This is ridiculous. At the end of the day, for as much “history and tradition” as people want to spout about for what is essentially a business venture, your country is your country. It will mean infinitely more to you than the company that pays you.

easy, he is 25…lets say that in 15 years.

I for one, was a long-time advocate of the “real legends stay at a club for life” theory. I used to think that the only way a player deserved true respect, was for him to stick with the same club colour, no matter how dark the times got.

Now, I’ve lost the faith.

I came to realise that players, just like clubs, are simply playing by the rules of the game. The game is simple: go with the highest bidder, and everyone protects his own interests. If a player has a good season, his agents will tell him to ask for higher wages: clubs who want to keep their star players now need to satisfy their demands, else the players will go find warmer (and richer) waters. Either that, or the club must sell the player while they still can (to avoid a Bosman transfer for zero cash as soon as the contract runs out).

You might call the game and their players “greedy”, “selfish” etc. etc., it’s become a reality of life. I still respect players who stick to one club for their entire careers (a big fu**ing kudos to Maldini, J.Zanetti, ADP, Totti etc.). However I’ve come to view the “mercenaries” of sorts with a different, less severe kind of eye.

Those guys pioneered being one club heroes.

And I can’t believe that out of everything I said in the article, that’s the point you commented about.

And Bobby, that’s a fair point about clubs quickly dropping players.