The Moderates, the Extremists & the Art of Buying Defenders
The Premier League has become shrouded with labels that connote affluence and decadence, which shows no signs of slowing down. Be it through bored sugar daddies who want to use football clubs as their elaborative play pen or the unfathomable TV money contracts – which is absurd really, considering we still have to seek illegal online streams to watch the Saturday 3pm games, but I digress – every club now has the ability to proverbially, “make it rain”.
So with this insane cash-injection, in turn means more clubs have a bigger capital to pay for inflated price tags, for players that’ll have you incredulously scratching your head. However, It’s not just strikers that clubs are paying over the odds for anymore. Now clubs with the same level of impulse, are shedding out ￡’s for defenders.
It’s almost justifiable to pay a lofty price for a striker, considering the position is judged basely on goals, whereas, for a defender – more accurately a centre back – it’s a bit difficult to ascertain his skills and worth. Don’t get me wrong, there are some Centre Backs that are more than enough deserving of a ￡30-40million transfer, but we could probably count that exclusive bunch on one hand.
Furthermore, it is exceptionally harder to discern the true value of a defender within Premier League. I say this with a heavy heart, but the defending in “the greatest league in the world”, said sarcastically, is both laughably and painfully awful. Every week we tune into ‘Match of the Day’ to watch farcical defending that has become so repetitive, that it’s almost numbing.
So what happens when a Defender - more accurately a centre back - does what he’s supposed to do? What happens when that defender executes the job professionally, and more importantly consistently? I’m sure you already know, but for the people in the back who don’t, what happens is, the value of said defender rises exponentially like the temperature of our very warm climate. That defender is made to look more exceptional than he really is, and this is all down to how bad the defending is in the Premier League.
If you place a good defender next to a below par defender, that good defender is going to look much better. Quantum Physics? I think not. Its pretty much the law of the world. If you're attractive and you surround yourself with people less attractive than yourself, your attractiveness spikes higher, but I don’t really like and/or want to use an example as shallow as this. Although, I do have another idea...
The YouTube series, ‘BK Chat’ was a hit for many reasons. But the one factor that stood out to me most was the casting. With the casting, 'BK Chat' was able to crack a successful formula that got a large chunk of the British populist talking about it, and all they did was have some members of the cast that could be classed as extremists, and some members that could be classed as moderates.
For the sake of the argument, I’m going to use Lucas and Azryah. Lucas, played the extremist role on the show. His views could come across as brazen and very archaic (considering the society we now live in), which rubbed some people the wrong way. Whereas, Azryah, the moderate, was well received by the audience. However, if you dig deeper into the surface – which really isn’t that deep – you’d understand, that Azryah was just speaking the uncommon nature of common sense. There was nothing deep or profound about her views, though when paired against Lucas, it was easy for us to glamorise her role on the show. The simple paradigm of Moderates vs. Extremists
Anyway, Manchester City have been guilty as charged for the crimes of overpaying for a defender - more accurately, a centre back. I mean, it doesn’t really affect them at all, as they live in absurdly large bottomless pit of wealth. However, they paid ￡32million for Eliaquim Mangala, who’s currently on loan at Valencia committing the same heinous acts of defending.
The same club, also paid circa ￡30million for Nicolás Otamendi, and more notably, almost ￡50million for John Stones, but I guess that inflation came from him being an English talent, and probably because he doesn’t hoof the ball out into row Z every time he’s on the ball. Excusing my facetious tone, John Stones is a good talent but he’s defending this season has been on par with some of the worse.
One of the most curious cases for a defender - more accurately, a centre back, has to be David Luiz, who continues to be bought, sold, and bought again, for an accumulative transfer total of - well I couldn’t find the sum total but think of an astronomical number and I’m sure you wouldn’t be far off.
There is great value for a defender if you care to do your research. Laurent Koscienly one of the leading defenders in the Premier League, was bought by Arsenal for approx. ￡8million, though 2010 was a different era completely. A more recent example would be Toby Alderweireld, who Tottenham captured for approx. ￡12 million.
With the Premier League becoming a more impatient league, with mangers chopping and changing, and with large amounts of money being exchanged, there is less time for nurturing talent, or unearthing them through extensive scouting. Clubs seek the instant gratification. The art of buying a defender is a lost hope, and the art of defending itself, is nothing but a four year old’s painting that sticks to the fridge door only because of obliging Parental love.