There Is No £100 Million Man?
On the 11th of June 2009, Real Madrid broke the world record transfer fee to sign Cristiano Ronaldo for 80 million pounds, this was a player that had won the UCL, multiple Premier Leagues an FA Cup and the 2008 ballon d’or. On the 30th of August 2022, Manchester United signed Brazilian winger Antony from Ajax for an initial 81.3 million pounds which could potentially rise by 4.27 million pounds. Somewhere along the line, it went terribly wrong in the world of football, as this signing for Antony, a player who isn’t a household name and from the Dutch League no less, isn’t even a world record transfer hell its not even Manchester United’s record signing but it would be important for Antony to be much better than the previous large transfer fee signings in recent years including his new club captain.
The prices of football players has become comical in recent years, and you could blame all the economics and devaluation of currencies throughout the globe, but it has really just come down to the fact there are so many clubs throwing money at the future, signing players on the basis of potential, players who probably had one or two good seasons (or even tournaments) and suddenly they are touted as the next big thing, a player to lead you to the promised land. I mentioned Ronaldo at the beginning because I truly believe he should have remained the World Record signing, or at least the first 100 million pound man, after his WR fee there have been ten separate players have had transfer fees higher than the Ronaldo’s and only two players actually lived up to the price tag those being Gareth Bale and Kylian Mbappe, and before you start coming at me about Neymar, he was brought in to win the UCL and individually to get out the shadow of Messi and win the Ballon D’or which is all going well isn’t it? Look at the list of names!
Neymar £198mil; Mbappe £163mil; Coutinho £143mil; Felix £112.9mil; Griezmann £107mil; Grealish (JACK FLIPPING GREALISH!!!) £100mil; Lukaku (to Chelsea) £97.5mil; Dembele £97mil; Pogba and Hazard £89mil.
Football has turned into a shambles and a disgrace, I haven’t even mentioned the players signed in the current transfer window, Antony should be bought for around £30mil tops, Haaland is the only person with a sensible transfer fee (£65mil) and even that didn’t tell the full story with all the agent fees and even his sperm donour got his share I believe. It is all just nonsense, Man United just signed a 31 year old for around the price Man City bought the next big thing (seriously, he looks like failed attempt to clone Brock Lesnar) its all mad and so stupid these players have either not been proven or are passed their best and yet we are valuing them more than a former World Player of the year and a certified Goat like Ronaldo, honestly what have we become?