“Past it”; “Not worth the money”; “On his way down”.
Those are just a few of the comments I have read since Cristiano Ronaldo shocked football and headed back to Manchester United in a blaze of irritating publicity.
However, the driving force behind the criticism of the Portuguese superstar is clear and obvious to me: sour grapes.
Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo lifting the English Premier League trophy in this file photo taken on May 11, 2008. Will his return to Old Trafford bring the title back to the club? Photo: Paul Ellis/AFPIn some ways, it is human nature to mask your own jealousy by criticising the very thing of which you are jealous. Football supporters are even more prone to this tendency, like when they sing that a former player is a ‘reject’ when that player clearly chose to leave the club of his own free will.
And these negative comments about Ronaldo can only be based on this type of envy because, let’s face it, you would need to be rather strange in the head not to want CR7 in your team.
Yes, he is 36, and that is old in football terms. On average most players have retired by 35.
But you only have to take one look at Ronaldo’s physique to realise there is nothing average about him. I would chew off my own nipple to have a body half as good as his. Probably even a quarter.
He shows, week in, week out, that there are still plenty more miles left in the tank. And not just chugging along, coasting miles, but flat out, don’t leave anything behind, make sure we win, miles.
The fact that he is returning to Old Trafford, the place where he really burst onto the world stage, only adds to the significance of his transfer. This isn’t a club where he will be content to go through the motions (although I doubt he would do that anywhere), it’s his spiritual home.
He has come back to United to make a difference. And I suspect he will do just that. Maybe a little bit of the pace has gone, but he more than makes up for that with his experience, vision, athleticism, determination and his uncanny ability to leap like a tasered salmon.
As I said at the outset, those who are questioning this signing are only doing so because it is not their club he signed for. There can be no other logical reason for doubting it.
And now for the final question, the elephant in the room, so to speak: will his return to Old Trafford bring the title back to the club? You know what, it just might. Having a legendary player with a massive passion for success in the team shortens United’s title odds tremendously.
But I still wouldn’t put money on it while Ole Gunnar Solskjær remains in charge…
Willian is a man of principle
Modern-day footballers only care about money. At least that is the generally accepted consensus when it comes to those plying their trade at the top level of the game.
However, the reality is that there are still some players around for whom the idea of playing and enjoying their football is more important than their bank account.
I would chew off my own nipple to have a body half as good as his
Step forward Willian.
The Brazilian forward, who only signed for Arsenal last summer, has torn up his contract to return home and play out the final years of his career with his home town club Corinthians.
With that gesture he saved the Gunners a staggering £20 million in wages that he was due over the next two years. An incredible thing to do.
Normally, under these circumstances, the player and the club come to some sort of compromise and agree on a compensation figure to end the contract. But Willian rose above that in majestic fashion, admitting his move from Chelsea hadn’t worked out, and asking merely to be allowed to move on.
And now he will be taking a 70 per cent pay cut at his new club.
Of course, the cynics out there will point out that he will still be pocketing a rather tasty £3 million a year, which is hardly going to see him bouncing along the poverty line. And, of course, he has also earned tens of millions during his long playing career as well, which makes any contract tearing decision much easier.
But, although a cynic myself, I want to focus on the positive side to this story: a player who essentially decided that enjoying the final few years of his career was worth giving up £14 million.
And I find that very admirable.
Arsenal, meanwhile, might want to think about erecting a statue of the lad outside the ground…
Nice one Malta
What about our national team, eh?
Not just a first-ever home win in a World Cup qualifier for Malta, but a comprehensive and decisive victory built on a display of quality attacking football.
And don’t let the fact that Cyprus were down to 10 men cloud your judgement on this one – when a team gets a player sent off they are often harder to beat. Frequently the depleted team set up to defend and limit the damage, which is exactly what Cyprus did. Malta, however, countered that by properly going for it.
Over the past couple of years there has been a change in the mindset and attitude of our national team which is clear for everyone to see. And this result is proof that this more positive approach is paying handsome dividends.
Hopefully by the time you are reading this they will have backed this win up with another inspired performance against Slovenia, and then it’s on to Russia on Tuesday.
But whatever happens in those two games, there is no doubt our team is very much on the right track.
Mouth-watering I think not
Gary Lineker last week described Paris Saint-Germain’s trio of strikers as ‘mouth-watering’, essentially saying all football fans should be excited by the prospect of Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi lining up alongside each other.
Erm no. I personally don’t find it mouth-watering at all.
A vile perversion of the concept of building a football team? Yes. A desperate attempt to buy success? Absolutely. A raspberry in the face of financial fair play? Indeed.
If you look at it from a purely footballing perspective, I can see why it will be interesting to watch three of the world’s greatest players in the same forward line. Of course I can.
But in order to appreciate their brilliance you have to be able to look beyond the fact that PSG, backed as they are by an entire country, are a distortion of football reality.
And I simply can’t bring myself to forget that.
twitter: @maltablade