-existent that training consisted of little more than a 20-minute jog followed by a few beers round Ronaldo's house.

Steve McManaman's book provides some particularly amusing insight into the lack of effort put in by some of the biggest stars on the planet.

But even the most bone-idle player would, when pushed, admit that winning things is better than lazing about eating tapas all day.

And if that means you have to spend as many as three hours a day at training? Well, you've still got all afternoon on the golf course.

If footballers were only interested in money and exerting themselves to the minimum possible extent, they would all be playing in the Middle-East.

And if weather, girls and other environmental factors were as important as all that, the UEFA Cup would probably not just have been won by a team from a dingy mining city in Eastern Ukraine.

Early Doors thinks that footballers are children at heart (in fact some are just children), and all they want to do is play for the team everybody has heard of.

The biggest, the most famous, the most glamorous. The best.

During Benzema's formative years, who were Europe's most successful team? Real Madrid, of course. When Real won their three most recent Champions Leagues, he was 10, 12 and 14.

Who wouldn't want to join the team that was winning it all during those years?

ED might be showing its age here, but it has gone through life assuming that the sky is up, the ground is down, and Liverpool win everything.

It has taken 15 years and 11 Premier League titles for Manchester United to shake that assumption that Liverpool are English football's naturally dominant team.

And still ED expects the 'natural order' to be restored soon. As do most Liverpool fans, which is precisely what makes them so annoying.

It is exactly the same delusion that means every young player wants to sign for Real Madrid, whether he is going to get a game there or not.

- - -

Early in the Bosman years, there was a time when the free transfer market provided some genuine excitement. Players whose contracts had run down were available for nothing, presenting the tantalising prospect of a high-profile bargain.

Bosman fever reached its peak in 2001, the summer of Sol Campbell's sensational move from Tottenham to Arsenal.

Since then, clubs have got too savvy. They ensure that players' contracts are not allowed to get into their last 12 months, and if there is any danger of losing a player on a Bosman he is simply sold the previous summer, Gareth Barry style.

So, eight years after Campbell's big move, he is once again among the best players available on a Bosman - only now he is nearly 35 and clearly past his best.

The ragtag mob of freebies is headlined, of course, by Michael Owen, who could be waiting a while if he expects anyone better than Hull or Stoke to express an interest.

Also on the market are Lucas Neill, who wants £90,000-a-week, his fellow Aussie Mark Viduka, problem driver Jermaine Pennant and Ross Turnbull.

- - -

QUOTE OF THE DAY: A Sports Illustrated expose on David Beckham's refusal to buy his LA Galaxy team-mates dinner: "When it came to paying, Beckham didn't pick up the bill. He put in enough to cover his share and passed it along. Nobody would have believed it, he thought. Beckham is a cheapskate." Did he also steal toothpicks from the table?

FOREIGN VIEW: In Colombia, Atletico Junior coach Julio Comesana has received a five-game ban for using abusive language against a referee, who has also been suspended.

The Uruguayan was sent off during the first leg of Colombia's Apertura championship final last week. Comesana went onto the pitch during the 2-1 defeat at Once Caldas and berated the referee for allowing a goal he thought was offside.

The referee, Imer Machado, was banned from officiating for five matches for his mistakes in the match, which included allowing a goal scored from an offside position, the league's disciplinary commission said in a statement.

"The commission learned from the referee's report that Julio Comesana was sent off for using gross and insulting language against the referee and after his dismissal he entered the field of play and abused him with vulgar words and offensive terms about his person," it said.

COMING UP: Let's just pretend that it's not going to be an all-Williams cakewalk in the Wimbledon women's semi-finals. Oh, what's the point? They'll both be over within the hour.

Comments1 - 30 of 443
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decent article
From jctibbetts27 on Thu Jul 02 08:51AM
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Errr 1st
From marcus_norfolk on Thu Jul 02 08:53AM
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At the end of next season after Real finish 2nd in La Liga and fall at the quarter finals of the CL - after replacing the manager 3 times and selling a few of their new signings for half of what they're paying now, Real will be exposed as the over-hyped club that they are. English football merely need to have 3 teams in the CL semi-finals again and this time win it again to prove that this is the league to play in if you're world class, despite the weather and tax.
From ethan.cooper on Thu Jul 02 08:57AM
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And today my avatar resembles me even more. I didn't wear my hat on holiday and got roasted.
From ethan.cooper on Thu Jul 02 08:59AM
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it just goes to show that early doors knows that the world dosen't revolve around @#$% like English teams.. lol
the biggest transfers in football have involved..
Midfilders : ronaldo, kaka, zidane, Figo.. real madrid
Goalkeepers : Buffon ... juventus
defenders : Ferdinand, Cannavaro (twice) : Man-U, Juventus..
Strikers : Hernan crespo : Lazio..
no liverpool, Chelsea or ....*laughing..seriously laughing on the floor* Arsenal
even mancity comes close with robinho & maybe Tevez :30 mill quid
so such it you 'top 4' nobody wants to come ... yet
From omobobo on Thu Jul 02 09:06AM
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Nice hat Ethan
From andy_lycett on Thu Jul 02 09:07AM
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Hahaha noboday wants to play for the scummers! Ah who cares though, with John O'Shea and Fletcher, they will be banging the goals in!
From who_are_ya_85 on Thu Jul 02 09:08AM
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Real Madrid will end this summer by spending £250 million in borrowed money with the intention of only paying a quarter of it back, get the full backing on the fascist Spanish Royal family, while the corrupt and Anglophobic gimps Platini and Blatter will complain about English clubs making two signings, while donating themselves a couple of thousand tickets to sell at next years world cup.
From rag2706 on Thu Jul 02 09:08AM
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Real Madrid will end this summer by spending £250 million in borrowed money with the intention of only paying a quarter of it back, get the full backing on the fascist Spanish Royal family, while the corrupt and Anglophobic gimps Platini and Blatter will complain about English clubs making two signings, while donating themselves a couple of thousand tickets to sell at next years world cup.
From rag2706 on Thu Jul 02 09:09AM
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5-Your post may beg the question "Why are you on an Blog about UK football then??"
From andy_lycett on Thu Jul 02 09:09AM
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8-That is the best post on this blog for many many a long day!!
Only problem comes if Real do win anything!!
From andy_lycett on Thu Jul 02 09:12AM
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Early Doors knows little of the world outside the Eurosport office and stupid english transfers, having been chained to its desk and forced to subsist on a thin gruel of UHT milk and cardboard with english transfers. It cares little for football itself, preferring to focus on the childish histrionics and self-regarding largesse of those involved in the game and English transfers and why without the top 4, the league is boring. Its primary interests are training-ground bust-ups, Baby Bentleys and deluded chairmen that can't afford the best players in the world or even pay their players well e.g. ARSENAL. Like many Premier League players who earn more and taxed wayyy more, Early Doors refers to itself only in the third person cause it knows @#$% about transfers and the fact that if the top 4 isn't playing.. the EPL is Borrrriiiinnngg.
From omobobo on Thu Jul 02 09:12AM
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#5 - Don't talk s.hite. At least we don't have to pay over the odds transfer fees and salary to get a player to sign!
The English Top 4 have been dominant in Europe for the last 5 years and they will continue to do so... where do you come from and who do you support then?
From who_are_ya_85 on Thu Jul 02 09:13AM
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Gotta feel for Becks Eh? Imagine if he paid for everything when him and the squad went out, then it would be "Who does he think he is Mr Bigshot?
Maybe its just a cultural difference between the UK and USA, the difference being we have some!!
From andy_lycett on Thu Jul 02 09:14AM
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10- and why does early doors ''blog about the transfers of Real Madrid and complain that English teams don't attract big names no more??''... eat a cookie will you..
From omobobo on Thu Jul 02 09:16AM
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ok! never 1st!
From durandongsok on Thu Jul 02 09:17AM
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HALA MADRID !
From super_xerxes on Thu Jul 02 09:19AM
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-13.. winning the champions league twice in 5 years doesnt say 'dominance'... why can't you win it every year then.. it not about going to the finals or getting to the semis.. its about winning.. AC Milan went to the CL finals thrice in 3 years and won it once.. so did Juventus .. but they won it once.. but that dont mean they 'dominated'... you have to win to dominate.. you don't just graze the finals.. you have to win the finals.. Ask the Cleveland Cavs..
Lmao
From omobobo on Thu Jul 02 09:20AM
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15-How does that answer the question of why you are on here?
If you don't like British football, then don't come on a football blog that ends .co.uk, it really isn't that hard to work out!
From andy_lycett on Thu Jul 02 09:20AM
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Dear ED, another Man United bashing article again I see, what woukd you write if we never won anything?
From reynoldsj_2000 on Thu Jul 02 09:21AM
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I agree Ethan.cooper like when they had Zidane (he retired), Figo, Raul will no longer be king pin and will feel a bit left out bigger stars taking his light and all, beckham, eto'o henry, Luis Ronaldo all these big star left. i can't hate on Real attempting to make a great team but all these stars with big salaries don't alawyas make good teams, we shall see what happens this season, with all this muslce nothing but titles will prove it was a good move
From jpyt06 on Thu Jul 02 09:21AM
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Ooooooooohhhh Andy - You are in 'argue' mood today, are you not?
From edgar_friendly on Thu Jul 02 09:23AM
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that just shows that even if u have alex ferguson ur club stature is @#$%... cant even get benzema, which isnt a top player yet, probably will be in a year or two... pretty lame man u... pretty lame... seems ull have to be happy with players like valencia...
From alex.urzica on Thu Jul 02 09:24AM
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EPL is all about jealousy and contempt, as is the whole of Britain for that matter...
Hala Madrid !
From super_xerxes on Thu Jul 02 09:25AM
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#18 - Come on who do you support...spill?
From who_are_ya_85 on Thu Jul 02 09:26AM
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The tax in Spain is 42%, I hardly call that way less. Also the pound is strengthening against the Euro once more, soon the tax rate will be wiped out by the difference and English clubs will be able to out spend the Spanish. But more to the point Real Madrid will soon fall on their own sword, just like they always do, managers won't be able to manage, directors will pick a team they know little about and ego's will take over the club.
From rag2706 on Thu Jul 02 09:29AM
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-19- dude.. the blog is @#$% i n g accessible to any tom, @#$% & harry... Go figure
From omobobo on Thu Jul 02 09:29AM
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-25- remember the name OMOBOBO.. *Laughs* buhhahahaha
From omobobo on Thu Jul 02 09:32AM
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There is no "i" in team. But there is an 'm' and an 'e', which spells ME. That's why Real Madrid will win nothing, and why they are 'attracting' the world stars. Money, Money, Money.
There hasn't been a team ethos there for such a long time. Forwards win games, defences win championships. How long will someone like Sergio Ramos put up with having 2 or 3 goals a game put in against the defence, and watch his value, stock and earning capacity dwindle as each game goes by. The old 'if they score 3, we'll score 4' mentality is great for entertainment value and for the neutral, but in Europe, they will get trounced.
Don't get me wrong, I love watching Real Madrid games, purely for entertainment purposes.
At the end of the day, these clubs are businesses. If RM do not win the league, copa del rey and the CL, their competition earnings reduce greatly. Perez, yet again, is betting the farm.
From edgar_friendly on Thu Jul 02 09:33AM
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should be 'the sky is up and liverppool are down..'as the natural order since the start of the premiership!...glory glory man united!
From stuartxland on Thu Jul 02 09:33AM
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