Mad man or messiah? Time will tell if Wenger’s a genius or lost his marbles
ARSENE WENGER’S claim to be relaxed about players running down their contracts has given more ammunition to those who think he has parted company with his marbles.
How could letting prized talents, such as Alexis Sanchez (below, with Wenger during training) and Mesut Ozil, leave for nothing next May be deemed an “ideal situation”? Especially when he qualified it by insisting the contract rebels will play out of their skins until the final day of the season to attract the highest bidders. And by refusing to factor in the risk of a temperamental malcontent indulging in a seasonlong strop for being held against his will. Even more bizarrely, how could he argue – as Neymar is about to move to Paris SaintGermain for £199million – that the days of big transfer fees are coming to an end? Here is what he said: “Because the transfers are so high, you will see more and more players going into the final year of the contract because no club will want to pay the amount demanded. “I’m convinced, in the next 10 years, it will become usual.” So, have
marbles gone or is the man, who we used to hail as a visionary, simply foretelling the inevitable conclusion of Bosman?
Is he claiming the logical outcome of that landmark ruling is that footballers will eventually be treated like any other worker, in that, if they give an agreed notice period, they can seek the best offer their skills can attract in the jobs market.
Is he predicting that top players’ agents will bypass deliberately restrictive transfer fees plucked out of the air by clubs and negotiate highly lucrative, short-term contracts for their clients?
Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce hinted at it this week.
He claimed that salary demands are escalating at such an unprecedented rate that he would not be surprised if it soon becomes the norm for the best players to be on £1m a week.
It may be unpalatable for older fans, who cherish such notions as fairness and loyalty, but there is so much money in football that free-market logic dictates almost all of that money, along with the power, will end up in the laps of the players. If the agent of the next Neymar believes his market value is on a par with the world’s best golfers, tennis players and F1 drivers – who earn around the £50m-a-year mark – why not demand similar over a short period for his first big contract, then move him on at the end of it, pocketing the “transfer fee” as he goes out to auction?
The £100m transfer barrier is about to be smashed for the first time this transfer window.
But, if Wenger is right, it will not be long before a player leaves a club for free and signs a two-year contract worth more than £100m.
To those who argue it will benefit only the rich teams, that boat sailed years ago. To those who say there are no upsides to players being able to change teams with the same regularity clubs change their kits, the truth is that, whenever seemingly seismic changes happen in football, there always are.
Think of a summer free from wantaways threatening to go on strike, training ground bust-ups, pretend injuries and illnesses, staged Instagram posts, agents fuelling non-stories, hypocritical stances from clubs whining about their star man being poached by a bigger club when they are doing exactly the same to a club further down the food chain.
And, if that does nothing for you, think of the potential curing of the most sickening, germ-spreading disease out there: Phoney badgekissing.
Maybe Arsene’s marbles haven’t gone after all.