Philosophising the most important game in world football

Naming the most important club game in club football is perhaps more of a poser than you’d think.

There are two major contenders for the title and both will occur today. The case for one challenger, the UEFA Champions League Final is based around the prestige (and money) that accompanies winning the title of best team in the best league in the most competitive confederation. The case for the other competitor, the English League Championship Playoff Final, revolves around the money (and prestige) that accompanies promotion to the world’s richest league.

The monies on offer are truly remarkable. For winning the most lucrative club competition on Earth, either Real or Atletico Madrid will pocket up to €50 million (or about 1/10^th of Atleti’s debt); while estimates vary on the worth of promotion to the English Premier League, recent hearsay puts the financial windfall for Derby County or Queens Park Rangers somewhere between £80-120 million – potentially three times as much as for the continent’s premier competition.

Players would certainly opt for the Champions League. Administrators, depending on the club, might flip-flop depending on the media forum in which they’re speaking. Fans – well, that’s a different story.

It goes without saying that the Champions League trophy carries just a little more kudos than does the award presented to (at best) the third-best club in England’s second division. As are sponsorship opportunities – for Atletico, at any rate. But, as clubs like Birmingham City, Leeds United and Norwich City have discovered recently, the revenues that the Premiership generates can be life-sustaining (or at least life-altering) – potentially more so than victory in the Champions League.

The counterargument is based purely on the reasons behind football as a concept – do you watch to see your team excel, or is a high, Icarian flight (c.f. Portsmouth) that ends in a near-fatal swan dive worth the fiscal risk not worth the risk? As a fan – or administrator – do you value survival and/or the opportunity to test yourself in an achievable competition, or the (pen)ultimate glory? You play to win the game – but at all costs?

The most important game in club football then depends very much on the audience and can be distilled down to one paraphrase: Survive, or advance?

Shall we celebrate Atletico Madrid now?

Let’s take a minute to appreciate and thank Atletico Madrid. La Rojiblancos have just interrupted a 119-week stint in La Liga in which the Big Two rotated at the league’s apex – the last 59 manned solely by Barca – and mourned favourite son Luis Aragones in a loamy, rose-tinted weekend.

Former coach Aragones, who spent nearly a quarter of a century at the club as player and manager, passed away on Saturday as a result of leukaemia at the age of 75. In helming La Furia Roja to victory at Euro 2008, he managed Spain to their first major trophy since 1964.

Despite selling each of its past five most appealing assets* for significant sums and looking likely to do so again this Summer*, Atletico Madrid has invested in an exciting lineup of young playmakers who are able to build from a stoic defence. Despite a 3-0 loss to rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey last night, their 2013-14 season has been a successful one.

courtesy: en.wikipedia.org

It’s time to recognize that achievement. Breaking football’s class caste system – even temporarily – occurs so rarely nowadays that it’s a pleasure to behold, sometimes if it comes at your own club’s expense. In Spain, the top tier contains Real Madrid and Barcelona; there is room for no one else. Underdog appeal underpins every sporting movie simply because the masses can relate, giving the trope box-office pop. When an unfancied squad (even if they are the fourth-largest club in the country) wins a battle in real life then, we should similarly enjoy those small victories.

An old adage states that the only way of finding out how good you are is to actually play the games.

Over the past decade or so, this statement has lost some of its cache as this class system has quickly become entrenched. In 2014, the major Euroleagues are dominated by a plutocracy derived from cash nouveau or Boston-type old money, resulting in nationwide competitions that have devolved into mini-leagues that limit hope to besting their immediate rivals at year’s end.

The rise to prominence of football-based computer games and social media editorialisation – with or without taking in more-available-than-ever match footage – only heightens this perceived stratification: excepting the odd Manchester United/Stoke City outlier, we now accept that the same predictable teams finish in (about) the same predictable positions.

While Atleti certainly aren’t paupers, they certainly haven’t been in the same strata as their now-direct rivals. A change at the top is nice, even if it isn’t always entirely successful or long term. Not only will Montpellier HSC fans forever embrace their 2010-12 Ligue 1 performances (that came straight from promotion), but so will football. La Rojiblancos have perhaps a more storied history than the la Pallaide, breaking into the Iberian duopoly is still a triumph that should have knowledgeable fans smiling.

* Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero, David De Gea, Diego Forlan and Radamel Falcao

Gareth Bale transfer to Real Madrid exposes disparity

As the narrative of Gareth Bale’s transfer to Real Madrid careens towards its end pages, we look back on its lifespan with the typical, ho-hum shrug of fulfilled prediction that accompanies such uncomplicated, Cartlandian prose. 

This tricky situation evolved in exactly the same manner as every other protracted move: larger club unsettles smaller club’s player, player decides he likes the money lifestyle at larger club, player agitates for transfer without asking for it directly, smaller club holds out for larger fee, deal is eventually done. 

Most “poaching” goes down this way, unless the smaller club is either a) really small, where incoming funds are gratefully and quickly redistributed or b) in the habit of iron-cladding it’s player contracts for many future years.  In this case, Spurs are neither.

The key step in the above sequence involves the player deliberately acting unprofessionally in order to orchestrate the move.  Last week, footballer-turned-pundit Robbie Savage wrote an article on the BBC website about the techniques footballers use to engineer a move away from their current club.  Wandering eyes have surveyed the landscape and decided that other pastures are a more pleasant shade of green, for reasons of money, money opportunity or money boredom.

The tactics are true and time-honoured because they’re effective.  Savage knows, because as he writes, he used some of them himself.  First internal and then external opinions tootle about “needing a change of scenery” or wanting “a different paycheque challenge”.  Eventually, the player generally gets their way, simply by becoming a distraction.

The biggest surprise of this story hasn’t been that Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy is holding out until deadline day seeking the best deal, nor that Real Madrid are seeking the Premiership’s best player, nor even the frankly diabolical fee mooted.  It’s that the player acting so unprofessionally is Gareth Bale.

Bale is by all accounts a simple and peaceful man; someone Harry Redknapp gleefully described as thinking of “a trip abroad” as visiting home in Cardiff.  Since arriving on the scene as a big-money youngster from the vaunted Southampton youth academy, his personal journey has been littered with troughs and peaks public enough to justify his position as one of the most marketable respected and relatable footballers in the British Isles. 

Personal reports lend credence to the idea of a professional and soft-spoken family man with a Rolls-Royce engine and a piledriver where his left foot should be. 

So why, suddenly, would this man begin to exaggerate injury reports and not arrive for training?  The answer is simple: the lure of Real Madrid – and all that accompanies – is enough to compromise a man’s principles.  Which, when the player is by all accounts so … nice, is such a shame.  Gareth Bale really wants this move and obviously feels he deserves it – either because of what he’s given to Spurs in the past or because of what he can achieve in La Liga’s future.  But should this desire mean he leaves part of the attitude that earned him such success behind, even temporarily?

A Catch-22 is inherent when signing long term contracts: the lifespan of professional athletes is short enough even without the risk of serious injury so long-term financial security is understandably desirable.  What other leverage did Bale have?  He played the only card available to him, that of the disaffected star.  With Levy characteristically content to let the transaction drag in order to leverage best price, and Real Madrid able to move on to players anew, the player is patently the party with the most to lose. How is this fair?

It’s not too long a bow to draw to suggest that Bale is desperate for the move simply because the hand he played is so antithetical to his supposed character.

If nothing else, the episode rams home the concrete nature of media politics in the game of transfers; it is cynical, media-driven and the entity with the most at risk throughout the situation is also the party with the least control. The result?  Gareth Bale acting jarringly out of type.

When the going gets tough, Luis Suarez gets out

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Those sounds you hear emanating from Liverpool aren’t Billy Ocean’s 1985 hit*, but of Luis Suarez’s discontent.  The going’s gotten tough – and now he wants out.

The Liverpool forward – who came within a suspension of claiming the 2012-13 Premier League Golden Boot – has this week repeated his statements that he wants to leave England due to the biased nature of the Football Association and the pervasive English media. 

Amongst Suarez’s body of “proof” is the eight game ban levied upon him for making racially-charged comments to Patrice Evra when “England’s own” John Terry received a four match sanction for similar actions.  While he has a point – racial abuse is racial abuse – Luis Suarez’s situation is entirely of his own manufacture.  For him to want out now is a disrespectful to his manager, club and supporters.

Ignoring for a moment his Dutch ban for biting and the histrionics surrounding his World Cup Quarter Final handball, Suarez has repeatedly shown a willingness to operate outside the spirit of the game.  This is nothing special – you’d venture to say that most players if presented with the opportunity would embrace an advantage – but what makes Suarez’s case “special” is the public nature in which these incidents occur.

Luis Suarez, startling talent though he is, behaves badly in perhaps the most public place on Earth – an English football pitch.  It is this willingness to work so visibly outside the spirit of the game that have earned him the scrutiny he now disdains. 

Without doing the rap sheet thing again, his recent interviews in Uruguay have shown a remarkable ability to apply reason to recidivism.  Those interviews neglect to mention, however, that each indiscretion has been under his control, the result of his decisions. 

Sometimes Suarez happens upon a point of some reason – in this case that the footballing public has been unable to judge him solely on his footballing ability.  This of course is true, but simply because the player has made a judgment of independent football talent impossible because of the circus of malfeasance in which he so readily engages.  After three years of constant, tiring uproar, there is now no separation between his play and his on-field persona, warts and all.

Throughout his time on Merseyside, the Kop – and his managers – have supported him.  He has become one of the league’s best players and one of its handful of truly influential players.  For him to want out – ostensibly to Real Madrid – after having such a large and vocal supporter base back him so often reflects very poorly on him.

When faced with a sticky situation of our own design, few in life have the option to bolt and therefore we must live with our decisions.  Most realize that if our actions put us into awkward circumstance, we must make the best of it: either to make it right, or to cope (and hopefully flourish) from prior choices.  For that to happen though, there must be an awareness of how one arrives at their current position – discernment Luis Suarez apparently lacks.

*I will take any excuse to link to a Billy Ocean music video.

Summer's transfer "saga" candidates

Each year, one player’s future whereabouts overshadows the impending destinations of all others.  Over the years, that player has been Dimitar Berbatov, Carlos Tevez, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie; each of whom left the club at which they made their name for pastures and challenges new.  It’s time to run our eye over the candidates for this year’s edition of “Summer’s Biggest Transfer”.

Candidate 1: Wayne Rooney

Most interested: Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal

Rooney has all but stated publicly that he wants a change after nine years at Old Trafford, and most Manchester United fans want to usher him towards the door.  Since a breakout 2009-10, a player known for work rate and invention has stagnated and as a consequence has lost his pre-eminent position in English football.  Markets such as bwinbetting.com have Rooney at short odds to remain at United, but there has been rumoured interest from big-spenders PSG and also from the gleam in Arsene Wenger's eye.

A change of scenery might be the answer both for player and club.  Although United’s recent history is filled with “lifers”, there have also been a fair share of those who trudged off down washout lane.  The fact is that Rooney is a surplus player at United, especially if new manager David Moyes is allowed to thrust a fistfuls at a new striker and/or central midfielder.  It may well be time to go, but his past two years and astonishing wages may make a deal difficult.

Candidate 2: Robert Lewandowski

Most interested: Bayern Munich, Manchester United

Lewandowski might be the best footballing centre-forward in Europe.  He has languorous pace, scores in hatfuls and can play any style of game.  However, he earns approximately €20,000 per week at Borussia Dortmund and is ready for a well-earned payday that Dortmund can’t offer.

Enter – as per usual – Bayern Munich.  The Bavarians boast a remarkable treble-winning squad who look eminently capable of creating the next great club dynasty, reinforced by taking Dortmund’s most prize talent, Mario Götze.  There is little doubt that Lewandowski will move; the issue is simply where.

While Real Madrid have been mentioned, the two most likely destinations are Bayern Munich and Manchester United.  However, with David Moyes’ transfer habits – necessarily – tending towards deadline deals, if Lewandowski doesn’t sign at Bayern by July, expect this one to run and run.

Candidate 3: Gareth Bale

Most interested: Real Madrid, Manchester United

Not only is Bale the single-most damaging player in England, but the Welshman also made himself infinitely more valuable this year by adapting to a more central role for Tottenham Hotspur.  The likelihood is that he will move – if not this year, then next – as Spurs’ chairman Daniel Levy enthusiastically embraces the philosophy that “every player has his price” (see: Modric, Luka; Berbatov, Dimitar; Keane, Robbie; amongst many others).

The debate now is whether or not Bale thinks it best to leave White Hart Lane in 2013 or perhaps to hang around a year for another crack at Champions League qualification.  Real Madrid obviously thinks that he looks good in white, while he might form the most devastating offense in the Premiership should he join Manchester United.

It’s thought, however, that there is a mutual affection between Bale and Los Merengues.  However, he also seems a relatively grounded sort and as a result may become that rare player to value loyalty over money (at least temporarily).  Levy is another management-type for whom the deadline holds no fear, so the smart money says that Bale stays a Spur – for now.

Jose Mourinho obeys laws of physics, leaves Real Madrid

The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated system never decreases, because they spontaneously evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium — that is, maximum entropy.

Entropy – defined as the tendency of a system to break into terminal disorder – is such a potent force that it will (probably) be the cause of the ultimate end of the universe, as heat is unable to escape the system and gradually rises to such a point that everything falls apart – literally.

In related news, José Mourinho is again a free man.  He leaves Real Madrid after three years’ not only obeying the second law of thermodynamics but actively seeking to hasten its work.  In that time he was first feted as savior; now he has been gratefully cast to scattering winds.

It is Mourinho’s modus operandi to close ranks and build a combative team infused utterly with an “us against the world” mentality that maintains a player’s confidence in himself, his manager and his teammates.  In such a way, he inspired Porto and Inter Milan to Champions League triumphs and redressed imbalances wrought in England and Spain by iconic teams like the Invincibles and Guardiola’s Barcelona.  To look at a squad coached by José Mourinho – in his first two years at a club, anyway – is to see a completely unified front and spectacular results.

However, isolation so desired creates the closed system in which the reaction byproducts remain, increasing interior temperature until relationships break down and instability ensues.  Often his ability to rock a boat is so profound that it affects not only him and his club but the managers succeeding him.

Not only did Mourinho fashion this closed system, but also the reactions ramping up the entropy within.  He has engaged in running battles with the Spanish media and cast doubt upon his own future at every opportunity; his reputation for wanderlust has been affirmed by short, but successful, spells at four clubs in a decade (and another coming).  The intensity with which he achieves such great results also serves as a constant abrasive as his cocksure manner shuffles relationships inexorably from “we” to “me”.

Until José Mourinho learns to temper his double-edged intensity, his tenures will always be short – indeed, it was this tendency that forestalled interest in him from Manchester United, a position he so obviously covets.  However, because the results he generates are so compelling, there will be no shortage of suitors hoping to take advantage of his remarkable talent.  

Farewell, David Beckham, and thanks

David Beckham has retired from professional football at the age of 38.  The former England captain and fashion icon leaves the game a ten-time league champion in twenty seasons – winning six titles with Manchester United, two with Los Angeles Galaxy and one each with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

He will be remembered for a great many things – scoring from midfield to announce his arrival, romancing a Spice Girl and transcending his sport more than any other footballer.  In some ways it’s a pity that his global fame has overshadowed his formidable footballing ability, for he was a truly outstanding midfielder for Man U.  He was absolutely brilliant with his dead-ball delivery and could deliver a Hollywood assist better than anyone of his generation outside retirement companion Paul Scholes. 

A cross from David Beckham?  On time, every time.

He will go down as the defining player of his generation, a name for the ages carrying greater widespread appeal than those who accomplished more on the field like former teammates Ryan Giggs, Raul and Andrea Pirlo.  The names forever linked with football from the late 90s and early 2000s will begin with David Beckham.

(c) Balanced Sports - from author's own collection

While his mystique was awe-inspiring, he was hardly an overpowering or dominant player.  Aside from those elegant, glorious set pieces, David Beckham rarely inspired fear in the manner of Ronaldo, nor did he befuddle like a Ronaldinho or Messi.  Indeed, it might be his greatest achievement that he leaves the game as his generation’s defining (and most marketable) player without actually being amongst the very best of the era.

Beckham’s singular talent wasn’t for football or a particular skill within it, but an immense charisma that saw everyone seek his approval (aside from one or two particular managers).  So powerful was the impression left by his simple and dignified affect that he belongs in the Athletic Charisma Hall of Fame alongside the likes of Michael Jordan and founder member Muhammad Ali.  While these two boasted a more primal and combative magnetism, Beckham’s appeal is based around a graceful and understated – almost minimalist – style.

The other skill that David Beckham perfected was an ability to make money.  This is inextricably linked to his other singular asset: his bearing created a demand that expanded his pocketbook exponentially.  It’s hard to rationalize an athlete making the lucrative money he has, and even harder to justify.  However, considering the amount of rabid publicity he and his family endured, he deserved every penny.  Even in his last season, he earned £30 million – including a rich contract for a dozen appearance from PSG’s bench that only further heightened his public appeal. 

He leaves the game with as much class as he entered it.  When a young David Beckham sent a 45-yard ball floating past Wimbledon ‘keeper Neil Sullivan, the football world opened up to him and anything seemed possible.  Now, as he now walks into a much larger world, the same could be said again. 

Anything is possible.

The Gareth Bale/Cristiano Ronaldo talk stops here

Let’s stop all this Gareth-Bale-is-on-a-level-with-Cristiano-Ronaldo talk.  

Just … no.  

Don’t do that.

Bale is a wonderful, wonderful footballer who improves with each season.  When he was signed by Spurs from Southampton in the Spring of 2007, he was a precocious schoolboy left-back with a thunderous free kick.  Over the years, he progressed from defence to the midfield and two years ago announced his arrival as a truly world-class player as he dismantled Brazil right-back Maicon in front of a packed house at the San Siro.  After a down (ish) season in 2011-12, he’s re-emerged this year as one of the best handful in England – and perhaps the world.

And yet the comparisons do him a disservice. 

Yes, both started their careers by running at players from out wide, boast exquisite deadball delivery and score goals, but Bale’s career has followed a more linear trajectory than his Portuguese predecessor – at 23, Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or following 43 goals and 8 assists in 47 matches.  Rather than just spouting stats, the defining difference between Bale (perhaps the most damaging left-winger in the game at present) and Ronaldo, is that the Welshman’s game doesn’t have quite the same replete nature as his putative bedfellow.

The Varnished One was offered the centre stage at United in 2006 and took it with alacrity.  He elevated his game to the point where he is for all intents and purposes a one-man offense: lithe, quick, powerful and, as he displayed on Wednesday against Manchester United, nigh-on impossible to stop in the box. 

It is this versatility which makes Cristiano Ronaldo incomparable.  He may lack the pinball-style scamper of a Leo Messi, but he is the single-most athletically imposing forward of recent memory.  That doesn’t necessarily make him the best (my vote’s still for Messi), but it does make him subject to somewhat of a Catch-22: by dint of skill and demeanour, Ronaldo dominates both his opposition and the teams in which he plays.  His clubs ultimately become Cristiano-focused – and why wouldn’t they? – a cross that neither Messi, nor Bale, could bear.

This is where any comparisons break down.  There are similarities – and differences.  However, Bale hasn’t yet developed into the domineering force of will that makes Ronaldo such the game-altering force he is – for better or for worse.  In fact, as great a player as he is, Bale’s skill-set and personality probably aren’t suited to such an egocentric role.  He is/can be dominant, but few players, if any (perhaps Yaya Toure at his best) have the ability and personality to so utterly dominate both competing teams.

Don’t subject Gareth Bale to comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo.  Allow him to develop into the best player in the British Isles, if he’s not already.  It’s enough just for him to be himself, because Gareth Bale’s really good at football.

The Champions League is back!

This blog’s an unusual place to admit to an unhealthy fascination, but here it goes: I’m a sucker for competitive cookery.  Iron Chef, Worst Cooks in America, Chopped … all of ‘em.  I’m not even a bad cook myself, and have taken a few pointers from my white-hatted idols.  But perhaps the largest lesson I’ve learned from my obsession with culinary jousting is this: presentation matters. 

Don’t sear salmon perfectly and then just dump it on a bed of undressed watercress: the first bite is with the eye!  Anticipation is part of the experience, not just the flavours assembled before you on the plate. 

Anticipation is something to be desired, in and of itself.  A famous and (eventually) wise Vulcan – apparently bereft of emotion and with his opinions firmly rooted in on logic – once said that the having isn’t half as enjoyable as the wanting.  Anticipation can make or break an event.

And what is football, if not a vehicle for anticipation?  A new signing, a new benefactor, even just the thrill of the win or indeed the fight can engender an almost primal satisfaction.  In sport, we find opportunities to anticipate, and then to be amazed: at athletic ability, coordination, nous and ego.  This week’s Champions League matchups, nearly eight weeks in the making, have arrived – they bring with them storylines galore.

Oh, of course today the big leagues are tinged a dirty green and not the vivid rose of our collective childhoods.  But – as Sky Sports constantly reminds us – that doesn’t necessarily make the occasion less. Today’s Round-of-Sixteen meeting between Manchester United and Real Madrid sees two of the most iconic clubs in any sport – and, despite hardly being “vintage” units, still perhaps two of the best five outfits in the continent – pitted against each other.  The Whites will field the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Özil and Karim Benzema, while the Red Devils will almost certainly deploy a forward trident based around Robin van Persie, Shinji Kagawa and the resurgent Freckled Demon.

And it may not even end up being the best match of the day.

Spock might caution that the match may not be all we hope for.  But at this stage, who cares?  We’ve had a meal laid out before us for 56 days, and now it’s time to dig in.

Man United v Real Madrid steeped in history

The “storied” clubs in European football history spring to mind with the merest effort. There are only a few clubs whose dominance has spanned the decades of memory: a few clubs each from England, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany.

So when two of these clubs with rich histories face each other, it's only natural that these encounters become keenly anticipated. Column inches and bandwidth are consumed voraciously. This week, an unexceptional matchup in a mediocre competition earned more press than warranted only because the protagonists had a history; in this case, Chelsea and Leeds meeting in a Cup tie retrieved foggy but extremely pleasant memories of the early 1970s, Don Revie and The Damned United. The juxtaposition of nor'n White and southern Blue achieved more notoriety than either team – or the game itself – deserved because of the rose-coloured cellophane taped to the lenses of commentators' binoculars.

Today's Champions League draw has gifted us with another opportunity for nostalgia and romance: in the next round of the Champions League, Real Madrid and Manchester United will compete for a place in the Champions League quarter finals. The tie has all a writer could hope for: reputation, individual and collective histories and opportunities for speculation on managerial unemployment.

However, despite their comparative starry reputations, most objective discussion surrounding this pair of old romantics suggest that they have underperformed during 2012-13. United features a pyramid resting unsteadily on backfield foundations constructed apparently from papier-mâché, while Real Madrid appear finally to have submitted to the second law of Thermodynamics and fallen victim to all-consuming entropy developing from within.

Despite both clubs being far inferior iterations than those to which their supporters may be accustomed, enough quality remains – usually forward of the centre – for them to maintain their birthright usual position at the pointy end of their respective table. However, perhaps more in commentary as to the lack of parity across the footballing class divides, neither squad passes the “eye test”; United lack the resoluteness of Nemanja Vidic's pomp, while Los Merengues lack their devastating fluency of 2011-12.

But in truth, the sheer volume of verbiage is almost entirely justified (well, unless you happen to read Mike Calvin's columns on Life's a Pitch). These two teams are replete with history and what is history but a collection of stories? Aside from being written by the winners, history is malleable, almost completely subjective and born of advent. It's also much more powerful when repeated orally; stories and deeds are magnified, sometimes losing precision but gaining narrative. That we have limited access to (and, thankfully, analysis of) matches past is why rivalries like that of Chelsea-Leeds maintains much of its currency after forty-one-plus years. Stories are what make football – and sport, in general – powerful, not the statistical impact of Robin van Persie on his new club.

This makes rose-coloured glasses a thoroughly acceptable, if not necessarily accurate, method of evaluating the past and predicting the future. It's almost certainly a far more fun and optimistic way of watching our football.

Liverpool, not Arsenal, right for Sahin

Nuri Sahin appears close to signing on loan for Brendan Rodgers' new Liverpool. The temporary (?) transfer promises to add to a midfield that didn't convincingly implement a new pass 'n' press gameplan in an opening day loss to West Bromwich Albion.

Turkish playmaker Sahin conducted the exquisite Borussia Dortmund midfield for several seasons before moving to current club Real Madrid before last season. He promptly found himself a fixture on the bench, squeezed out in preference of the powerful triumvirate of Sami Khedira, Xabi Alonso and Mesut Ӧzil. He has the nous, physique and game to make a significant contribution to the Anfield mob this season.

It had been thought that Sahin would move to Arsenal, perhaps as a direct replacement for Alex Song who, shortly after Robin van Persie, discovered the not-so-secret tunnel that allows players to escape from the Emirates. Now a deal with Liverpool seems imminent and more the better for the player.

Rodgers' preferred tactical system demands his central midfielders be mobile, efficient and to play both attack and defence. It doesn't hurt if they can pass, either. If the centre-mids overcommit or don't/can't harry effectively, the possession-heavy game style becomes exposed to counter-attack. Swansea City's performances while implementing a pass-press approach earned Rodgers the Liverpool job, but the Reds don't quite have the horses to completely adopt either the pass or the press: Rodgers' current midfield features too many players unable to adapt their games to his liking.

Big-ticket Kenny Dalglish items Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson haven't synched well with the Rodgers manifesto; academy graduates Jonjo Shelvey and Jay Spearing may never. Acquiring another pivot players became paramount before harrier Lucas Leiva or new buy Joe Allen succumbed to injury or fatigue. Sahin would play heaps and could even conceivably become Liverpool's featured player.

While Arsenal leapt at the opportunity to bring in Sahin, negotiations with Real Madrid have hardly been smooth. Sahin would fit – apart from Real, there are few places he wouldn't – but would be another class player at a club which seems allergic to grunt. Even Song, who ostensibly occupied the defensive midfield position for five years, thought of himself as more playmaker than combatant.

The Gunners – like many other EPL squads – lack a Tiote-type, paid primarily to win back possession; at Anfield, the press (and Lucas) this need is minimised. Sahin at Arsenal would duplicate talent – he'd be very handy, but not address the club's most pressing need. While surrounded by Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Mikel Arteta and, most blindingly, Santi Cazorla, Sahin may never develop into the “franchise player” he could become.

This makes the impending move to Merseyside the best option – for Nuri Sahin, and football watchers everywhere.

(Original article date: 24th August)

Football's most operatic week

It may be cliché, but what a week we've seen in football. There have been more twists, subplots and stories than your average season of The Wire, passing everywhere from England, through France and Italy to the Iberian peninsula. To wit, we catalogue (briefly) the past ten days in football:

1. Chelsea defeated Barcelona (away from home, with the winning goal from a most unlikely source) in the Champions League semi-final, attaining some semblance of closure after four years railing against any and all authority figures. We bear audio witness to someone giving Gary Neville and unexpected and immensely painful wedgie.

 2. Speculation immediately mounts about the future of Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, who announces three days later that he is taking a sabbatical.

3. Meanwhile, archetypal black-hat villain Jose Mourinho and his Real Madrid team are too knocked out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage, failing to overcome the Teutonic genetic predisposition of excelling in penalty shoot-outs.

4. Real then proceeded to claim the Spanish league title, their first in four years; Barcelona take scant solace in Lionel Messi breaking Gerd Muller's 39-year old European goalscoring record.

5. All the while, we witnessed attempts by simply everyone to leverage the tension inherently built up tension by Monday's City/United match, the most keenly anticipated derby since ... well ... the last one, billed hyperbolically as the “Match of the Century”.

6. On Saturday, Southampton achieved their second successive promotion and re-enter the Premiership after years in the wilderness (or at least, the third tier of English football). The rebirth of this iconic club came in the wake of administration, rumours of liquidation and away matches at Hereford.

7. Sunday left us appreciating Fabrice Muamba, who returned to a football match for the first time since his kayfabe and therefore extremely frightening cardiac arrest against Tottenham six weeks ago. Unfortunately, his Bolton Wanderers teammates couldn't rustle up a win for him – the Trotters were stuffed 4-1 by those same Spurs.

8. At the same time – still anticipating, with an ever-increasing sense of dread, the “Match of the Century” – Roy Hodgson ran-in to a one-sided contest to decide the manager of the English football team. The English FA decided that Harry Redknapp wasn't worth the cost, heartache and repeated demands to sign Lukas Podolski from ... err ... Germany. English tabloids reacted in their usual classy manner.

9. A minnow, third division club FC Quevilly, took on Lyon in the French Cup final. The result, unlike the contestants or scoreline, was predictable.

10. The same day (what a day!) saw a ghost whistle disrupt play in the decisive clash in Serie A between Champions League chasing Lazio and Udinese, allowing Udinese to score a crucial goal.

11. The much-vaunted Manchester Derby ended as many predicted – with a City victory – and once and for all reminding those in the halls of power (ie. Sky Sports, Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN etc) that the prophetic moniker “Game of the Century”, by the properties of mutual exclusion, guarantees a match which doesn't at all live up to the hype.

12. Two days after the derby-to-end-all-derbies (we can only hope), one of the odder occurrences in European football occurred when Fiorentina boss Delio Rossi attacked one of his own players, Adem Ljajic. He was, of course, promptly fired.

13. Finally, to conclude a tiring week, Newcastle United striker Papiss Demba Cisse scored two astounding goals as the Magpies maintained its challenge for Champions League football next season.

There's a defining but unspoken principal in almost all entertainment that we appreciate the consciously unresolved, but enjoy it more when resolution comes. Audiences like to be left hanging – at least for a while. This principal underlies stand-up comedy, TV story arcs and jazz improvisation among many others. The past ten days have provided almost all the twists football can offer; we've also seen some climactic moments.

It would tempt fate to suggest the season has no more surprises, but after a week like this it's hard to see from where they will come.

The death of Barcelona?

Consecutive defeats to Real Madrid and Chelsea decry this season's Barcelona bandwagon is coming to a faltering and much-needed rest. That hiatus could be temporary or permanent, depending on new coach Tito Villanova's methods; manager in excelsis Josep “Pep” Guardiola confirmed today that he would not return to helm Barca in 2012-13.

There are reasons aplenty behind Barca's slip from the peak of Iberian – and world – football. Some are obvious, such as a squad which struggled to replace injured defenders, the disease of more, Guardiola's almost inevitable burnout and brutal opposition playing solely to absorb the pressure created by Barcelona's passing and then rebound. Key elements Xavi, Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal succumbed to chronic injury and pure bad fortune.

Perhaps the most important latent reason for their “drop” in form this season was that their game barely changed throughout the four years of Guardiola's reign. Why would you change such beautiful football? Guardiola's Barca evokes memories of the Game of Thrones scenes involving the swordmaster Syrio Forel, who in a world of broadsword hackery sees the sword as a weapon capable of beauty as well as efficacy. Forel saw swordplay at a more advanced and exquisite level than his peers.

Courtesy: thesun.co.uk

The past four years of Barcelona football, 2008-09 and 2009-10 especially, has borne witness to such an advanced philosophy. They are the Forel of world football, with a mode and method far in advance of their rivals. However, as anyone who has read/seen the first installment of Game of Thrones will attest, this hardly makes such learning untouchable.

The problem with employing such an advanced method in the age of video is simple: others observe. In any pro sport, what works one year rarely works the following because others catch on, catch up and overtake. When the peloton can take advantage of tools like Synergy Sports and Opta Joe, a sporting thought-leader needs to constantly evolve its game plan on a conscious and subliminal level. Not only do clubs need to do better the basic elements of what they do, but they also need to expand upon those components.

Although a “Naomi Campbell” – a thing of terrifying beauty – Barcelona's modus operandi remained at a stillpoint which enabled dissection and planning.

The counter-argument of “If it ain't broke” has merit. If Barcelona played to their best, they would still defeat every other team in the world without a qualm. It places the squad in a vacuum, reducing competition to a pub discussion “with all things equal”. We watch sport because things aren't equal. The Bell Jar doesn't require a team who has had success at every level to reach their potential each new day amidst injury, form slumps and personal crisis. The continued growth of Barca's game may have provided alternatives on which to fall back during these times.

If a club or player attempts to expand – not re-shape completely – their game, those efforts are never detrimental. Rare is the club who truly succeeds by paring their repertoire back to the basic elements and focusing their play through only one locus. There must be alternate “looks” or second and third avenues down which to play. Over the past year Barcelona haven't provided many different looks; it's compelling testament to their greatness that they were so successful.

It interesting to note that their original Plan B – the Zlatan Zeppelin – arrived and departed within a year. Purchases over the past two years have been like-for-like: Villa, Mascherano, Sanchez and Fabregas. They sold different players like Oriol Romeu and Bojan – committing firmly to the pass-and-move. The instant players wore down or Messi (heaven forbid) was to be injured, the Barcelona underbelly would become instantly exposed. Taking advantage of this glimpse of vulnerability would still need a combination of hard work, skills and brains; but for certain clubs, a victory would now be possible.

Should he want to regain the Spanish crown, Villanova should maintain the same techniques that achieved such Barcelona grace. However, he also needs to make changes significant enough to both tactically outpoint Los Blancos and revitalise his charges. In 21^st century football, homogeneity is the ultimate enemy. Change, for its own sake, is needed at the Camp Nou.

An old adage posits that without losing, winning is meaningless. This iteration of Barcelona, as excellent as they are, will now instinctively place more value on their wins.

Neymar to Real Madrid - but why?

It is rumoured that Santos star Neymar will join Spanish giants Real Madrid next offseason, finally consummating a courtship of two years. The Brazilian, recently tipped by Pele as the next "best player in the world", is thought to have agreed a transfer worth somewhere in the region of €53 million. The deal is likely to slap him firmly amongst the elite of footballing salaries.

Such powerful economic impetus for a move notwithstanding, it's worth asking why Neymar has (allegedly) chosen to sign for Real Madrid. The reasons he'd want to play for los blancos are obvious and plentiful: there are no larger clubs; though questions still remain about their level of debt, it's thought Real have the cash to fulfill Santos' expansive financial requests; they have the ability to glorify Neymar both fiscally and with fan-love; and reasonably expect multiple years of contention for the La Liga and Champions' League titles.

Though good reasons, they should all be dwarfed by one contrary reason: that Neymar will find it exponentially more difficult to realise his immense potential at Real than at many - perhaps any - other large clubs. His star burns bright, but will it continue to do so amongst so many others?

Courtesy: tntmagazine.com

Real's collection of attacking talent is probably the greatest in the world: from Cristiano Ronaldo, through Angel di Maria, Karim Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain, Kaka, Mesut Ozil - the list goes on. Neymar likely replaces Benzema or Higuain, but it's hardly a given. Also, competition for the "alpha dog" role will bring out either the best, or the worst in Ronaldo.

To quote a famous Time Lord, where better to hide a tree than a forest?

The Galactico model favoured by current Real Madrid president Florentino Perez acquires global superstars at exorbitant costs to in theory create an unstoppable sporting juggernaut powered by goals and replica jersey sales. It has been moderately successful, but recently inferior to Barcelona's homeslice talent. Certain galacticos have been successes; others ... less so.

Though football's list of richest clubs still includes Real, Barca, Juventus and the EPL's aristocracy - those now most readily reaching for their hip pockets are upstart clubs fuelled by natural resources like Anzhi Makhachkala, Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain. At any of the world's biggest and richest clubs, Neymar would be the feature attraction, allowed to develop and blossom into a player for the ages. Then he could move to "dream club" Real.

Cristiano Ronaldo needed time to develop into "the guy" at Manchester United; Messi only became fully appreciated after Ronaldinho exited the Camp Nou. Everywhere, except perhaps for at the Spanish giants, Neymar would get that time and opportunity.

Where better to shroud a star than amongst others?

The Curse of Mourinho

Gian Piero Gasperini has been fired from his his role as Inter Milan manager after failing to record a win from the club's three Serie A matches this season. The 2009-10 Treble winners sit eighteenth on the Scudetto table after having shopped seven goals in three matches. He has been replaced by the Tinkerman, Claudio Ranieri.

Gasperini had attempted to use a 3-4-3 formation which served him well at Genoa, but was unable to get the nerazzuri to successfully adapt. Having Wesley Sneijder playing a more withdrawn role was also hardly likely to win fans. Although his tenure was almost criminally short, Gasperini joins the dole queue shouldering this amongst a hundredweight of mistakes.

The blunder likeliest to invite his pink slip was the purchase of Atletico Madrid's Diego Forlan. The Uruguayan had already played in Europe, thus preventing him from turning out for his new club in the Champions' League. When this occurred, the boss was on borrowed time. He leaves as the only manager to not win a game in charge of Inter Milan.

The Curse of Mourinho has claimed its latest victim.

After his initial big-time success at Porto, Mourinho's immediate successors have invariably failed. This, given a Jose-inspired history of success, has prompted management bloodbaths at each club. His longest lasting successor has topped out at four seasons. While this is a direct result of replacements failing to live up to expectation, Mourinho's Curse is also both an indirect result of his strength of character and also an indicator of his formidable skill. There are certain jobs in sport that you don't want: Brent Barry replaced Michael Jordan (ouch); the mediocre Jocelyn Thibault stepped in for Patrick Roy. Kerry Collins, well, he's doing his best.

After departing Porto for Chelsea, the European Champions employed and fired three managers.. Luigi Del Neri didn't make it to the start of the season, Victor Fernandez lasted four months and Jose Couceiro was fired at the end of the year. Co Adriaanse helmed Porto to the Liga Sagres title in his only year on the North coast, swiftly leaving to take the reins at AZ Alkmaar. Mourinho's rival, Jesualdo Ferreira, was fired after his fourth year which saw his mob take about the same number of points as during their previous three title-winning campaigns.

At Chelsea, the carnage has been even more pronounced. Immediate replacement Avram Grant didn't have either the personality, reputation or respect to match his 67% winning percentage (matching Jose's). Big Phil Scolari was a disaster, while Carlo Ancelotti was effective for a year before his startling transmogrification into a lame duck. At Inter, three managers have come and gone within sixteen months of Mourinho's departure in an environment hardly known for patience.

It's telling that the most successful managers to follow in Jose's footsteps have been relaxed, carefree types. Chelsea caretaker Guus Hiddink was a short-term measure, but encouraged the team to play and enjoy the game in keeping with his modus operandi. The same could be said of Leonardo, who enjoyed a wonderful Inter honeymoon after taking over from the desperately unpopular Rafa Benitez. None could accuse the Brazilian of being a superlative tactician, nor of wanting a long-term career in management.

These bosses succeeded because the pressure was off and their appointments were finite. Those that have had the most success have been coaches who don't stress tactical acumen but tell their charges to enjoy the game. This is key, especially when compared with a Mourinho team.

When talking about a squad managed by Jose Mourinho, the same phrases are used again and again: tactically superior, organised, disciplined, powerful and together. This is because he instills such a team ethic in his players that even five years after his departure, Chelsea's core struggles to adapt to the wishes of a new manager. The best-performed successors, through design or luck, haven't changed Mourinho's strictures and focus on getting players to do what they do best.

And that is, because of his transfer acumen and training skills, play Mourinho football.

Claudio Ranieri is, from all accounts, a very friendly and nice person. His roles in Italy, Spain and England mark him as a talented manager, if one who struggles to win titles. His first act as nerazzuri coach should be to let his new players players play. It seems forcing new ideas upon an ex-Mourinho squad are not a good idea.

Club	Mourinho Record	5-year succession record	Managers	Most Successful
Porto	52-12-4 (76.5%)	108-31-19 (68.4%)	5	Jesualdo Ferreira (73.3%)
Chelsea	124-40-21 (67%)	101-32-24 (64.3%)	5	Guus Hiddink (73%)
Inter Milan	49-19-8 (64.5%)	23-8-10 (56.1%)	3	Leonardo (68.75%)

The end of the world as we know it ? Or at least Barcelona

Mark Twain once famously said "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated". After Tuesday's draw with Italian champions AC Milan, perhaps we cannot say this of Barcelona FC. Without trying, alliteration rolls off the tongue when you describe Barcelona's method of football: power, pace, precision and passing. Now we can add another - paper-thin.

In them match prior to Tuesday's encounter, Barca lost new signing Alexis Sanchez to a long-term hamstring tear. Just before half-time against the Rossoneri, influential midfielder Andres Iniesta succumbed to a similar injury. Captain Puyol has barely played so far this year and his partner, the classy Gerard Pique is still to return from injury, leaving the centre-back positions in the hands of midfielders Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets.

To write Barcelona off would of course be a nonsense. But it must be said that replacements Pedro and Cesc Fabregas, while obviously no slouches, are not of true World's-Best quality. With Barca's squad possessing only implied - rather than proven - depth, the next six weeks will determine this year's La Liga title. Should the champs falter, the ominous shape looming in their rear-view mirror is shaded in the black and white of Real.

With all their talent, if Barcelona are to stumble this season it will be during the next six weeks. Fortunately, their schedule is hardly rough - their trickiest match is away to Valencia next weekend. With the quality of their incoming replacements it's possible that they take maximum points from these upcoming matches, irregardless of who plays. But with four first-XI players out, they haven't appeared this fallible since their Champions' League semi-final escape against Chelsea in 2009.

Neither their game or mindset is up for question, but their bodies. As defensive midfielders, Busquets and Mascherano are very good; as centre-backs they are slow and easily beaten in the air. Fabregas, Thiago and Pedro will bear the load in the midfield; the hope will be that Puyol and Pique will return to full health soon. Some small saving grace comes in the form of los merengues' fixture list: Madrid face troublesome ties at Espanyol and nouveau riche Malaga.

As top football leagues across Europe become increasingly fought out between two teams (who said Scottish football wasn't progressive?!), injury looks like becoming a prime indicator for title favouritism.

Mourinho's greatest failing a lack of discipline - but not from him

Jose Mourinho has many gifts. For organisation, for having team buy into a philosophy, for quick quips and irritation. It's perhaps fitting that a master of hyperbole has been pilloried by the more rampant sensationalists in the British media concerning his antics during and after the Spanish Supercup.

courtesy: topnews.in

As the four Clasicos in seventeen days last season proved, these teams have no love for each other - on or off the pitch. After their loss in the Champions' League Semi-Final in (April/May), Mourinho made statements which, if he had his time again, would probably re-consider. Barcelona thought about legal action, but opted against it.

After a horrendous tackle by Marcelo on Barcelona new boy Cesc Fabregas, benches cleared. Mourinho is now under scrutiny for an incident involving Barcelona assistant Tito Villanova (bear in mind this analysis does come from the Daily Mail, well known for sensationalism). The Sun - also known for siutational amplification - also suggested Mourinho is approaching Real's tolerance threshold. Even the more moderate Daily Telegraph and The Independent questioned The Special One's tenure at the Bernabeu.

Comments branding Barcelona "a small team" didn't help and, alongside his paranoiac mania following their Champions' League exit, contribute to an image of a man either on the edge or who plays mind games at a black belt level. His comments more and more mimic those of dictators - strong, usually charismatic leaders with a firm grasp on a tiny part of the world - but from the outside viewed as small-time.

courtesy: tardis.wikia.com

More accurately, his words resemble Davros' - "Once more my Daleks will rule the universe.  Once more they will become the Su-preeeeeme Beeeeinnnngggs!".  If only it wasn't for that pesky Doctor Messi/Xavi/Iniesta.

In today's Guardian, a spokesman for Los Merengues' manager says his role in the stoush was "defending Real Madrid's interests". The Independent - and Paul Hayward - have asked if Jose is still worth his antics. When each match between the two best teams in football descends into a melee, it is a fair question.

Even Real Madrid, a club not known for patience and lenience with their managers, would be rash to fire the man who has transformed them from also-rans into an outfit who will challenge Barcelona. The side has apparently improved markedly over the offseason, fuelled by more spending (Fabio Coentrao and Nuri Sahin) and another year's acclimation to Mourinho's tactics. In the match in question, most observers had them slightly edging the match until defeated by a typically classy Messi goal.

Jose may feel pressure to succeed and consequently just be acting out more. This is unlikely given his past posts and the high expectations he must have shouldered there. He may feel the mindset of his squad is so fragile it can't bear a defeat to Barcelona without attendant, media-diverting controversy. Maybe his ego has become so large that he's lost some perspective. Any increase in his antics is due to a combination of all three factors.

It would be folly to ignore the lack of discipline and leadership Jose Mourinho has received from the Real Madrid front office. Perhaps more than anything else, this has empowered Mourinho to say and do what he likes. Given his results so far, it would be wrong if he were made to fear for his job. But he should be made to respect discipline - UEFA's, La Liga's or from Perez himself.

Since his Chelsea days at least, Mourinho's modus operandi has been to instill a siege mentality about his players, defending them from media scrutiny and removing any pressure from his boys by deflecting or absorbing it himself. By doing so, he's produced remarkably successful units at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and now Real. At the Bernabeu, however, once former General Manager and blatant Jose-antagonist Jorge Valdano was removed, he's received only minimal leadership from the front office. He has not been censured for his actions, some of which should have desperately deserved it.

Indeed by removing Valdano, Mourinho's only internal source of dissent, Real President Florentino Perez has actually served as an enabler. Corporate, family or political leadership - real leadership - comes not from money, but from making tough decisions. In this, Florentino Perez has failed as Real Madrid President. While Jose Mourinho is mandated to bring success to Real Madrid on the pitch, it is Perez's responsibility to make sure he does so in a manner worthy of his institution.

To draw parallels from politics, were Perez the head of a government and failed to adequately discipline a general he would risk his own career. In a non-entertainment business role - well, just look at what happened at the News of the World. When people whose job it is to get results don't get guidance from above their practices can slip into the unorthodox, unpleasant and sometimes the illegal.

Jose Mourinho hasn't done anything illegal during his status at Real. What he has done, though, is get (some) results and inflame an already-heated rivalry by being boorish. If Florentino Perez is happy to make that tradeoff, theirs shall be a match made in heaven. The only alternative is for Perez to man up and act like the leader his position says he should be.

Arsene Wenger: trying times under the wage-cap

As his fief struggles under the weight of a popular uprising, Arsene Wenger's reign from a high castle somewhere in the vicinity of Highbury appears destined to begin a decline. He has reigned justly and in the beauty of esoteric splendour for fifteen years in North London but appears unable to still this latest unrest.

Very few managers in the game have his alchemical ability to consistently synthesise young superstars from mere talent. Over the past decade that talent has most notably taken the form of Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere, Robin van Persie, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri. Clichy has departed while popular punditry appear in accord that it is a matter of "when" and not "if" Fabregas and Nasri join them. Wenger has sold some of his charges willingly, such as when Thierry Henry and Aliaksandr Hleb departed Arsenal to join Barcelona. Others, like Nasri, he appears to want to keep close.

courtesy: en.wikipedia.org

As yet more Spanish players declare publicly Fabregas' burgeoning desire to play for his Catalan home club, Wenger's media comments seem more aggravated and weary than inspired. Considering his Northern nemesis, Sir Alex Ferguson, has never played the media or public better than when Wayne Rooney announced he wanted out of United in October last year, this may be a poor portent indeed.  The Rooney incident was over within ten days. Sir Alex's form as two years of Cristiano Ronaldo transfer rumours persisted was to become increasingly bombastic ("I wouldn't sell that mob a virus"). It seems Wenger has passed that stage (of grief?) and is now simply tired.

His more powerful declaration yesterday that "Big clubs don't sell their stars" is, for the most part, true. He has fought for three summers to retain captain Fabregas, while very few other global superstars move clubs without the vendors receiving way above market value. Unfortunately, he seems to be riding the misapprehension that Arsenal are a big club in the business of world football. That may not be true any more. Unfortunately, the Professor is handicapped by a wage ceiling, meaning he's unable to pay players more than ₤90,000 per week, comparative peanuts to the salaries doled out by the fiscal elite of world football.

While they remain one of the best ten teams in the world. that wage ceiling in itself earmarks Arsenal - a big, successful club with an enormous, loyal supporter base - as not being a member of the roundball financial elite. While he may decry "Big clubs don't sell their stars", it is without realising the fundamental fact that, until the new stadium is paid off and the wage ceiling disappears, the Gunners will be forced to sell their best players as they demand pay rises.  Financially, Arsenal aren't in the top five in the world (top ten, even) - meaning competing with cash-flush heavyweights automatically becomes that much more difficult.

Emirates stadium was designed to make Arsenal an economic superpower in the football world. In concert with continued investment from Stan Kroenke, the club may once again enter the elite echelon of football-nomics. But the precedents set by Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City mean there is now a two-tier system even within the richest of the rich in football. And though Arsenal are among the wealthiest clubs in the world, they aren't a member of that select "billionaire's row".

Gooners should hope Wenger is not losing his fire, for to maintain their grip on the top four facing harsher mercantile realities than their competition, Arsenal will need him at his absolute best.