Mails: £160m for a teenager is just irresponsible

Matt Stead

Keep those damn Mails coming to theeditor@football365.com…

 

The real most expensive XIs
Like many of us I love the sound of a transfer record being smashed and I do enjoy the updated all time lists even if they are clearly nonsense.

They are nonsense because 34.7 million for Ederson in 2017 is not more than 32.6 million for Buffon in 2001. Never mind the fact that Ederson’s claim only exists in the first place thanks to the sterling smashing efforts of the Vote Leave campaign. I imagine that pretty much all sports journalists are aware of this but can’t be bothered to qualify their articles with such trivialities as inflation.

Anyway here is the actual most expensive XI of all time – using Wikipedia and an online inflation calculator (very likely to include mistakes)

Buffon 51.1
Mendy 52
Walker 50
Luiz 52.6
Stones 48.4
Pogba 90.9
Kaka 68.6
Zidane 72.1
Neymar 81.6
Ronaldo 98
Bale 92.5

Admittedly not a total transformation with only 4 different entries but does highlight just how significant the Buffon and Zidane transfers were for their time. Also suggests that the crazy transfer fees for defenders are a recent development. Oh and Ronaldo is still the most expensive player of all time.

I also did a second XI because I was bored and it included a couple of my old favourites (scandalously Nesta narrowly missed out to Mangala)

Ederson 34.7
Coentrao 31.8
Thuram 34
Ferdinand 45.6
Mangala 33.7
James 66.3
Di Maria 62.9
Figo 59
Higuain 76.7
Lukaku 75
Zlatan 68.6
Tom, Stoke

 

On buying over coaching
Daniel Storey produced another one of those thought provoking articles again. He focused on Pep, who really can no longer be considered a developer of talent. Pep buys, Mourinho buys, Conte buys, Pochetino buys, Wenger has turned into a buyer, Allegro buys, Ancelotti buys, Klopp buys, whoever has been Barca coach since 1999 buys, they all buy, but there are two exceptions though. Sir Alex Ferguson, Louis Van Gaal and Zinedine Zidane.

I could focus on the later, but i believe he just slotted into the same position Pep found himself in 2009, with an incredible core and strong youth emerging so he really had to know how to integrate the two. Once Messi and Xavier has a partnership, he started buying, see Zlatan. The rumours of $160m for Mbappe will certainly not colour him favourably in terms of youth development.

LVG had trust in youth beyond the logical, Di Maria and Falcao were sat on the bench multiple times to give game to unknown players. He sold a core of the senior team to give the likes of borthwick Jackson and Rashford a chance. SAF, did an amazing job of always mixing it up with youth and experience. There were always fringe players in the squad and who would get regular game time in the cups and when a game is sewn up.

You don’t get that at all from these crop of managers, and they only seem to be getting more paranoid. Pep with an aging squad has gone out and bought a brand new team, Mourinho is buying despite trying to maintain a facade, Klopp is as well, which is sad, I suspect Pochettino has no money hence why there is no Sissoko v2 or an unknown Dutch striker.

But the pattern is clear, development as we knew it is gone, embrace the new and improved trading platform.
Dave(I had high hopes for Klopp initially), Somewhere

 

But looking at it a little more optimistically
Very good article on chequebook managers by Daniel Storey, but I’d like to look at the issue from a glass half-full point of view. Until John Nicholson is put in charge of football, money will rule, and the pressure to win will be overwhelming. This will be just as true at the bottom of the Premier League as at the top, and academy players will usually face a difficult hurdle. Only Southampton seem to have a settled long-term strategy for bringing youth into the first team, although Tottenham are moving in that direction.

And yet the system we have, as lopsided as it is, still develops talent. Many young players at top clubs get early training at elite facilities, are loaned out for playing time, and eventually get their chance at midtable clubs. Taking Chelsea as an example, this summer both Nathaniel Chalobah (22, five-year deal) and Nathan Aké (22, five-year deal) got good contracts with decent sides at an age that gives them plenty of time to prove themselves. Ruben Loftus-Cheek (21) is now on loan at a similar level, and may very well go the same route.

This can work at a slightly lower level too. Ben Mee played on Manchester City’s 2008 FA Youth Cup champion side, and after a loan stop at Leicester City, became a regular at Burnley. Kieran Trippier also played for that City side and also succeeded at Burnley, with a loan spell at Barnsley in between. Trippier may now even make it as first-choice for Spurs.

Should a player truly excel, he can always make a triumphant return to the top level, through a buy-back clause or open market purchase. I won’t pretend for a minute that the current big-fish-eat-little-fish money machine is healthy for football, but quality has a way of emerging. Some players do get lost in the shuffle, but that would happen under any system. There are only so many squad places available. But managers will always want players who perform.

Again, glass half-full, if only half.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA (usually cheerful, but perhaps it’s the meds)

 

It is reality, though? It’s literally what is happening
‘The term chequebook manager is no longer a criticism. It is merely a reflection of reality’ – Daniel Storey.

It’s not reality though. We can all just stream until some sort of sense comes back into football. And please stop trying to convince people that it is reality. It’s not.
Zdravko

 

£160m for a kid is just irresponsible
I eagerly look forward to everyone who called Pogba “overpriced” try to justify Real Madrid paying £160m for a player with one (admittedly outstanding) full season under his belt. Jose was right, Pogba’s fee is already looking cheap, and it’s only been a year!

In all seriousness though, the whole move just seems highly irresponsible to me. Imagine the kind of pressure you’re putting on that kid. He’s just 18 FFS! He’d obviously have to start every game when you’re paying that kind of money. If he suffers even a slight goal drought, people will waste no time in whipping out the F-word (fraud, obviously).

I really hope Mbappe has the career that he’s clearly capable of having. Paying for potential is all well and good, but I genuinely fear Real are setting him up for a fall with this transfer. I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong.
DJ, MUFC (“In that case, how much is Rashford worth?” etc etc) India

 

…I remember a number of years ago, a prominent English team paid a then record for a teen aged player, aged 16. This guy showed plenty of promise and it was assumed he would go on to bigger and greater things. If you consider leaving your car in a train station and forgetting about it while on loan to a mid ranking Spanish team great, well then I guess it was money well spent.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, most media outlets are reporting that Real Madrid are about to pay Monaco £161m for Kylian Mbappe. He is 18. This comes after them paying Flamengo £40m for Vincius Junior. He is 17. And 2 years ago year they paid Stromsgodset £8m for Martin Odegaard. He is 18 (15 when he signed).

This is over £200m, on 3 players, that could still be playing for their school teams, with no guarantee that they won’t leave their car in a train station.

Am I alone in thinking that this is absolute madness. These are huge sums to be paying out on nothing more than potential. I saw stat yesterday that may or may not be true, but it said Madrid were paying £2.5m for every shot Mbappe has had in professional career. Not goals. Shots.

This highlights the absurdity of it all. He may turn out to be an absolute world beater, but even if he does, will he ever be worth £161m.

The Vincius Junior case is even more mental. I believe he has never even played 90 minutes in a competitive game for his club. And why would he, he’s 17! Insanity.

Is there not a case for these players being protected somewhat. This is massive pressure to be placed on them, and they will be chewed up and spat out if unsuccessful. To put it into context, the sum Madrid paid out for these three players is the same as Farhad Moshiri paid for 49% of Everton. The entire club. How is this sustainable? What’s the future of the game? Where are we going?

Then again, we live in a world where Kyle Walker is a £50m full back. Incidentally, Odegaard is on loan at Herenveen.
DC, BAC

 

Oh Arsenal
Arsenal unable to spot groin inflammation that another club catches immediately isn’t just funny because it’s peak Arsenal. It also explains ahead of time the Gunners in December and January when their fast start runs into an injury-ravaged wall. You know, like every year.
Niall, Denver

 

More football fetishes
I have a few listed below, I’ve deliberately left out the obvious ones (goals in off the crossbar etc):

1. Full backs scoring from an overlapping run, preferably coming from off camera or out of sight. The quintessential version of this being Carlos Alberto in the 1970 WC. Special mention for Maicon at WC 2010. The element of surprise added with the shape the ball makes is sublime.

2. That weird leaping tackle Vidic often did. The defender slides in from the left side let’s say, but wins the ball by hooking it away with their right foot. It’s something about the angular aesthetics of this movement that I enjoy, but have no idea why.

3. Bullet headers, similar to No. 1, ideally from out of sight or off camera. See Ronaldo vs Roma in 2008 for the best example. This gets bonus points as Ron seems to be about 2 feet higher than everyone else.

4. A long pass from deep that floats in the air, only to be caressed down deftly by the receiver. More points if the ball stays longer in the air and if the touch is very deft.

5. A player scores an incredible goal but then does a very played down celebration. This is voided if they are toning the celebration down due to them previously playing for that team (that is awful). Best example of this is Cantona vs Sunderland in 96/97, who also added an element of ‘well of course I just did that, what did you expect?’

6. Mike Dean. Oh sorry, shouldn’t have included that, said I would leave out the obvious one.
Bob

 

When attacking full-backs really started
Re attacking full-backs – on March 15th 1997, Stevie Watson [right-back] and Robbie Elliot [left-back] both scored for Newcastle at home to Coventry City [cor, remember them?].

The local rag pointed out that both full-backs hadn’t scored in the same Newcastle match for 30 years or so – I bet it hasn’t happened since.
Alex Stokoe, Newcastle upon Tyne

 

Yeah, sorry about that
This is double-bagging, Premier League style.

Laughed so hard, got a stare from my boss.
Yash, MUFC