I'm not crediting Levy with his development, but what I will credit him with is the fee he negotiated given Bale had made it crystal clear he wanted to leave.Ok Anthony. I`ve just thought about it. And my logic is 100% flawless. And....he was under contract. We didn`t have to sell him. Cotracts take the place of free will. Before the bite in brazil Liverpool kept Suarez, against his will. Man Utd kept Rooney, against his will. Everton kept Baines, against his will. Southampton kept Schneiderlin, against his will. The list is Endless. You see, every time a player wants out when he`s under contract, you don`t have to sell. ENIC, or Levy rather, have a history of caving in. My logic tells me thats not something to be proud of.
All European stars bought in recent years:
Eriksen £12m.
Gotze £35m.
Lewandowski FREE
Suarez £65m
Kroos £24m
James £63m
We sold a want-away player for £85m. Tottenham Hotspur. EIGHTY FIVE MILLION POUNDS. Is it an achievement to look back on? No. But it was a fantastic piece of business by Levy, and there is no way our club could afford to turn down that kind of money. It is also evidence that we were lucky enough to experience one of the worlds best players for a period of time at Tottenham Hotspur - something that was never going to continue at a club our size. What other clubs at our level manage to hold onto the gems they unearth? There's no loyalty in football. These guys work for 15/20 years, and most then retire. You think he's gonna hang on at Spurs on £80k/week, turning down the opportunity to treble or quadruple his wages because of his love for the club?
Mental.
Juventus, the best Italian team at the moment by a distance, and competing in the Champions League, will not hold onto Pogba much longer - purely because of the clubs sniffing around. No one can compete with the financial might of Barca, Real Madrid, Bayern, PSG, Chelsea and Man City. If they want a player, they can get him.
We're a million miles from that - and to be honest - I'm pleased to be different to them.