Roll up! Roll up!
So let us set the stage:
There is roughly three weeks to go before the circus that is the summer transfer window takes its final bow, making way for what is surely the most highly anticipated Premier League season to date.
Liverpool owner John W. Henry has taken centre stage and with a whip and a chair in each hand, desperately attempts to tame his fearsome Uruguayan lion, who roars loudly, desperate for freedom (and Champions league football).
With one final crack of his whip, ‘Henry the Lion Tamer’, his voice booming, commands him to stay, and after letting out one final roar, Luis the Lion, reluctantly obeys his owner and returns to his cage, to sulk.
…But this isn’t the final act at the circus, John W. Henry is no lion tamer and Luis the lion’s bite is certainly worse than his bark… Henry is in far less control, and as I see it, is destined to end up with his arm bitten off… oh the irony.
Side Show Bale
Luis Suarez has seemingly grown tired of the delusions of grandeur at Liverpool, who despite having finished 7th, 6th, 8th and 7th again in the final league standings over the last four seasons, still believe they’re famous past guarantees them much more than the ‘total lack of respect’, Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, believes Suarez has shown.
The fact is that, like Gareth Bale, who is now being courted by THE most famous club in footballing history, Luis Suarez has earned the right, through his consistently impressive and sometimes downright, awe inspiring performances, to play at the highest level.
And while I am in no way trying to appropriate the famous Spanish giants, to the pride of North London (no, not you Tottenham), both do have one thing in common – the chance to play Champions League football this season.
Arsenal albeit, must first beat Fenerbahce over two legs in order to reach the group stages, but the fact remains that having had to go unbeaten in their last ten games in order to secure the coveted fourth spot last season, the second best side in Turkey will not provide as difficult an obstacle to overcome – especially if Suarez were to sign beforehand.
Unfortunately for Liverpool, owner Henry and manager Brendan Rodgers, despite their best efforts, Suarez will probably get his way and secure his ‘dream’ move to Arsenal. Player power has grown significantly over the past decade… just ask Arsene Wenger!
Star Attraction
Except strangely, Wenger and Arsenal now find themselves on the verge of signing a world class player, having managed to consistently fail to retain the services of their brightest stars over the last few years.
Now some pundits, fans and journalists alike, have speculated as to how Arsene Wenger dare to do to Liverpool, what the likes of Barcelona, Manchester City and Utd have done to his club, by attempting to lure the talismanic, troubled striker to North London.
We are talking about a man who has been forced to watch on helplessly, with his hands tied firmly behind his back, as his team was picked apart by the mega-rich vultures that used to circle the Emirates at high noon on a hot summers day.
The expensive move to the Emirates in 2006 coincided with the seemingly endless inflation in players’ value, and this undoubtedly contributed to the mass exodus of some of Arsenals most talented players.
Arsenal and Arsene Wenger in particular, have become notorious for their shrewd business approach and as a result, are now considered to be the fourth richest club in the world, only behind Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Real Madrid (Liverpool are tenth on said list by the way).
They have managed to ‘balance the books’ and are now developing the fiscal power to rival that of Manchester United. And with financial fair play regulations in the offing, even threaten to move clear of both Chelsea and Manchester City. By mid- August, they have also managed to release/sell 15 players, shifting some of the ‘dead wood’ and considerably reducing their wage bill in the process.
Arsene Wenger’s vision for the long-term future of Arsenal Football Club is coming true and with 2014 just around the corner, the decade-long sponsorship deals agreed in 2004 (which offered diminishing market value but which had to be agreed in order to secure the funding for the construction of the Emirates) are about to expire. Arsenal is now ready to compete, on a financial plain, with the biggest clubs in Europe and the infamous £40M + £1 bid for Suarez is just the beginning.
So, how dare anyone accuse the same man of sacrificing his morals and the club’s well-respected transfer policy now that they are simply able to match the crazy valuations of players in todays’ market?
Wenger would still be the first to openly disagree with such lofty price tags and you can bet that, in private, even Madrid president Florentino Perez, John W Henry and Brendan Rodgers are bewildered by the idea of buying players for the amount of money that could feed a small country… but it doesn’t stop them. After all, is it not hypocritical to claim that Suarez isn’t for sale; only to then slap a price tag on his forehead and openly talk about to which clubs you won’t sell him?
Football is rife with hypocrisy. Players change the badges on their shirt, no sooner have they kissed them, and sign meaningless contracts with no intention of honouring them. And yet, Wenger, who has remained loyal to Arsenal despite countless offers to leave the club, is being labelled a hypocrite for simply playing the same game as everyone else.
The Grand Finale
The crux of the arguments that either Suarez shouldn’t leave Anfield, or that Wenger shouldn’t buy him, all seem to come down to one thing then – Suarez himself. In fact all of it; the audacious bid, the ‘lack of respect’, the ‘selling to a rival’ and the price tag, simply epitomises the phenomenon that is, Luis Suarez.
He continues to divide opinion like no other and ultimately, whether you believe he is a racist, a diver, a cannibal, hero or villain, whether you think he owes Liverpool for their frankly misguided support of him, or even if you think he deserves a fresh start at Arsenal; he remains a supremely gifted footballer.
Stupendous or just simply stupid, ask yourself whether you wouldn’t come from far and wide to watch the simply magnificent Luis Suarez pull on your team’s jersey and steal the show.
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