I hate to be a Johnny-I-told-you-so merchant, but as I wrote about just four days ago, it appears that clubs are playing the “if he’s worth x, ours is worth y” card, it seems.
Yesterday, we got Matt Law telling us that Villa view Rogers at £130million, whereas the French outlets are also signalling that they want similar monies to the Elliot Anderson fee, as the tax for being an English club starts to kick in following City’s move.
It’s a funny one, because part of me thinks in conspiracy theory, and thinks that the reason City have gone this early and this high on Anderson, is because they want to over-inflate the market and make it difficult for other clubs. It is not outside the realms of possibility; they approach legal situations like the CAS stuff a few years back, as well as the 115 charges situation, by throwing as much lawyer money to jam up the system as possible, so why not try to hike up the transfer market?
It feels a little like the summer of the Neymar transfer to PSG in 2017. That was around £200million then, and the knock-on effect was that everyone benchmarked transfers against that fee. Barca used that money – albeit a year later – to sign the overrated Philippe Coutinho for a staggering £108million – a price he was never worth in a million years. But that is what we are seeing unfold right now in the early stages of this transfer window. PSG are briefing that they want mega money for a guy who is not a regular in their side, won’t sign a new deal, plus has question marks over his ability and physicality for the Premier League. There’s no doubt he’s a talent, but is he a sure-fire hit? That’s what Declan Rice was, which is why we paid £105million for him. I don’t think you can say the same about Barcola.
Equally, Villa briefing to the press that they want £130million for Rogers is an example of another player who is very talented, but never worth that kind of cash. I do find it amusing, though; clubs say “he’s not for sale” one week, then the next week they’re briefing a price. Hang on a minute…wasn’t he ‘not for sale’ a second ago? So you’re now saying there IS a price?
It’s all just postering, as we all know, and it’s always just clubs trying to save face. The reality is that if Rogers wants Arsenal, if Arsenal wants Rogers, then a deal can be made to happen, and at a fee that suits both parties. Villa have the control on paper, but we all know that players can make life difficult if they need to, so we’ll just have to see how that shakes out. Personally, I’m still not convinced, because I just don’t think his style and where he plays is right for us. We need a better left-winger option than what we have right now (despite Gabi Martinelli being the hero and scoring last night for Brazil in injury time).
That goal that Martinelli got might help inflate his price a bit, but whether or not we have a buyer remains to be seen. I’ve always thought that one day he might head over to Spain and to Real madrid – just a hunch I had – but ith Vinicius Junior and Mbappe playing on that left-hand side of the attacking positions, that clear isn’t going to happen. But that doesn’t mean that there might not be a fair bit of interest from other clubs. Maybe Atleti fancy it? Or one of the German or Italian clubs? Martinelli could be a very good player in a team that has more space to counter attack in to, so maybe a Premier League side like Newcastle, or dare I say it, Aston Villa? I bet he’d be brilliant at Everton, for example. The question would then come down to fee and wages.
Elsewhere in the World Cup yesterday, both of my surrogate teams (due to family connections), The Netherlands and Germany, went out on penalties last night. I don’t get it, as somebody who was born in England, I’m used to penalties being the exit stage. But to happen to my second team Germany? They LITERALLY never go out on penalties! Honestly, with this, plus these ad breaks turning football into quarterly games, I’m about getting done with this bloody competition 😉
The Germans were crap too. misplaced passes, overhit crosses, Muisiala losing his mind in extra time. The only good thing about it was Kai getting on the scoresheet, then getting to go home and prep himself for the new season. The German team will get back to Germany probably today/tomorrow, then it’ll probably be a ‘get your heads down for a bit, lads’ for a few days, then he probably gets two weeks off. If you think that by mid-July, he’s probably ready to get back into the swing of pre-season training with The Arsenal, that timing works quite well. And although Jurrien won’t be happy that his country went out, and that his brother missed a pen, maybe at the back of his mind he’ll be thinking “well, I wouldn’t have been in the tournament that long anyway!” 😉
That’s about it for today I think. Ivory Coast against Norway could be an interesting one to watch later this evening, whilst the winner of Ecuador and Mexico will have some interest for England fans, because if we beat DR Congo (I keep calling them ‘Doctor Congo’ in my head every time I see it, like some kind of evil Bond villain), then that’s who the England team will be up against next.
Back tomorrow with some more World Cup / transfer window musings.