FOR THE ELITE, OLD TRAFFORD IS NO LONGER THE THEATRE OF DREAMS
It did not need seven goals from Bayern Munich for Rio Ferdinand to deliver a brutal appraisal of Harry Kane’s career path. ‘Are you in the game to be a oneclub man or to win trophies?’ he asked before kick-off. ‘Harry Kane is probably thinking about it and those questions need answering soon. He’s 26 and you only have a small window of opportunity. they come and go very quickly.’
Ferdinand would know. He made a similar decision to leave a club who promised much but fell just short. Leeds were title-contenders in Ferdinand’s time and he also played in a Champions League semi-final. Yet when Manchester United called after the 2002 World Cup, Ferdinand spent close to six hours in the office of Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale, forcing the move.
It paid off. Ferdinand won six Premier League titles and the Champions League at Old trafford. Leeds fell through two divisions.
they remain a big club even in the Championship, but Ferdinand knew Manchester United were even bigger. Just as Wayne Rooney chose them over Everton, and Robin van Persie preferred them to Arsenal. In the time of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United were able to take players from some of the most significant clubs around, because their potential was simply enormous.
‘I thought I had a better chance elsewhere,’ Ferdinand explained. ‘I made a very quick decision to go and win trophies.’ Yet if Kane thought similarly, where would he go right now? Manchester United?
Unlikely. A player with ambition, who wants a trophy cabinet like Ferdinand’s, wouldn’t currently place his career in United’s hands.
times change. there have been moments in history when Everton, Leeds, Arsenal, even tottenham, were considered the best destination. Yet that certainty can be quickly surrendered, and it is being lost by United, fast. Kane would not follow Ferdinand’s path if his ambition was to win trophies in English football. they have no greater chance of success than his present club. Indeed, already, it seems players are starting to view United as Ferdinand did Leeds.
Paul Pogba spent most of the summer agitating for a way out. And while it is easy to blame his agent, Mino Raiola, would that have happened had United still occupied their position at the pinnacle of English football?
this summer brought a change of transfer strategy. United invested in young British players, Daniel James, Harry Maguire, Aaron WanBissaka. Yet carry on like this, particularly if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s rebuild is the three-year project many believe, and how long before they feel as Ferdinand did in 2002? that the best chance of fulfilling ambition lies elsewhere?
take James. How could he, as a Swansea player, resist last summer? He had nearly signed for Leeds, in the Championship, in January, so Old trafford represented the opportunity of his young life.
It might be still. It might prove everything he dreamt of, if he can be patient and Solskjaer is the manager to restore United’s greatness. then again, how long does he wait? As Ferdinand says, career opportunities are fleeting. What if, at the end of all that serenity, United are still just another Everton, Leeds or Arsenal — a big club, but not a successful one?
James is 22 next month so, it could be argued, has plenty of time. Yet Raheem Sterling, another player who also showed enormous potential at an early age, was just 20 when he decided Liverpool were not going to rival Manchester City any time soon.
Career moves are often made on hunches. N’Golo Kante thought Leicester could never replicate their title success and left for Chelsea. Christian Eriksen would have dumped tottenham this summer, if he could.
For close on a quarter of a century before they won their first Premier League title, Manchester United were just another football club. they could always attract players, because they had cachet, and wealth, and that will never change, but they weren’t necessarily where players with burning ambition headed.
Kenny Dalglish, for instance, or John Barnes, or Peter Beardsley.
Solskjaer’s summer signings have fitted in well, but James is the break-out star because many saw him as one for the future, a player it was hoped would mature
in the Premier League given time. Instead, he has made an instant impact, drawing comparisons with the teenage Ryan Giggs.
He might not have got that chance at Manchester City, or Liverpool, but that says something of united’s status, too. And a player younger than James has already won the Champions League with Liverpool. Trent Alexander-Arnold is 20. Ferdinand was 23 when he decided he could wait no more at Leeds.
Looking at united now, it is hard to see how Solskjaer can reshape them to compete for the title even in 12 months’ time. And what if he isn’t the one? Then the process begins again, with another coach, and another philosophy.
There is no guarantee that it will be Mauricio Pochettino, say. united could be rolling the dice once more.
AC Milan did not imagine a 2011 title would be their last. The same with united in 2013. Big clubs can shrink very rapidly in the modern game. James, Maguire and Wan- Bissaka came to old Trafford for the same reasons as Rooney, Ferdinand and Van Persie, but that journey no longer comes guaranteed.
If Kane wants to win trophies, following Ferdinand is little different from staying where he is.