We’re just four weeks away from the start of the season as we’ve now hit the football equivalent of lent, what feels like a long summer is an almost never ending one.
A groundhog day of transfer rumours and gossip but like all good columnists, I’m able to dig deep and produce another article, so sigh….it is time for the Real Football Man review of the week.
Sound the transfer klaxon again!
The footballing world was a frenzy last week as players moved to other clubs in exchange for financial inducements, that in a nutshell is how the transfer market works and this week it is no different, with Kyle Walker understandably hogging the headlines.
The former Aston Villa loanee (a spell that no-one really remembers and one that Walker is certainly wanting to forget) has moved to Manchester City for a fee that sees him become the world’s most expensive defender.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, these are the times in which we live in, Kyle Walker a player who at the end of last season was usurped by Kieran Trippier in regards to the right back berth at Spurs has been signed for £50m by Manchester City.
What makes this deal even more ironic is that Trippier is now first choice for both club and country when City in their infinite wisdom let him go on a free transfer to Burnley back in 2012.
In essence, it says why bother with coaching young players or having a scouting network when you can just pay over the odds for any of your transfer targets. Whether this mega bucks signing proves to be value for money will only really be proved should City go on to deliver a trophy under Pep Guardiola and I don’t mean the Carabao Cup.
Tottenham fans will be putting on a brave face about it all, like after a bad break up from a long term relationship they’ll be telling anyone who asks them that ‘they’re fine’ and everything is just fine, although they would rather not talk about it, they are still absolutely fine when really they are probably shedding a tear or two when no one is looking.
(Before Tottenham fans start sharpening the pitchforks, I am one and the above paragraph may or may not be a biographical anecdote)
Whether this means that Mauricio Pochettino can actually sign some new players of his own to bolster a Tottenham bench that looked a bit threadbare at times last season remains to be seen, but Daniel Levy will no doubt be patting himself on the back for once again engineering the maximum value out of a player sale.
And perhaps Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins has been taking notes from his North London counterpart after slapping the same price tag on their talisman Gylfi Sigurdsson. The tactic is ultimately a ‘hands off’ message to any potential suitors but with Everton hell bent on buying absolutely everyone this summer it may well be in vain.
Swansea say they will not be bullied into selling the Icelandic international but money does talk. This could end up being the equivalent of the South Wales club being roughed up by one of the toughest kids in the year as Ronald Koeman’s persistence, and more importantly hefty transfer war-chest looks close to landing another summer signing.
If this transfer does come to fruition then it would be a handy pay day to Swansea, but in this instance, they really would be better doing their best to keep hold of their star man as he is all but irreplaceable for a club of their stature. Then again, that will probably explain the extortionate fee for him in the first place.
And finally, Wayne Rooney returns “home”. Once a blue, always a blue, and then a red for a considerable amount of time and then a blue again. Funny how Football works sometimes isn’t it
Anyway, that concludes my whistlestop tour of what has happened in the world of football, I’ll be back in two weeks time as I’m off on a scouting mission next week. Until then.