Debate on the form, and in several cases, ability, of Fernando Torres rumbles on for a 29th consecutive week following a goal-shy, yet assist-laden, performance by the Spanish striker in Chelsea’s 2-0 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions’ League last Tuesday. Albeit the £50million signing from Liverpoolhas failed to replicate his most impressive form of days gone by – 31 goals in 41 appearances for the Reds in his first season in English football – ‘el Nino’ has at least been demonstrating fleeting expressions of remuneration towards the club that invested so heavily in his talent.
That is, arguably, on the pitch. Away from Stamford Bridge, and away from the sunshine-deficient island he lives and works on, Torres is alleged to have made inflammatory assessments of his current team-mates/co-care-home residents in an interview that later appeared on La Liga’s official website and the forward’s own. Chelsea’s ‘internal investigation’ concluded that Torres’ thoughts on the club’s older playing staff “retaining lots of possession” were not as incendiary as initially suggested, perhaps because the ‘pensioners’ do boast an experienced squad who maintain greater possession than the opponents they encounter most weeks. But possibly the most alarming aspect of the brief affair, other than the club’s hierarchy reeling at the completely justified spoken and written judgement of their team’s tactical strategy, was that a reaction was provoked purely because such judgement was articulated by a player.
Marina Hyde (Guardian) underlined this point by reminding us that at present, “players are a corporate cog first, a player second, and a human being perhaps eighth or ninth.” Footballers who regularly verbalize their frustrations and elations have come under intensifying scrutiny of late, as Premier League clubs attempt to curb disruptive behavior within their ranks and preserve as healthy relationship with the public as possible.
Darren Bent was fined around £80,000 for tweeting his irritation at having a proposed move from Tottenham stalled a couple of years back, Joey Barton was advertised as a free transfer earlier this summer as Newcastle attempted to cut their loses on a player they deemed too volatile in the public domain/social media circus and therefore harmful to the image of Mike Ashley’s relentlessly ‘pleasant’ Toon administration, and Liverpool youngster, Nathan Ecclestone, has this week encouraged his employers to initiate an investigation in to comments he made regarding 9/11.
While Twitter continues to provide an outlet for professional sportspeople and celebrities to broadcast their honest opinions by evading ‘sinister’ and ‘devious’ journalists – as Cesc Fabregas has done so emphatically this week – the trend has provided more consequences for the characters involved than it has freedom of expression; going some way to explaining the theory of footballers as mere ‘corporate cogs.’
And while he remains a world away from the shiny, mid-week, evening floodlights and deafeningly epic anthem of the Champions’ League, no player has represented the ‘corporate cog’ contingent quite like David Beckham. Although the former England captain has successfully maintained control of his private life throughout an impressive career, he, currently, demonstrates the embodiment of a modern professional athlete, much in the same way Jay-Z personifies the essence of a modern professional musician. Both pursued their passions with fervent enthusiasm and managed to exhibit their talents on the greatest stages of their respective fields, and both have notably engaged in projects that transcend the parameters of sport and music, ventures that are charitable as well as lucrative and have laid the blueprint for their pretenders to follow.
Recent speculation has surfaced linking the LA Galaxy midfielder with a move to either Queens Park Rangers or Paris Saint-Germain when the current MLS season, along with Beckham’s contract, expires. Perhaps a few short months ago this story would have raised far fewer eyebrows bearing in mind that both clubs in question represented institutions of a stature that would match Beckham’s deteriorating influence on the field.
Today, however, QPR and PSG enjoy significant financial support from Malaysia and Qatar respectively, and both sides wasted little time in supplementing their newly-acquired wealth with a host of squad additions. So what does a 36 year-old who has featured in the fledgling American league for the past four years have to offer an up-and-coming team playing in an elite European league with aspirations of Champions’ League fulfillment?