In England, football fans often grumble about the owners of their club and the way it’s being run, many of us have witnessed or been involved in sit-in protests, but that is nothing compared to how Lazio’s Ultras feel about club President Claudio Lotito.
England midfielder Stewart Downing has signed for Liverpool for a fee of £20million. The England international takes Liverpool’s spending spree to a total of £100m so far this summer.
They say in life you should never meet your heroes, as you’ll more often than not be crushingly disappointed with how arrogant / rude / ignorant etc they may turn out to be. It’s best to admire them from afar so your initial preconception of them is kept intact; your illusion is never shattered.
At around this time last year, Fernando Torres was heading into a new campaign with a team that had just undergone a change in management following a poor preceding season and there was a fresh buzz about the place, partly due to the goal-scoring potential he promised once he would get back to full form. This time round, he finds himself in a similar situation but in very difficult circumstances, for it is now the blue of Chelsea he represents, rather than the red of Liverpool and it is the price tag he carries with him as a result of that switch, a paltry £50 million, that has stuck further expectation on the shoulders of the Spaniard.
The club versus country row that has rumbled on for most of this century looks set to take on a whole new level of bitterness.
Arsenal have been caught up in another on-going transfer saga, this time its Juan Mata who could be on his way to North London or not. Giant Brum forward is heading back to the Premiership. Cahill, Samba, Brazilian wonderkid and Dutch ace are all staying put and Aguero has a bigger ego than his father-in-law.
As I type this, reports are making the rounds that Chelsea are set to up their offer for Belgian prodigy Romelu Lukaku, the 18-year-old striking sensation from Anderlecht. The same Lukaku that, as a 16-year-old, exploded onto the national, and later international, stage taking the Jupiler Pro League by force, literally. Possessing an intimidating 6 foot, 3 inch frame, the Belgian international has been dubbed the ‘New Didier Drogba’ and displays all the attributes of the Ivory Coast captain which has, undoubtedly, seen constant links made between the two.
These are exciting times on Wearside, with Wes Brown and John O’Shea becoming Sunderland’s eighth and ninth summer signings.