EPL Talk » Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo Departure A Huge Blow To Manchester United

Ethan Armstrong — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:52:31 +0000

Since Real Madrid’s £80m swoop on Cristiano Ronaldo, I’ve read plenty of responses by United supporters insisting this was a positive move for the team. Man U is not one player. We’ve got 80m to spend. We’re fine. No, really.

While the Ronaldo move was inevitable and £80m is a handsome bundle of cash to take in, I cannot accept the idea that United are better off without him. Don’t get me wrong: he was going to leave no matter what and with the chance to secure such a huge amount of money for his release, nobody can fault Sir Alex or United for the move.

But while United is not just one player (an obvious notion in a team sport), we can all agree, this particular player was a pivotal cog in the trophy-winning machine.

Look at it this way: Giggs is fading. Scholes is fading. Ronaldo is gone.

Three players who have shaped Manchester United’s form and directly fed their winning fires will no longer be able to exert their influence to the full extent the Red Devils have enjoyed for so long.

Manchester are still bursting with top talent, but none of their players, save perhaps Rooney, can change a match the way Ronaldo, Giggs and Scholes have done so consistently for United.

Replacing Ronaldo (or Giggs, or Scholes) is a Himalayan task no matter how many millions of pounds one has in the kitty. How often did his dead ball kicks seem a foregone conclusion? How often did he create that critical spark in motion to carve out a chance from the deepest of dead ends? From his ability to twist a ball around the wall from daunting distances and angles, sending that heat-seeking missile to its preordained home to his ability to dance through defenses and set up the perfect service or goal in nearly any circumstance makes him one of an elite few.

The act of finding someone that good who is established and prying him away from their club exists in a sliver of likelihood. And finding an unknown who happens to blossom into the next C. Ronaldo will be an expensive spin of the roulette wheel. Fergie could feasibly strike oil again as he did with Ronaldo, unproven when he joined United, but even if he is so fortunate, any new promising signing will take time to blossom into greatness, if at all.

Right now the £80m is merely potential energy. Ronaldo was proven beyond all doubt.

Fergie will spend the fresh cash. And he’ll get quality for it. But I doubt he’ll find anything on the level of Ronaldo. If he is so fortunate, though, we cannot say Manchester United are better off until the deal is actually made. For now: they are not.

Yes, Ronaldo was just one part of the team. But just as Liverpool don’t want to play without Torres or Gerrard, Chelsea don’t want to play without Lampard, and Arsenal have not looked as imposing since Henry’s departure, sometimes that one part of the team is the consummate talisman, a lighting rod who channels an essential spark for those around him.

United need lighting to strike again. Until then they are worse off from this unavoidable transfer than they’d like us to believe.

Manchester United Must Sign Carlos Tevez

Sebastian Shepard — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:06:04 +0000

Surely Manchester United must sign Carlos Tevez now. With Cristiano Ronaldo off to Madrid, the Red Devils need a replacement that cannot be found in one player. CR7 is a complete footballer, blessed with pace, power, dribbling, shooting, heading, free kicks, etc.

He is one of a kind. If United let Tevez go, they will have an underperforming Berbatov and Wayne Rooney spearheading the attack with no one of real pedigree on the bench in case one gets injured or banned. Manucho looks set to leave for Hull, Macheda is still 17 and Welbeck is just 18.

Tevez brings the class, the important goals, and the energy. He can help reclaim a few of the qualities Manchester United lost with Ronaldo, but not all.

He works well with the team, and up until recently said he wanted to stay if Fergie would sign him. In 2007-08 the Rooney-Tevez-Ronaldo partnership produced what Barcelona did this past season – free flowing, attacking football capable of winning the Champions League.

He has the quality; Manchester United have the money. The reported £80 million gives Manchester United enough money to buy fantastic replacements. Carlos Teves costs £25 million, leaving United £55 million to buy a winger, pay off some debts, and probably buy a small island nation.

Where else will United find a striker like Tevez for £25 million? The mystery man would need to be physically tough, willing to come back and defend, and have a host of other not-so-obvious traits, some of which I mentioned above. Scoring important goals is one. Others include injecting energy into the rest of the team, winning over the fans, as well as complaining very little (up until the end of the season for Tevez) about lack of playing time.

David Villa will be sold by a financially weak Valencia, but he has stated his desire to stay in Spain. Alexandre Pato might leave Milan for the right price and has the pace, but might not be physical enough for the EPL. Eto’o might leave Barcelona, but after this prolific season might cost more than £25 million.

Another option is Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of Real Madrid, who probably will see a lot less playing time. The van Nistelrooy-lite had a good opening few months after his winter trade but faded with the rest of Madrid at the end of the season. He might be revitalized in the new Florentino Perez-era, but is he galactico enough for Madrid? I doubt it. Additionally, Madrid now have at least 5 forwards, not including members of the youth team. Clearly someone is leaving, and £25 million might be the right price for Huntelaar.

There are still no guarantees that he would fit with either United or the Prem however, and he certainly doesn’t bring the same qualities that Tevez does and that Ronaldo is taking with him. He does provide a start though, and with the inclusion of a tricky, creative, attacking player such as Ribery, United might go some way to recaputring the glory of 2008.

The British Transfer Record Spirals Out Of Control

Ethan Armstrong — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:00:54 +0000

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, Torino have shelled out £100,000 to lure Dennis Law from Manchester City. Yes, it’s 1961 and the record transfer fee paid to or by an English club has broken the hundred thousand mark.

Shocking.

The previous record was £65,000 when John Charles moved from Leeds to Juventus in 1957.

Law will move back in a year for a fee of £115,000 to play for City’s rival in-town club, Manchester United. But, it will take until 1970 for the record to reach the £200,000 mark when Martin Peters moves from West Ham to Spurs. And seven years after that, it’s half a million pounds from Hamburg to pry Kevin Keegan away from Liverpool.

By 1979, the million pound mark will be obliterated with Trevor Francis’s £1,180,000 move from Birmingham to Nottingham Forest. Thankfully, it will take until 1986 for the record to break the two-mil mark when Mark Hughes leaves Manchester United for Barcelona for £2.3 million. But then we’ll only wait one more year for Ian Rush’s move from Liverpool to Juve to raise the bar to £3.2 million. I know. It’s insane.

Pause. Drink of water. Gulp.

David Platt’s move from Aston Villa in 1991 to Bari will hoist the record up to £5.5 million. A fee which will also see Paul Gascoigne move from Spurs to Lazio the following year.

Now comes the Premier League era. Things are about to get crazy.

Want yourself an Andy Cole? Only £7 million at 1995 prices.

And then it’s time for Alan Shearer to move from Blackburn to Newcastle. £15 million, my friends. 1996.

Nicolas Anelka from Arsenal to Real Madrid: £22.5 million, 1999.

Rio Ferdinand will change Uniteds: Leeds to Manchester for £29.1 million, 2002.

Where does it end?

Now, look at the sardonically titled graph above.

Everybody up until 1979 looks like they cost nothing. Through the long lens of time, it seems like Keegan, Peters, Law, etc went for pennies. Even the shock of Alan Shearer costing more than 10 million now seems like such a bargain basement price in light of Robinho’s £32.5 move from Real to Manchester City last summer.

Things looked really scary when City were rumored to be offering as much as £130m to try and lure Kaka away from AC Milan. But the move never happened and it looked like the 30-40m mark would hold steady.

But all it would take would be a specific series of scenarios for the stars to align and some ridiculous fee will come along and totally eclipse everything that’s happened so far.

Like, say a Spanish superclub gets all frustrated because their big league rivals go on a tear and snatch up the triple and are anointed the Best Club In The World by gushing pundits and supporters everywhere. Though they’ve set the standard for other outrageously rich clubs, spending millions over the years on Zidanes and Figos and Beckhams and van Nistelrooys, they’ve hit a massive rut. Unacceptable.

Say right around that time, one of the biggest stars in the game, who’d been linked with a big money move to the same Spanish superclub the summer before, who’s clearly been itching for a move as he’s won just about everything possible with his own English superclub as well as the top individual awards… well, say he’s had just about enough of the dreary Mancunian weather and longs for the Iberian climate of his youth. His club losing the Champions League to a Spanish side might just be the hair that breaks the winger’s back.

But he’s so damn good, his current superclub sure don’t want to give him up.

What would it take to scoop this superstar up? About £80 million?

That’s a ridiculous price. Even by recent standards, a jump that high in the valuation of any one player is unthinkable.

I don’t even want to imagine that eventuallity.

I’m still getting over Dennis Law’s whopping transfer fees.

Manchester United Finally Decide To Sell Ronaldo

Paul Bestall — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:11:07 +0000

So its official, Manchester United’s board have accepted a world record shattering bid of £80 million this morning from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t face another summer of every news outlet boring us to tears speculating on Ronaldo’s future as we had last season. Day after day, hour after hour, miniscule item after item of droning with ultimately no end product.

This means at last Ronaldo can get the move he claims is a dream for him, United can get £80 million for a player who is clearly nowhere near the level he was in 2007-2008 and Real Madrid can keep signing attacking players that won’t win them anything next season. I wonder if Michele Platini is about to launch a stinging attack on Florentino Perez as he clearly spends money the club don’t have. Of course not!

I’m sure some Manchester United fans will be devastated to be losing Ronaldo, there’s no doubt on his day he is a fantastic player, but last season saw his performance fall away from the level he’d set himself. Of course, Madrid’s courting of him all summer only for Ferguson to dig his heels in would have affected him and he once again failed to deliver for Portugal in a major tournament. Missing preseason with an injury didn’t help, but the Champions League final saw him completely outshone by Iniesta, Xavi and Messi.

No doubt Ferguson will be getting some criticism of some of Manchester United’s more uneducated fan base, but there’s no way you can turn down that amount of money for any player. If anything, United are probably selling him at the right time, its doubtful anything he does next season would increase his value, so Ferguson and United are right to sell him now. Ferguson has been slatted before for selling players certain fans thought were irreplaceable but three titles and two Champions League finals in the last 3 seasons answers any criticism the doom mongers may offer up.

United will now probably push on for a replacement, Franck Ribery, Antonio Valencia and Karim Benzema have all been touted as replacements, though United may take two of those with the funds they receive from Madrid. With Madrid buying Kaka and Ronaldo, it probably frees up those three to join other clubs and United will be jostling with Chelsea and Barcelona to sign them up. As for Madrid, Perez’s ill feted galactico scheme seems to have been brought back for the dead and it wouldn’t surprise me if they go after one other massive signing soon. Shame they’ve forgotten how bad the defence was at Madrid last season, so Perez would a fool to ignore strengthening the back line.

The additional aspect of this is that the transfer merry go round should begin to kick off all over Europe now, with the Kaka, Diego and Barry deals being the only 3 major transfers since the domestic season finished all over Europe. The bubble is well and truly set to continue growing in the Premiership and La Liga, and most of the major clubs in both countries yet to start spending, the silly season could be just around the corner.

As for Ronaldo, sure, it’ll be a shame to see him leave the Premiership, but Spanish football and La Liga isn’t far behind in popularity so he’ll not disappear from view. Over the time he spent at Old Trafford, he’s thrilled as many people as he’s annoyed. His performances over the years at club level have propelled him to the forefront of football fans all over the world and his superb season for United in 2007-2008 will live long in the memory. It’s been a privilege to watch him for the last 3 or 4 seasons, but the Premier League and Manchester United will survive and flourish without him.

This Year’s Champions League Final Will NOT Be Ronaldo vs Messi

Sebastian Shepard — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:37:37 +0000

If you would believe various pundits, the annoying debate that many football fans have been subject to this year and last – Ronaldo vs. Messi – will come to its conclusion in the UCL final in Rome. On the biggest stage in club competitions, the two most complete players in attacking football will meet head to head.

The winner will be crowned the best in the world, the loser will claim second place. Fans of the loser will say he was robbed, the winner’s supporters will smugly proclaim that the final underscored the gulf in quality.

To boil the final down to this issue would be a mistake, and would ignore the other much more important battles that will happen on May 27th. While Ronaldo and Messi are both elite, I doubt the Champions League trophy will really go to whoever plays better on that day.

First of all, neither the Argentine nor the Portuguese has an impressive record against clubs from England and Spain, respectively. An injured Messi was pretty much ineffective against Barcelona last season in the semis, and Ronaldo was marked out of the game by Barcelona, notably Gianluca Zambrotta, who ironically teed up Paul Scholes for the long range, tie-winning goal.

This year in the final however, I see more of a Barcelona’s attack vs United’s back four. Vidic and Ferdinand, as it has been repeated so often, are the best two in the game. Evra looks to be back on form. The only suspect position, and I use that term only in comparison with the other members of the back-line, is right-back for United.

This is not to take away from the offense, but the free-flowing stuff of last season has been slowed down, maybe by Berbatov’s inclusion (didn’t the United vs. Arsenal meeting last week look like the 2007-08 campaign, with Berba notably on the bench?). This season the defense has really outshone the offense, not just in the club but in the whole EPL, 4-0 loss to Liverpool excluded.

Barcelona’s attack is frightening, but currently weakened. Henry and Iniesta both are having problems with fitness, Dani Alves and Eric Abidal (unfairly) are suspended, and Rafa Marquez is out for the season. These weaknesses in defense force makeshift changes and weaken the midfield, already less flowing and lethal when Iniesta has to play as a forward for the injured Henry. If neither Iniesta nor Henry play, Pep Guardiola will have to change his “Tridente” formation for the first time this season (or else play out-of-form Bojan or Gudjohnsen), which brings me to my next point.

Everyone playing Barca since late September has known that they will run a 4-3-3 with Messi on the right, Henry on the left, and Eto’o in the middle. The midfield will include Xavi, Iniesta, and Keita or Yaya Toure. Dani Alves plays at right back (in reality reality he is an attacking midfielder), Puyol and Marquez stay in the center, unless Pique plays in which case Puyol moves out left. It’s a formula, and it has worked, but against master tacticians, it won’t. It literally came within seconds from failure against Chelsea, but a combination of slack finishing, suspect calls, and a non-existant clearance from Essien allowed Iniesta one chance that he buried in style. Hiddink knew how to shut down Barcelona, and my bet is that Sir Alex will too.

The Scot should be able to field a United side that can take advantage of both the weakness in attack simply by keeping the defense as he has all season, and exploit Barcelona’s defense problems. The right and left wings will be open all night to players with pace now that Alves and Abidal are gone, and judging by the Chelsea game, the midfield looks like it can be muscled out by the likes of Carrick and Anderson. Most importantly, if Puyol moves out left or right, the center will be horribly exposed.

Barcelona are hobbling right now, and certainly cannot field a full strength team. Messi on his day is the best in the world, but he cannot make up for the obvious defensive weaknesses. If Iniesta and Henry do return for the final however, it might not matter how weak the defense looks. If Barca show up to Rome limping in both the attacking and defending third though, I feel that Sir Alex’s carefully planned team will be celebrating at the end of the night.