Aquilani

[MrMichael]

however, while we struggled to start with, aqualani has had every opportunity to intergrate himself and adapt quicker to his new surroundings. he was injured for the first 6-8 months here so there is no excuse for him not to use his spare time better by getting out and about liverpool, learn the language a lot more quickly etc... Plus, as MrM said, aqua was being paid a fortune and whilst money doesnt make you happy (even though it does IMO cause im shallow) it makes life a whole lot ****ing easier.

Thing is, if a player from another country turned around and said "I'm not happy here, I want to go home and I'm happy to take a pay cut / wave my loyalty (ha!) bonuses etc, I'm rich enough already and money doesn't buy happiness" I'd respect them completely. Now I'm not sure at all what the ins & outs of the specific Aquilani situation are, but the vast majority of footballers these days seem to do exactly the opposite. "Wah wah, I want a move... screw the tens of millions you spent on me... oh and by the way, I want millions more to move"? Like seriously, what the ****?

At some point the football clubs are going to have to get together and find a way to redress the balance somewhat. People make mistakes in all walks of life, move to new jobs or places they really don't like etc, and nobody no matter how much they get paid should be forced to stay somewhere. But neither should they be able to profit massively from such a situation, at the expense of the clubs AND, as is often forgotten, the fans, who are ultimately the people who fund this nonsense.

Well said Mr.M............footballers think its a one way street with the contracts they sign, there is a personal level of responsibility from the player, as well as the club.

Absolutely

[Lee]

Thing is, if a player from another country turned around and said "I'm not happy here, I want to go home and I'm happy to take a pay cut / wave my loyalty (ha!) bonuses etc, I'm rich enough already and money doesn't buy happiness" I'd respect them completely. Now I'm not sure at all what the ins & outs of the specific Aquilani situation are, but the vast majority of footballers these days seem to do exactly the opposite. "Wah wah, I want a move... screw the tens of millions you spent on me... oh and by the way, I want millions more to move"? Like seriously, what the ****?

At some point the football clubs are going to have to get together and find a way to redress the balance somewhat. People make mistakes in all walks of life, move to new jobs or places they really don't like etc, and nobody no matter how much they get paid should be forced to stay somewhere. But neither should they be able to profit massively from such a situation, at the expense of the clubs AND, as is often forgotten, the fans, who are ultimately the people who fund this nonsense.

Completely agree.

[Lecter]

How much would he cost in wages if we just binned him into the reserves?

Conservatively I reckon over £4 million per annum

[Lecter]

Thing is, if a player from another country turned around and said "I'm not happy here, I want to go home and I'm happy to take a pay cut / wave my loyalty (ha!) bonuses etc, I'm rich enough already and money doesn't buy happiness" I'd respect them completely. Now I'm not sure at all what the ins & outs of the specific Aquilani situation are, but the vast majority of footballers these days seem to do exactly the opposite. "Wah wah, I want a move... screw the tens of millions you spent on me... oh and by the way, I want millions more to move"? Like seriously, what the ****?

At some point the football clubs are going to have to get together and find a way to redress the balance somewhat. People make mistakes in all walks of life, move to new jobs or places they really don't like etc, and nobody no matter how much they get paid should be forced to stay somewhere. But neither should they be able to profit massively from such a situation, at the expense of the clubs AND, as is often forgotten, the fans, who are ultimately the people who fund this nonsense.



:

[tsb]

Conservatively I reckon over £4 million per annum

Hmmm... guess it does free up £3m over the 2 years on that basis then.

[barnes10]

i dont know what the fuss is all about.

we made a **** signing, we messed him about (come on, Roy and Kenny hardly gave him a fair crack of the whip did they), he decides he doesnt feel that much affinity with us so is going to get the most out of us that he's entitled to as he leaves.

no biggie. I think there are worse mercenaries out there just as i think football has gone mad.

if we are to pin the blame on one culprit in all of this tho, it has to be the man who invested that that much money in the first place... just as we have to for carroll and downing who will cost is far, far more than Aquilani has done.

[Nicey]

Hang on a sec there Nicey. Although I sort of agree with your sentiment, really is it that surprising that fans, the vast majority of whom earn less in a year than someone like Aquilani does in a week, struggle to empathise with the poor diddums when he decides he isn't too keen on the weather and wants to go back home? And then that the club, using our ticket and merchandising money that could be being spent on new players who do want to play for us, instead have to pay this guy off to the tune of millions of pounds?

I'll tell you what, if someone wanted to pay me that much to kick a ball around I'd settle in Outer Mongolia.

Now I know its not quite a simple as all that, but many fans are getting pig sick of seeing vastly overpaid footballers, whom clubs invest fortunes in signing, just deciding they'd rather play somewhere else and not just ****ing off there, but demanding millions from the first club to leave. Player-power and player wages have gone absolutely mad in football, not helped by things like the Bosman rulings, and the average supporter is probably more dislocated from the players than they ever have been before.

Now that's no excuse for slagging someone off on the basis of their appearance etc, but when they (or their agent) are obviously manipulating a situation for the maximum financial advantage, when they've already made a flipping fortune out of the club (and by association, the fans) for basically no return at all then imo, people have a right to be a little bit less than fawning over them.

Fair enough and obviously i agree with you, but it is what it is, its not Aqualanis fault the club paid stupid money for him, nor is it his fault his agent is getting the best deal for him. Foriegn football players have not settled in the UK since the cows came home, nothing new here, If you want to be pissed off at someone, be pissed off at the previous set up, who bought him ****ing injured...

[yamiedo]

It could be worse. We could have a crocked Michael Owen on the books.

[Nicey]

indeed, the little ****

[SB]

Thing is, if a player from another country turned around and said "I'm not happy here, I want to go home and I'm happy to take a pay cut / wave my loyalty (ha!) bonuses etc, I'm rich enough already and money doesn't buy happiness" I'd respect them completely. Now I'm not sure at all what the ins & outs of the specific Aquilani situation are, but the vast majority of footballers these days seem to do exactly the opposite. "Wah wah, I want a move... screw the tens of millions you spent on me... oh and by the way, I want millions more to move"? Like seriously, what the ****?

At some point the football clubs are going to have to get together and find a way to redress the balance somewhat. People make mistakes in all walks of life, move to new jobs or places they really don't like etc, and nobody no matter how much they get paid should be forced to stay somewhere. But neither should they be able to profit massively from such a situation, at the expense of the clubs AND, as is often forgotten, the fans, who are ultimately the people who fund this nonsense.



Absolutely

Have you ever thought of running for politics MrM? You make more sense than the muppets running the country Great post

[Exiled_red]

Thing is, if a player from another country turned around and said "I'm not happy here, I want to go home and I'm happy to take a pay cut / wave my loyalty (ha!) bonuses etc, I'm rich enough already and money doesn't buy happiness" I'd respect them completely. Now I'm not sure at all what the ins & outs of the specific Aquilani situation are, but the vast majority of footballers these days seem to do exactly the opposite. "Wah wah, I want a move... screw the tens of millions you spent on me... oh and by the way, I want millions more to move"? Like seriously, what the ****?

At some point the football clubs are going to have to get together and find a way to redress the balance somewhat. People make mistakes in all walks of life, move to new jobs or places they really don't like etc, and nobody no matter how much they get paid should be forced to stay somewhere. But neither should they be able to profit massively from such a situation, at the expense of the clubs AND, as is often forgotten, the fans, who are ultimately the people who fund this nonsense.

[Assassin]

Thing is, if a player from another country turned around and said "I'm not happy here, I want to go home and I'm happy to take a pay cut / wave my loyalty (ha!) bonuses etc, I'm rich enough already and money doesn't buy happiness" I'd respect them completely. Now I'm not sure at all what the ins & outs of the specific Aquilani situation are, but the vast majority of footballers these days seem to do exactly the opposite. "Wah wah, I want a move... screw the tens of millions you spent on me... oh and by the way, I want millions more to move"? Like seriously, what the ****?

At some point the football clubs are going to have to get together and find a way to redress the balance somewhat. People make mistakes in all walks of life, move to new jobs or places they really don't like etc, and nobody no matter how much they get paid should be forced to stay somewhere. But neither should they be able to profit massively from such a situation, at the expense of the clubs AND, as is often forgotten, the fans, who are ultimately the people who fund this nonsense.

The agents are the route cause of all that is wrong in the transfer market

[Lee]

Few rumours on Twitter (yeah, I know I know) that Aquilani will sign a three-year deal with Fiorentina today.

Not keen on spreading Twitter rumours but many people are saying the same thing so I'm guessing it's likely to happen.

[colin85]

And we are paying 50% of his wages? Can't we just hire an Italian hitman, it would be cheaper.

[baitman]

And we are paying 50% of his wages? Can't we just hire an Italian hitman, it would be cheaper.

i know a Sicilian, and he keeps pigs