World Football: The Soulless Modern Day Footballer

Everything goes through a period of transition and evolution. It would be very silly to say that something will remain the same for a long time, especially today. But, while modern football has been phenomenal to watch, has it created footballers devoid of conscience?

It is quite obvious that money is the root cause of all evil. But I believe that in football, money is not everything. Footballers, like all sportsmen, grow up to enjoy the game and love this beautiful sport.

They come through the ranks of their clubs and either flourish there or move on. Ten years ago, the percentage of players who did the latter would have been a lot lesser than it is today. Why?

The game has globalised.

But, more importantly, footballers have become soulless beings.

Mathieu Flamini was a player devoid of any confidence at the start of the season. He was about to get shipped off to Birmingham (who then, rejected him) and decided to wait it out at Arsenal after a "heart to heart" with Wenger.

Wenger started him in the first few games, and despite Flamini's great performances, could have easily dropped him and replaced him with the more experienced Gilberto. But, what did he do?

He kept faith in the young midfielder. He dropped a potential captain at the beginning of the season for most of it in favour of a previously un-fancied youngster.

Flamini left Arsenal for Milan at the end of the season. This whole racket about wages started with Wenger supposedly taking the blame for not extending Flamini's contract in the previous year.

Now, why should he take the blame?

Once the season started, nobody at Arsenal (with the exception of Wenger) signed a new deal until three days ago, when Bacary Sagna signed a six-year deal.

Flamini would have left either way—whether he was tied to the club or not. If he were, we would've cashed in on him—that's the only difference. The bottom-line is that he behaved like the typical modern-day footballer—without loyalty and without good faith.

Most importantly he ditched the one guy who gave him the chance in place of the experienced Gilberto: Wenger.

Alexander Hleb thinks that he is a re-incarnation of Diego Maradona. He probably believes that he can score more goals in Spain. He claims that London is "too noisy."

Please explain this to me: how are Madrid or Barcelona any less noisy?

He got his chance to shine, again, courtesy of Arsene Wenger. He was brought in as an unknown and played pretty well for three seasons, but his success wasn't quantifiable. If he wanted to win at Arsenal, like Flamini claims he did, he would've stayed and made us win something big next year.

Instead, he chooses the option to bail and yet again ditch the guy who gave him the chance: Arsene Wenger.

While everybody was pointing fingers at Wenger for mishandling the above two situations, a new situation has arisen at Manchester United: that of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo has accomplished whatever he can on a sporting level at Manchester United. But why on Earth would you want to leave right after being so phenomenal in the previous season? Why would you want to leave when you're about to get the World Footballer of the Year Award?

He claims that he "always wanted to play for Real Madrid." Now, I'm open to anybody answering this question. Why didn't he move when he was hated by his own team-mate, Wayne Rooney for the "winking" incident in the World Cup?

It was the perfect opportunity to leave. It seemed as if he was going to leave because he couldn't handle the media flak being thrown at him.

If he "always wanted to play for Real Madrid," why does he have to move this year? He can move after two or three years, in that way establishing himself as a Manchester United legend.

That is what epitomises a modern-day footballer. Greed, overambition, and before we know it, they become overweight, overpaid and overrated.

There is no concept of loyalty anymore today. I think that the likes of Gerrard, Scholes, Maldini, Giggs, Tony Adams and Dennis Bergkamp (he never wanted to move from Arsenal once he got there) are finished.

Everybody puts their "sporting ambitions" before the people who had faith in them, who gave them everything in the world to succeed at the highest level.

Can you believe it? Greats like Wenger and Ferguson are being used as pedestals for success?

That is pathetic.

With the laws becoming more and more biased towards the players, the trend of disloyal players will not change.

If only footballers can reciprocate the level of faith and loyalty shown by their mentors and their fans can they become more human—and perhaps then they can think about becoming legends.