Football Dispatch

Midweek thoughts

28 August 2007

APPARENTLY, Zat Knight is worth 4M-pounds. That’s right. Zat Knight. Four-million pounds. Take your time. It may take a while to digest.

Martin O’Neill must surely be desperate. The typically shrewd manager of Aston Villa has been trying for weeks to bolster his defense. At the top of his wish-list, like everybody else’s, was West Bromwich Albion centre-half Curtis Davies. At 22-years-old, Davies already plays like a seasoned veteran in a position which, more often than not, devours players of his limited experience.

Baggies manager Tony Mowbray, however, has held onto Davies admirably. West Brom are focused on earning promotion to the Premier League this spring and recognize that Davies will be the key to their survival if they do. As such, Mowbray has refused to sell the player for anything less than 10M-pounds. Not all that outrageous, considering that Gareth Bale recently completed a move to Tottenham Hotspur for a comparable fee.

Denied in his pursuit of Davies, O’Neill turned instead to Fulham and 27-year-old Zat Knight. Due to some shrewd business of his own, Cottagers boss Lawrie Sanchez was in a position to sell the gaffe-prone Knight as he had already improved his club’s backline earlier in the summer. Knight was baggage. By all accounts, 4M-pounds worth of baggage.

That the transfer market is clearly becoming more and more inflated is beside the point. Say what you will about the ridiculous sums paid for Andriy Shevchenko, Darren Bent, Pepe, and Fernando Torres. Each of those players moved from one club to another with either pedigree or potential. Knight has neither. He has a reputation for error and is quite likely the worst England international of all time.

Four-million pounds should buy you a decent player. It’s not necessarily a lot of money in football terms; but it should be enough to pay for six or seven Zat Knights. Consider a handful of other signings in the same financial bracket.

Joey Barton moved from Manchester City to Middlesbrough for 5.8M-pounds. Now, Joey is a bad-boy. But he’s just 24-years-old and is the sort of energetic, tenacious midfielder that every manager covets.

Phil Jagielka is twice the player Zat Knight is. He can play in defense or midfield and is 2-years younger than Knight. He arrived at Everton this summer for 4M-pounds. Take your pick. You have 4M-pounds and you have to choose either Zat Knight or Phil Jagielka. No contest.

And here’s a good one. Luke Young, once thought to be Gary Neville’s successor for England, moved from Charlton Athletic to Middlesbrough. A decent pickup for Gareth Southgate – especially at 2.5M-pounds.

Lawrie Sanchez has undoubtedly come ahead in this transaction. Not only has he bagged 4M-pounds for the coffers, but he has rid his side of a consistent liability. Sanchez has been nothing short of a revelation since taking the helm at Craven Cottage last April. In a matter of months, he has distanced the club from the “small club, small ambition” mantra of the Chris Coleman era and instituted an ambitious, pro-active approach.

The results of his work can already be seen in the dressing room: Diomansy Kamara, David Healy, Aaron Hughes, Paul Konchesky, Chris Baird, Simon Davies, Clint Dempsey, Hameur Bouazza, Collins John, and Kasey Keller. Here’s hoping that Fulham not only remain above the relegation fight, but that they make a decent cup-run as well.

I have never pretended to understand the squad rotation policies of Rafael Benitez. But I think he may of hit on something at the Stadium of Light, Saturday; and I hope it’s a sign of things to come at Liverpool. Basically, Rafa named three forwards in his starting-XI. Fernando Torres and Andrei Voronin lined-up as the striking pair with Ryan Babel just withdrawn in support, ala Raul.

Liverpool have such an embarrassment of riches among their forwards that playing with three attackers not only makes sense, it’s strictly to their advantage. And given that Benitez is somewhat lacking when it comes to his wide players, lining three across the middle and three across the front makes perfect sense at the moment.

Personally, I’d rather fancy watching Torres pair with Peter Crouch up front with Dirk Kuyt just slightly withdrawn. The three-pronged attack would be among the most threatening and diverse in Europe. And in the midfield, I’d select Mohammed Sissoko, Xabi Alonso, and Steven Gerrard. Liverpool need to stop worrying about wide players. They simply don’t have them. What they do have is five world-class forwards. So why not use three of them at once?

Juventus absolutely hammered Livorno, Saturday, in their return to the Serie-A. And while my disdain of the Bianconeri is well-known, I must admit that I rather like what new manager Claudio Ranieri is doing at the Old Lady.

Ranieri has, to put it simply, trimmed the fat. This is a far different squad than the one which lulled observers to sleep in their Champions’ League ouster to Arsenal in 2006. For once, the 2007-2008 version of Juventus might actually live up to its name.

Gone are Alessio Tachianardi, Robert Kovac, Marcelo Zalayetta, Manuele Blasi, and Giulianno, Giannichedda. Arriving are Hasan Salihamizdic, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Zdenek Grygera, and Tiago. In laymen’s terms, under Ranieri, Juventus will not play stagnant football. They will be positive in their play (Iaquinta), creative (Tiago), and strong at the back (Grygera). And so long as none of the above go down to injury, they should remain in contention for a Champions’ League place as well.

In Spain, I’ll be keeping an eye on both Madrid teams. I have always rooted for Real as far as Spanish football is concerned. But Atletico have made some changes which certainly catch the eye.

Foremost among them is the acquisition of Diego Forlan. Over the past two seasons, no striker in Spain has scored as many goals as the Uruguayan international. He and Jose Antonio Reyes are sure to make a menacing partnership. Of course, Argentine phenom Sergio Aguero will be heard from as well. Just 19-years-old, he has scored 10-goals in 12-appearances for Argentina’s Under-20 squad.

In midfield, Maxi Rodriguez has always been one of my favorites. I felt he was one of the best performers in the World Cup last summer and he has scored 16-goals in 39 league appearances for Los Rojiblancos since arriving from Espanyol in 2005.

In truth, Atletico have some of the best attacking midfielders in Europe. Luis Garcia was never fully appreciated at Liverpool and Simao Simbrosa is a legend at Benfica. Maniche is pure quality as well.

And in defense, Atletico possess one of my favorite left full-backs in Mariano Pernia. A late-bloomer at 30, Pernia filled-in for Asier Del Horno in last summer’s World Cup and was outstanding. Born in Buenos Aires, Pernia starred for San Lorenzo and Independiente before making a move overseas to join Recreativo Huelva in 2003.

Of course, Real have loaded-up as well. Their best piece of business this summer, in my opinion, was securing Pepe from Sporting Lisbon. The Real backline is notoriously porous and the imposing 24-year-old will go a long way in tightening things up. Christophe Metzelder, acquired from Bayer Leverkusen, is also a brilliant centre-half. If both assert themselves, I think Fabio Cannavarro’s days at the Bernabeu are numbered.

I don’t think people realize just how good a player Wesley Sneijder really is. This guy is the real deal. He is quality. His performance in Real’s 2-1 win over Atletico on Saturday was so outstanding that club president Ramon Calderon remarked that he had “not seen passing like that in years” – an obvious shot at the departed David Beckham. Just 23-years-old, Sneijder is already entering his sixth professional campaign and has been capped 35-times for Holland.

But he is only one-half of Real’s one-two winger combo. The other is Arjen Robben. For the life of me, I can’t stand Robben; and I’ll do my best to pretend that he doesn’t play for Real. But if I have to come right out and say it, I’ll admit that in Sneijder and Robben, Real possess two of the best wide players in the world.

The departures of Beckham, Roberto Carlos, and Emerson has effectively ended the era of the Gallacticos. But I think it’s for the best. I like what they have done as a club. The squad is considerably downsized from where it was even two years ago. And in the likes of Fernando Gago, Gonzalo Higuain, and Javier Saviola, even the depth players are of the highest quality.