STAN COLLYMORE Money talks, and after Brexit it says goodbye
ARSENE’S WAY TO GO
Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport THERE are several reasons why we won’t see the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the Premier League any time soon.
And chief among them, daft as it sounds, is Brexit, which I’m convinced will have severe ramifications for the Premier League.
I know it’s probably going to be at least a couple of years before efore we leave the European Union.
And I also know top-flightflight owners are hoping to strike a deal al to get round any freedom-of-movementent barriers.
Protectedd
But the red tape facing cing anyone hoping to sign for a Premieremier League club will surely put playersrs off. And the falling value of the pound nd will hardly lure them.
If you’re at Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG or Bayern Munich, then a euro is a euro – you’re protected from currency fluctuation.
But sign a deal here and there’s a chance that a falling pound und will leave you shorter than the terms ms you agreed.
Of course, players can arrange to be paid in euros but therehere are no guarantees that will be plain sailing.
One of the reasons I left my last club, Spanish sidede Real Oviedo, was becauseuse I’d agreed to be paid in pounds and I ended up in the first month being paidid in pesetas, losing a fair bit of money.
There were other reasons sons as well but, because of the fluctuating ating currency exchange, I was paid less. Given the sky-high salaries we are talking about now, even slight fluctuations can mean significant sums.
The paperwork involved will be a nightmare as well. I went from being a free agent to join Oviedo and I had to sit for 12 hours in Madrid sifting through tax documents.
Jostled
This was before freedom of movement and it was a headache of epic proportions.
If, or when, we go back to that, then it’s another negative from a player’s perspective.
The standard of living in Spain is also higher. You are raking in big money, like your Premier League counterparts, but the cost of living is much lower.
On top of all that, you have to consider how hard the Premier League is. Messi will have seen the problems his fellow Argentinian Angel di Maria had over here while at Manchester United.
Di Maria pulled up trees at Benfica and he’s doing the same in Paris, but he could not get to grips with the English game.
Players who want to travel with the ball in Spain are protected to the heavens. You see them bumped and jostled, you see diving and cheating, but you very rarely see them blocked and chopped.
That’s why Messi has done so well over there and why Ronaldo deserves even more respect because he has been excellent in both leagues.
If I was a diminutive player whose main skill was running with the ball, the Premier League would be my second or third option, La Liga my first.
Of course, there are bigger things to concern ourselves with as wewwe extricate ourselves from the EU thanan whether we get world-class players coming oming here.
But Brexit will stem the flow, which will up the value of British-based based players because there will be an even bigger premium on the likeskes of Manchester City’s youngng defender John Stones.
Palaver
We’re probably going to get reciprocal agreements with Commonwealth countriestries which will see the arrival of more players from Australia, New Zealand and d Africa but fewer from South America and Europe.
One thing is for certain,, if I was a player at Barcelona there iss absolutely no way I would be comingg to play in England.
I’d weigh up the pros and cons and be put off by what looks like a right old palaver. IF Arsene Wenger stays at Arsenal – and it looks likely he will – then he must go out of his way to bring former Gunners stars Dennis Bergkamp (top right) and Marc Overmars (below) back to the club.
I listened to both men talk about club strategy and direction when I was invited into Frank de Boer’s office at the Ajax training ground not so long back and they were very impressive.
Wenger’s a bit like Rapunzel at the moment, up there in his ivory tower, but he needs to let down his hair and install one as director of football and the other as first-team coach. Perhaps he should even bring back Martin Keown or Lee Dixon as defensive coach – and he must also send an SOS to David Dein.
His old mate could come back as a consultant so it doesn’t upset anyone on the board and those changes would give Wenger his mojo back.