£12m a year for Rafa, £350k a week for thirtysomething Herrera... world’s gone mad and it’s so sad
IT IS becoming the most popular pub game of the summer.
Name the most mind-boggling financial deal of football’s off-season.
Rafa Benitez has set the bar pretty high with his £ 12million- a- year move to China.
It says a lot for the advancement of managerial salaries when the offer of a £6m, 12-month deal – as, we assume, was put on the table by Newcastle – can be widely viewed as derisory.
Marcus Rashford is a talent, no doubt about that.
But a goal ratio of one in three looks out of kilter with a new contract worth a conservative £40m over the next four years.
Mind you, his team-mate David de Gea might soon sign for £350,000 a week after spending the second half of last season throwing them in.
As for transfer fees, there should be some absolute belters to come. £90m for Harry Maguire, anyone? Understandably, the Ayoze Perez move to Leicester City has upset Newcastle fans, but £30m is seriously lumpy. Meanwhile, former Benfica striker Joao Felix, 19, has gone to Atletico Madrid for £113m.
But the deal that has, so far, caught this eye was Ander Herrera’s move to Paris Saint-Germain that did not cost the French club a cent in terms of a transfer fee.
We all knew it was happening a long way out, but what is simply mind-boggling is a five-year contract said to be worth £350,000 a week.
The Spanish scuffler turns 30 next month and, for spells in his United time, was not even an automatic starter.
You think PSG and you think stardust. Herrera gets his hands dirty, but stardust he ain’t.
He seemed to be something of a fans’ favourite over his five years at Old Trafford and certainly produced some good performances against high-quality opposition.
Not only that, he is a master of the snide foul. Hard to think of anyone better than him in that sphere.
But £350,000 a week? Seriously? “During the Champions League match at Old Trafford, the Paris supporters that were present were incredible,” said Herrera. “They sang and pushed their team throughout the entire match.
“That was something that really stayed with me.”
As if the passion of the travelling PSG supporters was a decisive factor in Herrera ( below) deciding to run down his United contract and up sticks for the French capital. Yeah, right.
You cannot blame Herrera.
For one, it’s Paris versus Manchester and, even when you have been earning not far short of £100,000 a week for some time, this is life- changing money.
And what does it matter the amounts these people are being paid? It is not coming out of your pocket, the wisdom goes (only it is, of course).
But, sooner or later, the numbers will sap the romanticism and idealism out of the game for good.
Alexis Sanchez has been an exciting, hard-working footballer.
In his home city of Tocopilla in the Antofagasta region of north Chile, he has a statue erected in his honour.
Here, he has become a monument to financial obscenity in football.
It is as though he has changed his name by deed poll to Five Hundred Grand a Week Alexis Sanchez. That is his full title.
The figures will only go north. Imagine the sort of salary Jose Mourinho would command in China or what Paul Pogba will pocket when he gets his move to Real Madrid.
Yes, it is a sweeping generalisation, but money is swallowing the game.
It does not take the enjoyment away from the watching of the spectacle, but it takes away a little bit of the love.
And that is sad.