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.
24-Thank you for your insight. This coming from a 'man' whose fellow countrymen show contempt to players in their own team that are not of an ethnic background that suits their 'sensibilities'??? Yep, super_xerxes, you are absolutely right, all of Britain is 'really jealous' of that!! LMAO - and the greatest irony of all, the racist ex-coach of Spain is now coaching in Turkey. PMSL.
From edgar_friendly on Thu Jul 02 09:37AMWhat make me laugh is that no one knows for sure if United have made any approach for any player.. Fergie knows what united need and dont need... paper talk is paper talk lets judge at the end of the season again... What amuses me also is that players such as torres have been quoted as saying our main rivals next season are.... he needs to check the trophy cabinet as Liverpool s is void of the prem title!
From michael.ball15 on Thu Jul 02 09:38AMReal Madrid will be the laughing stock of Spain and the whole of Europe... I mean seriously, Manuel Pellegrini as manager, the last thing he won was the Intertoto cup in 2004.
From who_are_ya_85 on Thu Jul 02 09:38AM27-Note to self, go on a NBA blog and say how much I dislike the NBA, because that would be a really useful way to spend my day! You nugget
From andy_lycett on Thu Jul 02 09:42AMNot a new phenomenon! Also from the Liverpool era but no one cared if they were shifting shirts in the Far East – game wasn’t as global. Only the Scandinavians, arguably, would rather come to the UK instead of the Continent because they have no regard for glamour either! The flavour of the month has always favoured Italy or Spain from when the money really was in those leagues but Spain appreciates good play and protecting their players (at times almost laughably so) rather than kicking the opposition which gives it the edge over Serie A. The likes of Henry and Zidane never really showed what they could do there: kicked and tethered. More relaxed, better places to live and the chance to win. Where would you rather go?
From simacra73 on Thu Jul 02 09:43AMOMOBOBO IS BOBO it's not rocket science
From snoopingtwit on Thu Jul 02 09:44AM35 - you are right. The chasm between Real Madrid and Barcelona grows wider by the day. State-Owned vs People Owned??? Barcelona players play as a team, Real Madrid players are happy to sit on a bench and earn their 150k a week. Barca players are in a different league to RM players at the mo. They are hungrier and have more desire to win. And, with a couple of exceptions, they don't have a squad of egos and superstars. (You can replace that with mercenaries if you want, but you know what I mean!!
). Funny how RM play in all-white, the internationally recognised sign for surrender.From edgar_friendly on Thu Jul 02 09:46AMLMAO
From annieh97 on Thu Jul 02 09:46AMSpain a better place to live? Is everyone mistaking a better place to live for sunny weather? Certain parts of Italy maybe, but Spain, no, and certainly not if you're a black player, I'm not saying the Spanish are a racist bunch of fascist xenophobes who loved the Nazi party, oh wait, yes they are!
From rag2706 on Thu Jul 02 09:49AMWhatever the reason players don't seem to be attracted to the Prem (not just Man Utd), be it tax, weather or that they simply don't like the English much, you really gotta say that the CL could be a much more interesting competition next year. And if Real get spanked 4-0 by 'Pool again I swear I will wet myself laughing.
From danny_saks on Thu Jul 02 09:52AM37 - Forgive me if I am wrong here, but aren't these modern players professionals? Those of us that work, the last time I checked, that made us professionals too. I can't speak for everyone, but I don't go to work everyday for an easy and more relaxing life. I go to work to improve, to earn promotions by proving I am good at my job and therefore earn the right to be challenged by the 'next' job. By pitting my skills against people who are trying to achieve the same as me, in direct competition. Therefore, your argument doesn't hold water. It only serves to underline that these players run away from arguably the hardest league in Europe, to chase the holy money grail!! (Note, I didn't say best league, I said hardest league.) If/when a player succeeds in the Premier League, their value sky-rockets. Take CRon - 80m - But is Kaka really worth less than CRon? I think not. Kaka is WORLD CLASS. CRon is a show-pony. Kaka is a world cup winner, CRon.......isn't and is likely never to be. I am eagerly waiting for the next El Gran Clasico, to see whether Kaka or Messi wins man of the match!!!
Rant over!!
From edgar_friendly on Thu Jul 02 09:56AM38-D'ya think?
From andy_lycett on Thu Jul 02 10:03AMUnited looks such a looser during these summer. not just united, the whole premiership. none of the big names were signed yet, seems like noone wants to go there
From monadire_contact on Thu Jul 02 10:09AMI really feel sorry for those footballers who have to pay all that tax bunch of greedy b******s they earn more in a week than many have in a lifetime and its still not enough all that from kicking a band of wind round the football pitch we all hate paying tax but someone has to keep the country going have they not heard of the credit crunch if they all want to go to real madrid then let them only one team in spain and thats barcelona real are just plastic.It takes more than buying the best players in the world to get success hope perez falls flat on his face time will tell.
From adrian.dennis2486 on Thu Jul 02 10:11AMYou guys don't see that Real, Barca and Milan are the biggest ICONs the world of football has! Is just like Michael Jackson for the pop music, everybody wanted to see him on the stage, even when all the press was relating junk about him. You buyed tickets for his concerts, even though everybody knew he can't perform those concerts!
REAL MADRID is a dream come true for every single football player the world had or has. They are not only the team which won the CL 3 times in the modern era, they are the team which won it 9 times and now is preparing for the 10th. Even thogh you dislike them and you mock their last 5 year performances [which includes 2 Primera titles], the will win it again, it's only a matter of time and the players know that!
On the other hand, which man on this planet wouldn't want to work in the same team with some of the best performers? You as a journalist wouldn't be glad to have the best mates possible?
From dragos_efrim on Thu Jul 02 10:14AMITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From fan_103 on Thu Jul 02 10:14AM#45 - Maybe its the BNP with their recent success in the European elections, setting the wheels in Motion... Jobs in Britian to be given to the white British people rather than the foreigners!
From who_are_ya_85 on Thu Jul 02 10:15AMFair enough - I agree with that! But we don't have someone kicking us when we're trying to work and when the boss isn't looking. Skill is rewarded more in Spain rather than the physical demands of Italy or the UK (why Maradona deserves more respect for going actually). It shows that you can play the game in different ways. The same team wins in this country every year and only Chelsea showed they could push them all the way - that's not a competitive or hard league. Liverpool are just behind their new stadium send Arsenal the wrong way. 2 teams only challenge regularly in Spain but as more teams pushed them the national side improved and won something. We need an Italian to get close. Incidentally, I'm not white and I agree that the reputation of the Continent is racist (still like some parts here - even in London) and I'd think twice.
From simacra73 on Thu Jul 02 10:17AMIt's all 'bout the money
It's all 'bout the dum dum.......
And I don't think It's funny
to see us fade away
It's all 'bout the money
It's all 'bout the dum dum...
and I think we got it all wrong anywayFrom snoopingtwit on Thu Jul 02 10:18AMHands up, truthfully now, how many of you will absolutely LOVE IT if real don't win anything this season. Can't see it happening, unless barca work miracles in la liga and someone can do something in europe but i would LOVE IT if they've spent 250 million or whatever it is, and they win f**K all!
From ydkiriakidis on Thu Jul 02 10:19AMThe only people linking Benzema, Ribery and the likes with United are the press. If United were serious about bidding for these players do you think Fergie would have still been on holiday last week? If a player doesn't want to come, you shouldn't sign them - look at Robinho. Remember 3 years ago when United were finished and Chelski were going to rule the world? 3 Titles, 1 Champs League and a few other trophies thrown in. since then. Don't underestimate Fergie, he has shown the media too many times that they take the p*ss out of him at their cost. Show me one jounro who hasn't has to eat humble pie as far as Fergie / United are concerned. Let them keep pouring scorn, it just increases the siege mentality and thus the chances of winning more silverware. One more thing - Carlos, enjoy competing to win the League Cup next season
From lardarsedmanc on Thu Jul 02 10:20AMFat middle aged sarcastic baldy of little faith my the sun scorn you through your Ultra SPF50 +
From snoopingtwit on Thu Jul 02 10:20AMIt is not a matter of statistics of how many titles,fan Base,...etc.But it is a Matter of:
1)Real Madrid has always been famous for their record signings, if a player is worth 20M, they pay 60M,..
2)Real Madrid always acts as they are the 'Biggest' Club in the world,their chairmen,representatives,officials always act as Real is always wanted and can't be refused by any player, they won nothing but they are still the best anyway.
3)Their rubbish mouthpiece 'Marca' always spread Rumors about how Players dream of Real Madrid, how big is Real,how rich,how Famous,how..
4)Real Madrid is government-funded, every year the Spanish government bails them out.
From fady.incrediblehulk on Thu Jul 02 10:20AMI take it Andy Murray is still British this morning?
From edgar_friendly on Thu Jul 02 10:21AMWho_are_you aren't you an Englishman in New York?
From snoopingtwit on Thu Jul 02 10:22AMWell, here is my take on the situation, with my EPL top pros and cons:
Pro's
- Consistently performed better than any other league in the Champions League.
- Most viewed and respected league internationally.
- Much less racism than other leagues.Con's
- Perception (particularly induced by Ronaldo) that moving from Man Utd to Real Madrid is a step up (combined with the obvious man-city style 'ambitions' of RM).
- Recent Champions League fixtures exposed a distinct lack of attacking play from English teams (apart from Liverpool), being labelled as 'anti-football' internationally (most notably Chelsea in SF and Man Utd in final).
- Poor weather.
- High tax.
- Up to 5 teams can win the league - more difficult to get silverware.
- Harder to establish yourself - difficult to shine against top defences.I think all of the above shows why players are making the choices they are at the moment. I also think top Spanish players (eg Villa) are reluctant to move to England and strengthen the EPL when they would prefer a strong spanish league.
From johnnywilkinson on Thu Jul 02 10:24AMWe dont want him Edgar he can poke his wins up his a$$
From annieh97 on Thu Jul 02 10:26AM53 - To an extent, I agree with you. Fergie is a shrewd old devil, and will get the players he wants, at the price that he thinks they are worth. No one should criticise Man U for selling Ronaldo. 80m is simply a ridiculous figure. I bet they would have accepted 50m!!! Man U / Fergie will reinvest that money, and buy players who can contribute today, but more importantly contribute to the continuing success over the next 5 years. As an aside, though, don't be bitter about Tevez. You had 2 years to sign him up. I think you should have bought him, IMHO. He wants regular first-team football, to cement his international place, with a world cup coming up. You can't knock him for that.
From edgar_friendly on Thu Jul 02 10:27AMHey Andy, did it ever occured to you that this site is not British (YAHOO is an american company) and this article is available under the eurosport.COM domain as well?!?
From petko1979 on Thu Jul 02 10:27AM#57 - Yeah I'm an English man wearing an 'Erin go Bragh' t-shirt standing next to a tri-colour!
From who_are_ya_85 on Thu Jul 02 10:29AM
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