Chelsea Humbled, Ronaldo To City? - A Sign Of Things To Come
September 2, 2008
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Well, Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim certainly has a sense of humour, so much is clear.
Not content with having given United palpitations over the transfer of Dimitar Berbatov, Al Fahim is already plotting the Abu Dhabi Group’s next foray into the transfer market in January in furtherance of their aim to make City ‘the biggest club in the world’.
Al-Fahim’ intentions are to assemble a bona fide ‘dream team’ and the spending wherewithal controlled by the group makes Roman Abramovich look a veritable pauper in comparison. Whilst it was hilarious and deeply satisfying to see slaphead Peter Kenyon and his mute, smirking oligarch boss bested by City over the Robinho deal, the prospects for the rest of us are troubling.
According to an Arabian business magazine, top of Al-Fahim’s player wish-list is a certain Cristiano Ronaldo:
“Ronaldo has said he wants to play for the biggest club in the world, so we will see in January if he is serious.
“Real Madrid were estimating his value at $160 million but for a player like that, to actually get him, will cost a lot more, I would think $240 million.
“But why not? We are going to be the biggest club in the world, bigger than both Real Madrid and Manchester United.”
Whilst it’s tempting to think City’s plan to tempt him across Manchester is at least twice as fanciful as their attempt to hijack the Berbatov deal, you never know.
Ronaldo made out that his desire was to fulfil a childhood dream to play for Los Blancos, who also happen to be one of the biggest clubs in world football. Yet their failure to sign him, the release of Robinho and their failure to sign a replacement augurs badly for the fortunes in the short-term.
The pendulum of global interest and global money has swung another massive distance towards the Premier League with the arrival of the Abu Dhabi group - English football is where it is at - still, and for the forseeable future.
Who’s to say that if the Arabs dangle at £300K a week deal in front of Ronnie’s nose he might not be tempted to take a bite…or at least have a sniff?
Personally, we can’t see it happening but have no doubts: if Abramovich’s arrival in the Premier League five years ago was an earthquake, the Abu Dhabi group’s takeover at City represents a cataclysm.
Backed by the Al Nayhan royal family the group’s combined wealth utterly dwarfs that of Abramovich and whilst Al-Fahim’s talk is deliberately provocative, grandiose and cheeky it certainly isn’t hot air. These guys are going to spend and, much like Abramovich, they don’t need any kind of immediate return.
Will the Ronaldo thing come off?
Very unlikely - but as a statement of intent it is a terrifying sign of things to come.
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11 Responses to “Chelsea Humbled, Ronaldo To City? - A Sign Of Things To Come”
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Haha,
I really doubt it. To be fair, this is no disrespect to City but where would you rather go? Man utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or Man City?
Likewise, I would have loved to be a fly-on-the-wall in Chelski’s boardroom this morning!
In the cold light of day I feel the dippers and the whingerboys have more cause to be worried than us. We have the makings of a great side to last for the forseeable future and as long as we keep topping up we should be more than able to compete for many years. Don’t forget we already have the fan base and the history. Also, buying the best players doesn’t guarantee the best team. Both the Arse and the scousers have finance issues and are more likely the ones to miss out on big transfers.
P.S. anyone else amused by the fact that City are owned by Abu Dhabi UNITED?
Regarding Ronaldo, Al-Fahim’ intentions might actually work in our favor. He’s already snapped up Robinho from Real Madrid which is sure to both piss them off and weaken them. In CL they’re drawn in a very tough group and early elimination makes you wonder if Schuster would be allowed to continue as manager. I fully expect turmoil within the Madrid camp this season to the extent that they might find it hard to qualify for CL next season. Add to that the financial muscle of Abu Dhabi UNITED, and Real might not be a very attractive place for Ronaldo after this season. Would he join the bitters? He might be a cnut but he stupid enough to join a rival.
Haha,
I really doubt it. To be fair, this is no disrespect to City but where would you rather go? Man utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or Man City?
That is so true however whats worrying is what if city buy a load in January scrape past LFC for a CL spot then have that to offer.
they will be offering the same opportunity as any other club then and will be willing to pay you more for it. I am shitting it
did my last post not work?
Haha,
I really doubt it. To be fair, this is no disrespect to City but where would you rather go? Man utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or Man City?
But if they do get in to the CL then they will have the same football to offer and will pay you more for it
good afternoon gents , these days there aint no big four ,the big 3 the ones with the money man utd well a player that doesnt want to play for united only has to be slightly greedy to end up at old trafford,chelsea and city,a player never went their fulfilling an ambition to play for the club of his dreams ,its all about the £££ , loyalties and temperments of certain guys like possibly torres ,fabregas , ronaldo will all come into play,no doubt this guy has the money to make clubs sell ,but will a few players turn down the cash and say they dont want city’s millions?? the first player to do so will be a hero to every football fan alone!
“P.S. anyone else amused by the fact that City are owned by Abu Dhabi UNITED?”
its United Group and you dont have a copyright on the word UNITED so if thats the funniest thing you can think of I pity you.
Whats really funny is having owners that are richer than you by 1000 times in fact Citys owners have more money than the country of DUBAI that should put all them noughts into perspective lol.
why didnt they just buy united,they will go bankrupt trying to fix city even if they are richer than ronald mcdonald and abramovich put together! makes me laugh these big money men come round lookin for prestigous clubs like abramovich did,they look at some big names and decide they cost too much!
the way i see it, they’ve got the money but like Chelsea are finding out every season, it doesn’t buy class or character.
And being the kind of person i am, i like to see opportunity in every situation, so they want to spend 240m on ronnie? Good, guess that means i can buy someone else to give the poor cousins a headache and still have enuff change to be the biggest club in the world.
On seconds, i think all they’ll achieve is cause a large talent drain and player price hike like chelsea did back then, which means to me that Arsenal and “no spender” wenger will be stuck with their low budget signings for another 2 seasons; the “musical chairs” scousers over at Anfield will have to get used to seeing the same faces in their team for once and we get to see what the Chelski can do with managing what he’s got…
Bottom line, we’ve got a fairly young team that can go another 3 seasons in myreckoning without much change. Far as I’m concerned, i’m covered for ten years (have you seen what we have in the reserves?).
by the time the arabs get bored with their toys, possebon, the Da Silvas, Campbell, Cleverley, Kusczak, etc will be like fine wine and we can see Ferdinand gearing up to Gafferhood.
Can’t wait to see where this goes.
besides which i’d like to see how they deal with the following:
- competition for available trophies
- player increased wage demands (watch out for Richards, SWP, Robinho and Jo)
- inter team rivalry for places in the starting eleven (hence training ground injuries)
- movement of talented players to mid- and bottom level teams
- English Players vs Foreign stars (seeing as a lot of foundation players are going to lose their places)
- the fatcat impression they’ll meet on away matches; ask chelsea, they’ll tell u all about it.
- and finally, the demand and pressure for trophies that their new found wealth will put on the players and managers.
Drama unfolding… stay tuned