Just a week after I wished that world sport would limit its spending in the wake of a global economic meltdown, oil-rich Manchester City goes out and splashes 120 m Euros to sign Kaka from AC Milan!!! Seriously, what the hell is wrong with these guys? 120 m Euros for one man? Really?
For starters, this amount is double the current all-time record transfer fee paid by Real Madrid for Zinedine "headbutt" Zidane! Can we really say that Kaka is twice as good as Zidane? Or for that matter, 5 times as good as Drogba? I can go on forever, but you get the drift. Recently rich Manchester City has totally lost it! And to think that none of the club's financial advisers, management or directors thought this move was fiscally irresponsible given the current economic situation is mind-boggling!
Ok, so if you are the oil baron funding this move, what do you expect as return on your investment? After all, one player does not make a team! And in fact, Manchester City's biggest problems have been in defence, not in attack. Nevertheless, they go out and spend an unbelievable amount of money on an offensive player! Manchester City would have to win the league this season, repeat next season, and win the Champions League next season for them to even claim that this investment was mildly successful! And what are the odds of that happening, given that they currently languish near the bottom of the English league?! 1,000,000 to 1? Worse? I think so...
Utterly disgusted...I think that about sums up my reaction to this news. Yes, the clubs are privately run institutions and have the right to spend money as they please. But FIFA, UEFA and other football administrative bodies have got to get together and enact some serious legislature that puts caps, reasonable ones, on spending by football clubs. The rationale is simple...football simply is not important enough in the world to warrant ridiculous expenditures of hundreds of millions of dollars! Especially on one individual! There are about a hundred million ways that money could be better used.
Oh and Manchester City, please do not come running to the rest of the world for a bailout once the sheikhs get tired of funding mediocrity and leave you stranded with a mountain of debt! It's your own damn fault!
2 comments:
Dey ... looks like the Chelsea fans are crying foul when getting a taste of their own medicine ;-)
To refresh your memory, this is what it cost Chelsea to buy their first EPL title ;-)!
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-06/08/content_449610.htm
Dude,
The 1b figure is grossly misrepresenting since it was not entirely a one-time cost to buy the title. Anyhow, my grievance was primarily with ridiculously high transfer fees. Take a look at the top 15 most expensive transfers in the world - Chelsea has only 1 entry (Sheva) while United has 3 (Berba, Rio and Veron). Chelsea did buy a bunch of players under Abramovich but no single one (apart from Sheva) was a record-breaking one.
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