The politics of greed

THE indecency with which Europe’s greatest football clubs continue to splash ridiculous amounts of cash is a continuing story of greed and absolute panic.

It’s also a story that suggests that the greatest football managers in the game severely doubt their own abilities to build winning football teams through their own coaching expertise.

In the middle of the week, Jose Mourinho pointed one of his dodgy fingers at others spending their good money on players of average abilities.

‘We are not a club that is ready to buy and buy and buy non-stop, we are not a club that is ready to pay what clubs want us to pay,’ stated the Manchester United manager,

United paid Everton an initial £75 million, rising to £90m, for Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku and also signed Sweden defender Victor Lindelof, but they have so far baulked at Inter Milan’s £49m valuation of Ivan Perisic and Tottenham’s demands for £55m to get Eric Dier.

United believe that there has to be a point when it is decided that any player is not worth one penny more – though they allowed that same bar to rise to a foolish height, possibly, in their desire to bag Lukaku who remains unproven at the very highest level in the game.

But with Europe’s number one club of modern times, Barcelona, putting £80million on the table for Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho and Liverpool replying that this sum is not nearly high enough, this desperate trend is starting to enter the realms of farce.