A couple of weeks before the start of
the English Premier League season, the country’s most exciting player,
its most reviled and the linchpin of the England side are involved in
emotional and financial tug-of-wars with their clubs.
Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez and Wayne
Rooney have been absent from recent pre-season friendlies because they
are carrying injuries, are in no state to perform or have been banished
from the first team.
Winner of last season’s English player
of the year awards, Tottenham’s Bale has been dazzled by the chance to
join Real Madrid, the most decorated of Europe’s big clubs.
But his club’s chairman, Daniel Levy,
has a reputation for playing hardball and Real are almost certainly
going to have to break the world transfer record to take the Spurs
defender turned winger turned all-round attacking talent to the
Bernabeu.
Bale’s speed and power, abetted by a
hammer shot and a fine dribbling instinct, have been Tottenham’s
greatest assets in the past two seasons when they narrowly missed out on
Champions League football.
The 24-year-old came to international
notice during Tottenham’s run to the Champions League last eight in
2010/11 and is desperate for more of the same, all but guaranteed at
Real.
But, for now, Levy is standing firm
with British media suggesting Real may need to cough up £100m to change
his mind, eclipsing the £80m they paid for Cristiano Ronaldo when he
left Manchester United in 2009.
“If you say 100 million I would say that seems a lot…for anything,” Real Madrid president Florentino Perez told ESPN.
Champions League football is also
behind Suarez’s desire to leave Liverpool. But once again during his
turbulent spell in England, the Uruguayan is making few friends with his
approach to a £40m bid from Arsenal.
There is confusion about what Suarez was
promised when he signed a new deal last year, and what is involved if
another club makes an offer for the striker, but if any club deserved to
be treated with consideration by their player, it is Liverpool.
They have supported their top scorer, a
lightning conductor for trouble during his 2-1/2 years at Anfield,
through two major storms – his racist outburst at Manchester United’s
Patrice Evra and his biting of Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.
He will miss early games in the new
season because he is still serving a 10-match ban for the Ivanovic
incident. Now Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, after weeks of warm
words for his player and denials he wanted to sell him, has had enough
after Suarez demanded Liverpool “honour our agreement”.
Rodgers who denies making any promises
about Suarez being allowed to leave has accused him of “total
disrespect” and has banned him from training with the rest of the
Liverpool squad.
The eagerness of Bale and Suarez to
break contracts they signed just a year ago are wearisomely familiar to
clubs and fans up and down the country, but the situation surrounding
Rooney also has the potential to cause serious damage to England’s most
famous club, Manchester United.
Rooney, often referred to as England’s
only world-class footballer, has been at Old Trafford since 2004 and
been instrumental in the club winning five Premier League titles and one
Champions League crown.
But United, the defending champions,
are in a state of flux and the last thing they want is to lose their
talisman striker, with a scoring record of one goal in every two games.
The very last thing they want is for Rooney to depart for Jose
Mourinho’s Chelsea, one of their two main rivals for this season’s
title.
It is rare for top English players to go
from one elite Premier League club to a rival and his exit would be a
serious blow to United manager David Moyes.
Moyes is in the very early stages of
trying to build a profile at United after taking over from Alex Ferguson
following his fellow Scot’s 27 years of ruling the Old Trafford roost.
Players and fans used to Ferguson’s
uncompromising attitude are watching closely to see if Moyes has got
what it takes to control an ego-filled dressing room, and particularly
Rooney, who has been told he will not be allowed to leave.
Moyes was the teenage Rooney’s manager
at Everton and frustratingly for the new boss; Rooney’s main beef seems
to be with Ferguson who remains a major force at United even after
retirement.
United have not impressed in pre-season
friendlies and whether Rooney stays or goes could have a major influence
on the champions’ fortunes this season – and whether Moyes is given the
time to build an empire to rival Ferguson’s.
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