The Frenchman's move to Manchester United and
Gonzalo Higuain's €90 million transfer to Juventus
merely underline that 'the beautiful game' is uglier
than ever before Ads by Google
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Stop seeing this ad COMMENT When AC Milan broke the world transfer record in
the summer of 1992 by paying approximately €15.2
million for Torino winger Gianluigi Lentini, the
Vatican labelled the sum "an offence to the dignity
of work". Of course, for the Catholic Church of the
time to take such a moralistic stance has transpired to be the height of hypocrisy but there was no denying
that the fee was outrageous, as were the circumstances
surrounding the deal. Lentini's San Siro switch represented the third time
that the transfer record had been broken that summer,
with Milan having acquired Jean-Pierre Papin from
Marseille before Juventus responded by signing
Sampdoria striker Gianluca Vialli. The two bitter
rivals then became locked in a bidding war for Lentini. It was little more than a billionaire p***ing
contest which ridiculously saw a talented but
unproven 23-year-old become the most expensive
player of all time. Football, it seemed, had
spiralled out of control. The spending, however, has only become more
reckless and offensive over the past 24 years. The
beautiful game is uglier than ever before. Shortly after midnight on Monday, Manchester
United confirmed that they had reached an agreement
with Juventus to re-sign Paul Pogba for a fee of
€105m. From a footballing and financial
perspective, there are grounds for justifying such
an exorbitant fee. Pogba is one of the finest midfielders in the world and he has his peak years
ahead of him. He is also among the most marketable
young sportsmen on the planet and will generate
millions in merchandise sales and commercial deals.
He will likely make most of the money back
without having to win a trophy. But on a purely human level, it is impossible to
defend this deal - particularly in the current
economic and political climate. Arsene Wenger was
right when he argued that the Pogba deal "is
completely crazy if you compare it to normal life".
Jose Mourinho immediately retorted that it was "not ethical" for other managers to be critical of other
clubs’ spending, which, on one level, was amusing,
given there is no place in an ethical debate for a man
who eye-gouged a fellow coach and helped drive
an innocent referee and a skilled medical
professional out of the game. Furthermore, just as United are free to pay over €105m for one player
and Juve €90m for another in the shape of Gonzalo
Higuain, the rest of us have the right to comment on
disturbingly high transfer fees. Indeed, the fact United, Juventus, Real Madrid,
Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain
can afford to pay such sums doesn't make it right.
Football has long existed within its own bubble; it
is not, as Wenger noted, "normal life". However, the
sport is now becoming ever more detached from reality and that should concern everyone involved. We presently reside in a world of great financial
and social instability. Greece, for example, remains
on the verge of economic collapse, with an
unemployment rate of just under 25 per cent and just
under half of their 14-28-year-olds neither in
employment nor education. Youth unemployment in France has hovered at around 25% since the 2008
financial crisis, according to Eurostat. There is
widespread uncertainty across the continent
following the United Kingdom's decision to
withdraw from the European Union, with the
British pound immediately losing around 12% of its value. Millions of asylum seekers live in abject
poverty and a constant state of fear, while racial
tensions in the United States are at their highest for
50 years. In such circumstances, it is becoming
increasingly difficult for the average man to relate
to those running and playing the game we love - and therein lies the danger of complete collapse. In one of the seminal scenes in Robert De Niro’s
criminally underrated 'A Bronx Tale', local mafia
kingpin Sonny LoSpecchio asks the nine-year-old
Calogero Anello why he is so invested in the
fortunes of the New York Yankees, and superstar
centre fielder Mickey Mantle in particular. "Mickey Mantle makes a $100,000 a year - how
much does your father make?" LoSpecchio enquires.
"You see if your father can't pay the rent, go ask
Mickey Mantle and see what he tells you. Mickey
Mantle doesn't care about you - so why should you
care about him? Nobody cares." Calogero admits: “I never thought the same way
about the Yankees again.” This is the perilous position in which football now
finds itself: on the verge of alienating the very
people that fund the whole enterprise. And it has
been a long time coming. In 1998, former Newcastle United chairman Freddy
Shepherd was infamously caught on camera mocking
Magpies fans for, among other things, spending
obscene amounts of money on club merchandise. Six
years later, the same man addressed the financial
problems facing clubs in the lower leagues, telling the Dubai Soccerex international football forum:
"When we have got 52,000 fans at each home game,
the last thing we are worried about is clubs in the
third division." It is unfair to single out Shepherd,
of course, given his views are commonplace. The Premier League itself is a product of the avarice
of England's elite. The creation of the Champions
League was fuelled by the same desire for profit,
only on a grander scale. The recently proposed
European Super League is the logical next step. In such a climate of pure capitalism, it is no wonder
that the principal protagonists of this latest
addition to the entertainment industry have become
increasingly preoccupied with getting their 'fair
share'. As Benoit Assou-Ekotto admitted in a
tremendously insightful interview with the Guardian in 2010, he is solely motivated by financial gain. The former Tottenham full-back
quite justifiably views football as his profession
(in his defence, he added: "When I’m at work, I
give 100 per cent". Acutely aware that his career
will not extend much beyond 15 years even if he
manages to avoid serious injury, his primary focus is on making as much money as possible during that
time. READ MORE | Pogba: Mou will make me better PLAY - Hide Videos He also pointed out that he was by no means alone in
viewing transfer opportunities in nothing other than
monetary terms, revealing that he was appalled by
two-faced team-mates who publicly stated their love
of a club while at the same time privately revealing
a willingness to leave for a rival if their contractual demands were not satisfied. Assou-Ekotto’s refreshingly honest words, like
those of Sonny, brutally exposed the mercenary-like
nature of the professional sportsman. Pogba spoke
this week of returning "home" to his first "family"
but the truth is that he left Juventus because his
agent wanted him to. Mino Raiola stands to make €35m on the deal. Pogba will also pocket a small
fortune – just like Higuain, thanks to his transfer
from Napoli to Juventus. As one-club man Francesco Totti said of the
Argentine’s transfer from Napoli to Juventus:
"Modern players are a bit like nomads. They are
following the money, not their heart. Not many
athletes follow their heart. Football has changed a
lot; it is all about money now. Players change teams all the time, to make a bit more money elsewhere. It's
more about money than about passion. People go to
the stadiums to enjoy themselves and to see players
in action who will always be with their team. They
expect not to be betrayed. But just look at what
happened with Higuain, leaving Napoli for [bitter rivals] Juventus. It's a disaster." Such moves will have far-reaching consequences, as
they merely serve to highlight the absurdity of
forming any sort of attachment with
multimillionaire stars. Yet some fans will not only
defend but idolise players found guilty of
behaviour that would result in instant dismissal in any other profession; from rape to racism, anything
can be excused so long as the player performs well
in the shirt. In this regard, we are just as culpable,
having been willing participants in the creation of
an environment in which players can be placed above
the laws, ethics and morals by which we are all held accountable. After all, it is we who ultimately
pay their wages by buying overpriced season tickets,
purchasing multiple satellite TV subscriptions and
acquiring each and every strip a club produces. Admittedly, if you’re reading this article, on a
dedicated football website, it can be safely assumed
that you love the game - and love, by definition, is
irrational. It is based on emotions that are difficult
to put into words let alone define or understand. But
we are united by a collective sense of belonging based on our support of a certain nation, club or
merely 'the beautiful game' itself. However, we must accept that for many of those
involved in football today, it is not about a love of
the game. Football is not, as Danny Blanchflower
would have liked, about glory - it is about money.
Thus, the gap between those within the game and
those that support it is larger than ever before. This is neither a healthy nor sustainable relationship: it is
one-sided and exploitative, and consequently, on the
verge of collapse. Indeed, there is now a very real
danger that unless something is done, unless the
powers that be successfully manage to increase the
influence of fans in the running of clubs, to give supporters a greater sense of attachment, the game
will implode. At the end of 'A Bronx Tale', Calogero realises that
Sonny was wrong about one thing: his assertion that
"nobody cares". People still care. People still love
football - but they are becoming detached and, soon,
disillusionment will give way to indifference. Encouragingly, we have already seen the first
signs of unrest, the first signs of supporters
standing up for themselves by boycotting games in
Germany, England and elsewhere over ticket prices.
However, change will only be possible if everyone
comes together to demand widespread reform because if the greed that is currently destroying the game
goes unchecked, it will only be a matter of time
before we, like Calogero, stop caring not only about
our teams, but the game itself

what's pogba facing?

Sorry, what's he facing?