Loyalty... it's over rated.

'Sup Footie nuts? We are well under way with the majority of the European leagues up and running. Life is good... nay! Beautiful! 

Since Robin “I score when I want” Van Persie moved to Manchester United, there has been a lot of talk about players “selling out” and that “Footballers aren’t loyal anymore”.  Well, I personally feel that loyalty is over rated in the work place. And this is exactly it, it IS their work place.

Let me use a different example. You (yes you) are an attorney at a rather large firm. A bigger firm with more chance of promotions, bigger salary and more perks, makes you an offer. What are you going to do? Are you going to say “Uhm, no thank you? I am loyal to this firm, because it has treated me well and stuck by me through some bad times.” Yeah, I didn’t think so.

You see, I know this type of transfer. Yeah, I’m still a bit bitter that Torres left Liverpool to join Chelsea. At the time, I hated him. I wished death upon his tortoise. I hoped he would never score a goal again and that every time he did, a fairy would die. But, I’ve moved on. And I’ve realised why he decided to join Chelsea and leave Liverpool. It wasn’t for the money. We would have (could have) offered him more or less the same as what Chelsea offered him.  It was about trophies. It was about playing in the second best European competition (behind the Europa League). Why should loyalty be brought into it? He made a decision, he moved. What has he accomplished since then? Well, a Champions League winner’s medal.

The reality of this entire situation is that Arsenal hasn’t won a trophy in EIGHT years. Van Persie is 29 years old.  He wants to achieve something. The most likely place for him to achieve that would be at Manchester United OR at the only club in Manchester... Manchester City.

We have all seen players moving for money and there shouldn’t be any sort of surprise about that. Everything nowadays is about money. Television rights, Champions league, bonuses. It ALL centres on money. It’s not ideal. But it is the reality of it. If (most clubs) are running like a business (stock exchange etc) why shouldn’t the players look after their future (read: Pocket) in the same way. A clubs life span runs a lot longer than a player’s career.

To conclude this debatable post. I'm not saying that what these players are doing is right. I personally feel that there needs to be some sort of loyalty. The likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard are current premier league players that have chosen the loyal side. Adebayor... not so much.

Twitter follow - @Potz56