A few days ago I wrote an article saying how I hoped Man Utd would win the double, because I didn't want Chelsea to buy the Premier League or Champions League.
The very next day reports came out that Abramovich has sanctioned an £80 million pound bid for Lionel Messi.
Now I think Messi is the best player in the world right now, and with the right guidance can be as good, if not better, than Diego Maradona. But £80 million?
Just think for a second how much money that is. £80 million. If you had that money you'd be among the 1000 richest people in the world. And to spend that on one man is madness!
You may argue that Messi could help them win trophies, get more money, and help with the sales of club products, much like David Beckham did for Real Madrid.
But £80 million for one man. For one man?!
He's good, but no one is that good. This would be not far from twice the current transfer record held by Zinedine Zidane.
Now it's debatable whether Messi is better than Zidane was (I don't think he is yet) but is he twice as good and therefore worth twice as much? No way!
Nowadays we tend to think that a £1 million pound transfer is a cheap sum. And, compared with some of the money in football nowadays, it's probably just pocket money to some of the owners.
But if you were to give me £1 million now, I would be the happiest man alive and you'd be a friend for life.
Ask me to do something for £1 million and I would do almost anything.
The money in football has become so out of proportion with everyday life. The wages some players are earning nowadays are insane. This is part of the reason I think players have lost touch with the fans.
However, the worst thing is that this isn't really a case of Chelsea unnecessarily spending. They could've got Wright-Phillips for less, probably Drogba, Carvalho, Essien, Shevchenko and Paulo Ferreira for less as well.
But they may not even get this gargantuan offer accepted. I believe Messi has a £125 million buyout clause in his contract.
That sort of money would put you into the top 620 richest in the world, on David and Victoria Beckham's level.
But as football gets richer, and becomes more of a business than game, I can only see these exorbitant fees getting higher and higher.
We'll have to wait and see whether it helps or hinders football.
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2 months ago
I thought when the Bosman ruling happened that players prices would collapse but it never happened. Double the price doesn't mean twice as good a player though because you have to consider their current contract, because of Bosman if Messi's contract was up in the summer then he'd be free. Apparently Messi is contracted to 2014 so it will take a lot of money to get him.
2 months ago
Well said John. Twice the price doesnt mean Twice the player!! Either way, its a ridiculous amount of money and if Roman was to ever read this I would say to him, "Think of the people dying in Africa! And you wanna spend £80M on ONE football player only"
By de way Barney, This story came out a while ago, didn't it? 'Cos it seems like old news to me
-- Yeah, Im sure it did --
from 2 months ago
i only read it on sunday. and i agree with you on the africa thing. i reckon if every team in the world, at least major team, made no signings one year, and gave all the money they wouldve used for transfers to africa, they could probably solve world hunger!!
2 months ago
I think it will keep on going till the bubble bursts. I read an article the other day and he said in 500 years the average joe might not even know what football was.
If that's the case, money could have a lot to do with it!
2 months ago
It's commercial..it's all about money..football is no longer..a kick of the ball..oh wait...it never was..lol
2 months ago
Look we all feel bad about Africas starving children, but this article is about football and business and has nothing to do with that. You people have to understand that a player like Messi will help Chelsea make that money back no problem and he will help them win trophies at the same time and thats why Abramovic is willing to pay that crazy amount, Abramovic is a business man first and a football fan second and he knows that Messi is good for both.
2 months ago
I agree with Dupi above. Yes, in layman terms, £80m for a footballer is madness, but Chelsea would easily recoup that and much more if they signed him for 5 years and he developed into the player we all feel he is capable of being.
Its all relative, not that I believe for a minute that this story is true. Its the silly season, the press pick names and numbers out of a hat to say who is buying who over the next 4 months, roll on 31st August when it will be all over and we can concentrate on football again.
2 months ago
It is defiantly a ridiculous amount of money, but this is football and that money is the amount clubs can pay. They would defiantly get that back again and if that is what he cost it would be worth it to buy him. I think he is worth £80 million, I mean yes I know about starving children but as Dupi said this is about football.
I really hope he dosnt leave Barcelona though, I am sure he wont but money like taht has to tempting for the club.
2 months ago
I am hurt with the way football is goin!!!!! All this money madness is killing the sport and we end up watching more and more games looking like rugby dez dayz.
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