Transfer News

Just a couple of quick thoughts about the transfer market today…

• It seems that it’s becoming a certainty that Ronaldo will be transferred to AC Milan in the next day or so. Good for big Ronnie, who as I’ve said before deserves to be on a big stage, and good for Milan for not overpaying. The numbers being reported right now are still sketchy, but it looks as if Milan will pay about 8 million dollars for the transfer, a number that is staggeringly smaller than the 28 million they offered for the player this past fall. One could argue that the new price is a testament to Milan’s negotiating savvy, but it must also be acknowledged that Madrid has acted like armatures the entire time. It seems, in retrospect, that Capello never wanted Ronaldo as a player, which is fine. But to turn down a 30 million dollar offer, only to put the player on the bench and see his value decline dramatically, is absurd and reeks of inexperience. Madrid President Calderon’s insistence on getting midfielder Kaká in the original deal was not only stupid (since it was never going to happen) but also very hurtful to his own club in the long run. In a just world he would probably fire himself form his job; somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen.

• Another piece of transfer news that I found surprising was Ashley Young’s ₤8 million sale from Watford to Aston Villa, a number that could rise up to £10 million with incentives. Young, who was a backup at Watford, and who is definitely a “prospect,” hopes to have a steady starting job under Martin O’Neil. The outrageous sum Villa paid, in my mind, is related to the effect that Andriy Shevchenko has had on English football. Shevchenko, who last year at this time was still considered one of the best strikers in the world, has been a qualified failure at Chelsea, in spite of his two goals in a cup match the other night. This seems to have crystallized the fear in many English manager that foreigners simply cannot adapt to the ‘English’ game, or at least not adapt fast enough for the manager not to get fired. Thus they are over-paying for home-grown English talent, even when that talent is of the very mediocre variety. I suspect that this will not help the English game in the long run, and will eventually reward those still willing to take a gamble on a player born outside the merry realm.