Chelsea had bids of £22m, £27m and £30m plus Alex turned down. Is Modric really worth more than £30m plus Alex? With Spurs obviously requiring another centre-half, only to be further exemplified by the club‘s late move for Gary Cahill. It became clear that Redknapp’s stance had weakened towards the end of the window and he was all for using the funds from any proposed sale to try and revitalise his squad, but Chairman Daniel Levy’s stance, while commendable, appears to have been aimed squarely at getting the supporters back on side in a deal that threatened to mirror that of Dimitar Berbatov’s switch to Man Utd in 2008.
Levy was willing to forsake any potential windfall, no matter how large, simply to make a point. Was it wise? The unbalanced nature of Spurs squad at the moment may tell you otherwise and you wouldn’t bet against Spurs selling their man in either January or next summer if a fractionally larger offer comes their way. Levy has saved face – which was undoubtedly the main object behind the whole saga.
Everton are another who have been termed a ‘selling club’. They sold Joleon Lescott to Man City for £24m, Mikel Arteta to Arsenal for £10m and Wayne Rooney to Man Utd for £30m. Does this make them a selling club? Of course it doesn’t. It merely makes them both practical and realistic. The club’s main prerogative is to balance the books, and as a result they are well known for driving a hard bargain. While the vultures may begin to swarm around the likes of Ross Barkley, Jack Rodwell and Marouane Fellaini, are Everton likely to sell any of them on the cheap? Not on your nelly.
In France, Lyon Chairman Jean-Michel Aulas has often attracted criticism from supporters, much in the same way Daniel Levy has at Spurs, for running the club like a business. However, he is also renowned for driving a hard bargain (Michael Essien £24m, Karim Benzema £35m, Mahamadou Diarra £20m). He’s fully aware of French football’s place in the European pecking order and that some players will move on to pastures anew given the chance and so he makes their suitors pay top whack for their talent. In today’s day and age, with a clear hierarchy built around the club’s with most financial clout, it begs the question, is there really any other way to run a football club than like a business?
The age of the selling club is over. The arrival of a new type of owner, a mega-rich owner with infinite income, has made the rest of the league sit up and take notice. The majority of clubs in the Premier League now operate with a more pragmatic approach in mind, as it’s simply impossible for them to compete on a financial front any longer.
James Milner’s £24 move to Man City from Aston Villa. Fernando Torres’s £50m from Chelsea to Liverpool. Andy Carroll’s £35m move from Newcastle to Liverpool. Can you honestly tell me that the ‘selling club’ in any of these transfer deals hasn’t profited more from the move than the buyer so far? Or perhaps more to the point, have any of these moves even begun to approach being considered value for money for their new clubs? Now all of a sudden, being a ‘selling club’ doesn’t look so bad after all.
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Written by James McManus for FootballFanCast.com
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