PART ONE
Dani Alves is going to PSG. This, reportedly, after verbally agreeing to join Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
His reason? He wants to win a title. Surely this is as near as it gets to admitting that he thinks this will be a much easier task in France than it would be in England. Either that or he is being economical with the truth and couldn’t care less about a title as long as he gets paid lots of moolah.
Now we don’t want to be the ones to pour scorn on his reasoning, after all, it may be perfectly true. The facts, however, tend to disprove what he is saying.
The first thing he would have had to take into consideration when deciding which club he preferred would be his new wife who, coincidentally, has a modelling contract in Paris. Did he give this careful consideration before agreeing to go to City? We think not. More importantly, did he ask his new boss before he married her? Again, we think not.
The second thing would be the money, not that he needs it, but some footballers are far greedier than others. Did he give this careful consideration before agreeing to go to City? We think yes, he probably did but, at the time, there were no other offers on the table.
So, armed with a new wife and a new club, Dodgy Dani Alves did the dirty on his former employer and broke his word, proving that football has it’s fair share of mercenaries, of which he is certainly one.
As if it would amazingly transform him from sinner to saint, Alves apologised to Manchester City for any hurt he may have caused the club and Pep Guardiola, saying that he had gone to PSG to be a champion, conveniently omitting the fact that he was also a money-grabbing hypocrite which is really what he should have been apologising for.
Good luck to him at PSG where he will team up with another of WSA’s favourites, the ex-Real Madrid clown Angel Di Maria, who left Real Madrid AND Manchester United because his pram didn’t have enough room for all of his toys. Have a read of this gem of an article from the time he left.
PART TWO
Ivan Perišić and Eric Dier, again reportedly, want to play for Manchester United next season. Inter Milan are holding out for an unrealistic fee from United who should be able to get him for around £45 million. This is a lot for a 28 year-old who will have little sell-on value assuming he signs a four year contract and stays for the duration.
He will, however, improve United as a team and, therefore, everything possible should be done to sign him.
Tottenham have said that they won’t sell Eric Dier. They said the same shortly before selling Michael Carrick to United back in 2006, so they do have form for being hypocritical.
The difference here is that United have to deal with Dastardly Dan, who will hold out for as much as he can get for as long as it takes. This means that Dithering Ed Woodward may as well do quickly what he normally does eventually and pay over the odds for the player. At least that way Mourinho gets his man and Woodward can go back to sleep until January.
The one big advantage United have in these two sets of negotiations is that the players, apparently, both want to join the club. This can be used in their favour and should result in positive outcomes on both transfers. Why would either Inter Milan or Tottenham Hotspur want to keep players who have said that they would rather play for somebody else?
Still, as Greavesie used to say, “it’s a funny old game” in which anything can happen and usually does.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 