From Debanjan :
Hi Myles,
I just read this article where Keown branded Sanchez a mercenary.
He maybe right but I disagree on one front. Through the years ‘Cashley Cole’, Fabregas , Van Persie , Arshavin, PV4 all left and got called a lot of things. The only thing constant is a manager who has pocketed a cool 11 million or more and always been among the top 5 paid managers- WITHOUT WINNING ANYTHING.
At any other job, if you don’t perform you don’t pocket millions. Who’s the mercenary? Alexis who single-handedly got us into Champions League and kept us afloat multiple times. (Same for RVP, Arshavin, Fabregas…list goes on).Or a manager who pockets millions for keeping the status-quo and boosting profits.
Is Martin Keown a bloody businessman now or a football pundit?
Arsene Wenger is paid more than Conte, Klopp, Pochettino. Cut his salary or make his and his mediocre French players’ salaries performance-linked and then see who’s a mercenary.
I bet none of those players would turn down the money if they ever were at that level. The Ox took a pay-cut to join Liverpool so there is more than just money.
Honestly, all these pundits should just shut up.
The only mercenaries here are Wenger, Kroenke and the board, deceiving them and the fans, to make a profit. American corporations always lay off workers while cost-cutting but rarely lay off managers and higher ups who get nice bonuses for making shareholders more money. But if an employee asks more for putting his heart and sweat into his work, he is called a mercenary.
F*** off Keown and anyone who supports Wenger on this point.
Myles says:
For his £11.5 million salary, Wenger runs the whole club. Or he did until recently.
Robert Pires was right when he said Arsenal is a French club playing in England. They loved living in Hampstead, as did Jens Lehmann.
But these days football is big business and Michel Platini gave the game away when he remarked that ”Wenger’s just a businessman now.”
At that time Wenger was still doing an almost-plausible job as a football manager. But now the squad is mediocre, the team is stuttering as never before, there are no leaders on the pitch, and my friends have season tickets they don’t use and can’t give away.
The January transfer window? This saga is a huge bore but the tedium could end soon. If Sanchez signs for United before noon today, he could play at Burnley tomorrow.
In my experience, it’s very rare to see a footballer of Alexis’s Sanchez’s ability sold in the January window. It happened because Wenger dithered and blundered last summer. He should have sold him for £60m then.
I realise this saga is tedious for everyone. But it might end soon.
If Sanchez signs for Man United before noon today, he can play against Burnley tomorrow.