Mails: Man United’s transfer policy and irrational hate

You know what to do –  have an opinion or a funny idea and then send it to theeditor@football365.com

 

Who do you hate?
Considering that all that has been in the Mailbox for the last couple of days has been Utd’s transfer dealings and the successes and failures they’ve had. (Relax Brian, Wexford, every club has had them. It’s not an anti-Utd movement.)

I decided that I’d try and change it up. Toward the end of the season when Liverpool beat West Ham, I realised just how much I dislike Adriano. I have no real reason to. Perhaps it’s his smug attitude or the fact that he comes out looking to injure strikers at every opportunity but there’s no overbearing reason.

So there’s the invitation to the mailbox, a player you irrationally dislike. Couple of factors have to come into it:

1. It can’t be from a rival team.
2. It can’t be a pantomime villain (I’m looking at you Joey Barton)
3. Robbie Savage is thankfully retired so doesn’t apply.

So what do you think mailbox?
Miguel Sanchez, LFC, Eire (Vardy is up there for me as well)

 

New chants please
Long-time reader, since like back in the noughties.

Firstly thank you, avid reader of this site, love your work.

So, I was thinking of a football chant for our new signing Mohamed Salah. It came to me out of nowhere – actually while watching Sing Street – good flick by the by.

So, using Maneater by Daryl Hall & John Oates:

Original:

Ooh, Oh, here she comes
Watch out boy she’ll chew you up
Whoa here she comes
She’s a maneater

Becomes:

Moh, Ooh, Oh, Salah.
There he goes, he’s a speeeed demon.
Moh, Ooh, Oh, Salah.
Liverpool’s, speedy Egyptian.
Moh, Ooh, Oh, Salah.
Moh, Ooh, Oh, Salah.

Anyway, not the best but I was thinking that the mailbox could provide some good chants for new signings during the transfer window. Something to pass the time…
Ross, Dublin, LFC

 

Prices are always inflated
‘There is no denying that this summer’s transfer market is an inflated one,’ writes Ben McAleer in a fine piece titled ‘Five bargains for clubs on a budget‘.

Whilst the piece itself was a good read, I feel the opening statement hints at a notion that may be incorrect; namely that sometimes the annual, year-on-year, market for Premier League footballers is NOT inflated.

So here’s my question: Has there ever been a year where the cost of buying players has actually gone down?

I’m not talking about relative cost (e.g. the improved ability to compete in a global economy due to BT Sport money.) I’m talking about actual cost e.g. a footballer at the same age with the same skills costing less in a given year than he would have if purchased (in the same window) the previous year?

To my mind prices just go up, up and up. That said I only started watching in 2003/4 and was never as aware of player transfer values as I am today thanks to the endless transfer speculation/(fake) ‘news’ that surrounds the game.

Thoughts?
James Barkstriker, (Arsenal fan looking for ‘value’ in an inflated market #wengerin)

 

Bargains in hindsight?
I really will like to know when a player qualifies to be called a bargain. The current transfer market has obviously been skewed hence it’s almost impossible to get a quality player for anything below 20m but then there are the exceptions like Kante, Marhez, Alli, Holding, etc. Who were largely unproven before having stellar seasons. But overtime, we’ve seen that spending big on players does not guarantee success (Torres, Carroll, Benteke, Sissoko, Mangala, Robinho, Shevy etc.) so can we call players who were bought with big money but went on to have amazing impacts on their clubs bargains (C Ronaldo, Sanchez, Costa, Luiz, Kante etc.)? Someone help me.
Eseosa AFC (Lagos)

 

Back to 2009…
I promised I wouldn’t wade in on the United transfer nonsense, I swear I didn’t want to.

But…

Whilst I agree with most of what Adam, Edinburgh has to say, I have to strongly disagree with his view on the Valencia transfer window being a success.

In the summer of 2009, after a third league title in a row and a second consecutive Champions Leage final, Manchester United lost both Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, replacing them with Valencia, Michael Owen, Gabriel Obertan and Mame Biram Diouf, spending about £23 million. Having been in a position to kick on and show true ambition to rebuild with the Ronaldo money, the club, the Glazers and Ferguson elected to tighten the purse strings significantly and, despite some success, it has been downhill ever since, albeit from a very lofty position. (Disclaimer: I’m not complaining at all, being a United fan is an incredible experience, but this is the reality.)

So no, I would argue that the transfer market in the summer of 2009 was one of the worst in recent memory for United, and certainly wasn’t salvaged by the solid yet unspectacular signing of Antonio Valencia.

In other news, my biggest concern with the potential Matic transfer is that when whenever we sing about Vidic, will be actually think that we are singing about him?
Conor, (Nemanja, woah oh!) Drogheda

 

Why are Man United paying big bucks for players at big clubs?
Over the last few weeks I have noticed a little bit of a shift in the type of player United (among others) are trying to buy. With Chelsea courting Alex Sandro and United trying to sign Morata I just have to question the intelligence of trying to sign players from European Giants. It just doesn’t seem to be a good idea.

In United’s case, if we do go ahead with this particular signing, we are being well and truly gouged for a (albeit very good) back-up striker. I just think there are better options at cheaper prices that we could be looking at. Why try deal with Madrid when you could have gotten Andre Silva (younger and comes with an endorsement from a club legend) for half the reported valuation that Real currently have for Morata. He is younger and if reports are to be believed a higher ceiling than Morata.

The same goes for Chelsea. Alex Sandro was signed two years ago by Juve for the quite substantial amount of £23 million and it’s only right that Juve are looking for a return on their investment after developing him for those two years. The sporting director Guiseppe Morata came out and said they are willing to sell Sandro for 60 million pounds if they are able to find a suitable replacement. My guess is they will get one for about half the transfer fee Chelsea are willing to pay and the player will probably be about as good as Sandro with the potential to get better. Possibly a player like Ricardo Rodriguez. Sandro would be a great signing for Chelsea (although what’s going to happen to Alonso if it goes through) but surely Chelsea would be better served to go after whoever Juve are going to replace Sandro with. It makes the most fiscal sense.

This can be said for a lot of transfers that Premier League teams are trying to make. It’s not long ago when the likes of Fergie would sign players between the age of 18-24 (Rooney, Ronaldo, Hernandez, Evra, Vidic, Valencia etc.) and develop these players with the odd world-class player smack in his prime (Van Persie) but now we are going for the finished article (Ibra, Mkhi, Pogba (I know Pogba was bought at 23 but it fits the idea of buying from a massive club) etc. and the odd player like Bailly being bought to develop. Couple this with the likes of Perisic being mentioned and I just feel going for someone slightly younger and from a less prestigious club would be a far better option. Maybe even the player that Inter replace Perisic with! I would be fairly certain there are better options out there than a 28-year-old who has probably hit his ceiling. My thoughts are that there was a dearth of quality players in their prime at United before Mourinho signed but when you look at a team like Spurs who compete with a fairly young side and have developed all of the talent currently there, I think United could learn from this and sign the player on the cusp of being brilliant rather than try and pry the player away from the big club who had the foresight to recognise and develop the talent that is currently on show.

I suppose this is the type of transfer policy you get when your Chief Exec constantly brags about how much cash we have and has opined that he wants to make United a team of Galacticos.
Oisin (Please sign Fabinho as well as Matic. Pogba will need a break too during the season. Bakayoko could prove to be an absolute bargain at £35 Million) NZ

 

Championship Manager has spoiled us…
People are missing the key thing about Matic for MUFC-supporting Mailboxers, and I include myself in this.

For approximately 20 years, I have been playing Championship Manager. I did try with the really new one a couple of seasons ago, but it’s too in depth, so have regressed to 01/02, CM3 and even CM97/98 (my first version).

On those games, you could buy literally whomever you wanted for any position. Some players (Shevchenko, Kevin Hofland, Mexes), I signed so often that I came to think of them as Manchester United players.

However, no point would I EVER buy a 28 year old Serbian (non EU, what a pain) midfielder from Chelsea. It just isn’t exciting enough. I would spank £35m on Xavi, Gattuso or Pirlo and just be done with it. Of course, when playing with lower-down teams it was all about Mark Kerr but I digress.

CM has sort of ruined football for everyone, particularly Man Utd fans. It has made us even more spoilt than we already were. All we can do in this scenario is trust a successful manager with a very good player. Chelsea fans will naturally feel they’re getting a better deal (younger, more exciting etc) but Matic is big, bruising, knows the league and does at least fill a skills gap. He may also not be the only midfielder Mourinho signs. Basically – don’t let your CM brain detract from a good signing.
JD, MUFC

 

It’s all about the discipline with Matic
Sudarsan Ravi – Matic is definitely an upgrade for the needs of this United team – he is more disciplined in his defensive duties, doesn’t try the ambitious pass as much.I think his wayward passing what was what held him back with both Van Gaal and Mourinho. Schneiderlin likes to stride forward far more, and leaves gaps behind him. Coupled with the passing there was no way he and Mourinho were going to get on too well. It’s sad but we already have a French guy who likes a wayward pass and needs a good chunk of defensive cover…
Pablo, MUFC, Dublin

Nobody ever mentions Andy Carroll, right?
Yes Brian, Wexford. Of course Utd are the only club subject to financial security.

As a Liverpool fan I thank the good Lord that no one ever reminds us that Andy Carroll cost £35m and was a huge failure. Amazingly no one noticed that we spent £20m on Stewart Downing. A similar £20m on Dejan Lovren must have been money well spent as not one person has said otherwise. Did we waste all that Suarez money? I guess we must not have. Mo Salah is definitely not a Chelsea reject that has cost us 3 times what he would have cost a few years ago, I know this because the silence from the rest of the country is deafening.

Yes, I can only conclude it’s down to Utd’s success that they get all the attention and Liverpool get off so lightly.
Ronan (it’s actually familiarity that breeds contempt not success, your attitude is very familiar), Galway

 

And the balls
Sudarsan asked what the difference between Schneiderlin and Matic is and I’d say it’s quite simple: balls. Even though Everton and Southampton are big, established, Premier League clubs, there is still a huge difference between playing for one of them and playing for Man Utd, or any of the other ‘super clubs’.

From pre-season tours where you’re mobbed at the airport like you’re The Beatles, to every mistake becoming the vine watched a million times; it’s all on a different scale. Say you’re playing for Everton at home to Watford and you make an dreadful error that results in their last-minute winner; it’ll be shown on MOTD, it’ll be in the papers, but it won’t be the lead story. You do that at home for Man Utd (or Liverpool, Arsenal et al) and it’s your anguished face on every back page the next day and the meme generator has kicked into gear; the whole world, from Bolivia to Beijing, is pointing and laughing at you.

Some players revel in this, like C Ronaldo or Pogba, some seem unaffected, but others just can’t handle it, and that was always my impression of Schneiderlin; he looked overawed by it all from his first minute to his last. When you throw in the fact you’re playing for Jose, a man who has no time at all for shrinking violets who can’t handle pressure, then you’ll find yourself sold fairly sharpish. Matic has shown for Chelsea that he can handle it and Jose knows he can handle it. Put it this way, I know which one I’d rather have step up for a sudden death penalty in a cup final…
Lewis, Busby Way (I think Lukaku might be the same and flop at Chelsea; just a hunch)

 

Where are the composed English players?
Over the past few weeks there have been lots of valid suggestions as to why England are rubbish but I don’t feel like anyone has quite nailed it. After watching the U21s last night I got to thinking about what it takes to win a World Cup. I looked through the final line-ups for the past 5 World Cup winners. Some teams had no dominant striker (France), some had no household names at centre-back (Brazil), some had questionable keepers (Brazil, France) and some had average wide players (Italy). However one thing stood out consistently – the winners had genuine ability in the middle of the park. Players that had composure in spades, could set the tempo of a game and create something:

2014: Schweinsteiger. Don’t let the LVG and Jose treatment sour the memory. In his pomp this guy was a Rolls Royce midfield general. Played over 50 games for Bayern before turning 22.
2010: Iniesta. Over 50 games for Barca before he turned 22.
2006: Pirlo. 47 games for Brescia, 22 for Inter before he turned 22.
2002: Ronaldinho. Over 50 games for Gremio before he turned 22.
1998: Zidane. 61 games for Cannes and 35 for Bordeaux before he turned 22.

Please don’t confuse composure with the gumption to control a ball; a bit of trickery or pacey dribbling. We always fall back on this to justify that we do have ‘technical players’, ‘just look at Oxlade’. I am talking about put-your-foot-on-the-ball composure. I don’t know how else to describe it, and we produce very few of these players. None of the legends listed above had blistering pace and none of them played their best football until their late 20s. Some came through academies, some didn’t, but all got significant game time in their early 20s at varying levels in their own country. Even players with this much talent had to hone their craft by playing games.

Football is a game for all shapes and sizes. Just look at the above list. Our academies are clearly still obsessed with pace and power. Have a gander at the players for the u21s last night, 90% of the squad are built like track athletes, Redmond, Murphy, Abraham, Gray, Baker, Chalobah, Holgate, Chilwell, Iorfa, the list goes on. Pace, pace, pace. The best player last night was Will Hughes by a mile. Guess what; he has played 165 first-team games in the Championship and he isn’t quick. Adam Lallana is quickly becoming England’s best performer at senior level. Guess what; he played over 100 games for Southampton in League One and the Championship before turning 22, and he isn’t quick. I have no idea how we stop academies going for the pace option that will always win out at age group level. They need to allow composed players time to develop. An academy should be judged on the 28-year-olds it produces, not the 18-year-olds. We hear there has been a shift in focus to technical ability and phrases like DNA get banded about, but look at last nights’ track stars and tell me do you honestly believe anything has changed?

Football should be a meritocracy. If you are good enough you will get games and the best players will rise to the top. It is for the rest of the world but not the Premier league anymore. The quota of eight ‘homegrown’ players in your 25-man squad has quite logically resulted in Premier League clubs stockpiling young English talent (pace) in their academies in case any of them turn out to be good. If they are half decent then they will earn a place on the bench but rarely get minutes on the pitch. The quota only requires they are in the squad after all.

So why don’t they move abroad I hear you proclaiming? Well the quota inflates the value of these players to English clubs, meaning the price quoted puts foreign clubs off. The contract lengths and wages are also inflated, another barrier to any move. The quota means several English youngsters are destined for a Premier League career warming the bench. Why actually play a 20-year-old when money is no object, you can sign a proven international and the 20 year old can sit on the bench and still fill the quota?

There you have it. Academies still don’t produce composed players, and the players they do produce don’t play first-team games because of a quota designed to get them game time. Well done FA.
Sam (Happy Terrier) Edinburgh

 

Where the Under-21s went wrong…
As was pointed out by Rob A in this morning’s mailbox, any suggestions there might be that England U21 were unlucky to lose to Germany would be misleading, though he was also right to say that there are still reasons to be positive.

Losing to Germany after penalties isn’t anything to be ashamed of, but what was a bug-bear of mine was the reaction when England took the lead after 50 minutes. Germany deserved respect and it would likely have been foolish to ‘take the game to them’ from that point on, but I’m of the belief that their approach of putting 10 men behind the ball, leaving Abraham up front on his own to chase down random clearances was emphatically the wrong thing to do.

Sure, with 10 minutes to go, it might be a sensible thing to do, but to expect to keep out one of the two best teams in the tournament (along with Spain) for 40+ minutes? By being so negative, England invited Germany to control the game and the equaliser was almost inevitable, at which point they decided to come out of their shells a bit more, create some actual half-chances and hold out for 50+ minutes.

I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to apportion blame to Aidy Boothroyd, and perhaps there’s a touch of criticism in hindsight (if they HAD held out for a 2-1 win, we might be calling it Mourinho-esque), but I found the nature of the defeat more disappointing than anything else. Playing a team of Germany’s quality is tough, but part of the point of these youth competitions is to aid development, so I’d sooner England had attempted a proper counter-attacking game and lose than seemingly say ‘we can’t compete with you, so we’ll shut up shop and hope for the best’.

I’m still hopeful that the future is bright for English football – I’m just concerned that this had a strong feeling of history repeating (and not just because it was against ‘ze Germans’).
Nick Hamblin (not one of the ‘show some fackin’ passhun’ brigade – they had it in spades) Bristol

 

A terrible goal
Elias asked about worst goals of the season. I know it was ‘only’ the Championship but this effort from Mo Diame against Brighton had all the Newcastle fans in the pub laughing instead of celebrating.

Will Wymant, EFC

 

Tits to sell kits is fine…
Mediawatch had a usually frank opinion on the people behind the Ayr United kit launch today (shameless w*nkers) but I honestly can’t understand why they merit this level of hostility?

For a start, good looking, barely dressed people (men and women) are used to sell almost anything without any relation to the actual product (Diet Coke man or music videos for example). It’s the oldest trick in advertising so why the anger when a small Scottish football club tries it?

I also looked up the model from last years advert. She’s a successful lingerie model and seems to be proud of her career and the fact she’s juggled that with being a mum (she has a blog). If she is happy to pose in body paint as part of her work and if her work helps her employer to sell more kits, what’s the problem? Nothing illegal has happened, and all parties entered into the transaction willingly and seem to be happy with the end product.

I imagine Mediawatch is upset with how this will influence attitudes towards women in football. However what does that say about the attitude towards the woman in the advert? Does she not have a right to pursue the career of her choice with whoever wishes to employ her?

There are lots of things that can and should be done to support women in football (grassroots investment and calling out David Moyes for example) but what’s the point in a hysterical reaction to something you’ll see replicated several times by the end of the week in relation to many other products?
Adam, LFC, Macc

 

…Your ‘know the audience’ comment in Mediawatch today, I don’t get what the issue is with the way they’ve decided to launch the new Ayr United kit. It’s a bit of fun for all, nothing wrong with that, gives a young bird some work too and will get youngsters interested as well – seriously, what is the issue? It’s 2017 for goodness sake!!!
Matthew, Manchester

 

Finally
Finally David Duckenfield and Norman Bettison have been charged after more than 28 years of battling, campaigning and fighting.

Finally some semblance of justice for the 96 (lets close our eyes and believe Tony Bland is fully included).

Imagine having to fight for all those years, never being able to rest, never being able to grieve properly as your loved ones were lied about… constantly. Imagine knowing that those in power had all the power, and used it to cover up, to lie, to keep lying and defaming. Imagine knowing that those who did the lying were the police, the authorities, the establishment and the press.

I wouldn’t have been strong enough. Thankfully they were.

Finally, finally, finally – the truth.
Micki Attridge