by bigmick » Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:18 am
Good post Parky but I'm not so sure on a couple of counts. Firstly, although some posters are fond of saying "but it's all speculation FFS" there is speculation and speculation. Now I think it's fairly clear that in the case of BOTH of our central midfielders, the speculation has gone beyond press silliness and has advanced onto the "this could possibly happen" stage. Now it doesn't get to that stage unless there is some input from the footballer. Clearly both Masherano and Alonso are AT THE VERY LEAST considering the possibility of playing for somebody else next season.
This in itself creates a problem, and although the "dig your heels in and tell em they ain't fecking going anywhere" approach is tempting, it isn't always the right approach. You can make em stay but you can't make em play is an adage worth remembering, and unhappy players can have a disruptive influence on a dressing room. Equally, there is something to be said for selling a player while clubs are actually bidding on them. We all remember the Alonso fiasco last Summer when despite hawking the player around Europe we couldn't find anyone in the World who was prepared to pay higher than low teens for him. Just to emphasise here, I'm not saying we should sell either, only that the decision whichever way you go isn't clear cut.
As for the fans thing, I'm not sure it's much of a factor. If Xabi wants his little girl to be educated in Spain, and Masha's missus wants to go somewhere warmer where they speak Spanish I don't think how good the fans are will come into it. In both cases, I reckon if the bloke came Home one night and said "look love I've decided to stay because the fans sing my name really loud" he'd probably get a paella pan round the earhole before he got the words out.
No, if it was me I'd be looking to line up at least one central midfielder just in case.
Last edited by
bigmick on Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".