What's new

Other record signings have a poor track record

Status
Not open for further replies.
ozboy

ozboy

Members AF
Messages
6,180
Reaction score
2,171
From memory its Ronaldo, Kaka, Ibrahamovitch and Zidane that have prices above what we paid for Torres. Excited as I am about the deal only Ronaldo qualifies as a success. Kaka and Ibrahamovitch were complete failures at Real and Barca whether through injury or form and, in my opinion, Zidane never reached the heights with Real that he did in Italy.

So I hope Torres proves the stats wrong.

 
Tis true, but then again, Kaka can still make it at Real Madrid injuries happen + Milan was playing a style of football very well suited to Kaka so some additional adjustment time is understandable. Imbrahamovitch didn't do that badly at Barca just didn't fit their system either. Zidane I wasn't following football then so can't really say.

Plus Torres isn't moving countries. So I think he's got a better chance then some of the other cases.

 
No, tis not true at all.

Ronaldo: unqualified success, nothing more to add. When i heard about it I thought the fee was a joke, but if he plays like this for another 5 seasons he may score 250 goals for Madrid and that is genuinely unreal.

Kaka: a bizarre high transfer for sure. Never hit the heights he did in 2007 and has been on the wane ever since. Madrid overpaid badly, and so far, I would call it a bust

Ibrahimovic: I dont get this one, never have. He went to Barca, scored about a goal every 2 games in the league and overall (16 in 29, 21 in 41) but he set up many more because he was a tall, fast striker, something they didn't have before. He also set up many more goals, and helped them get all six points against Madrid. The transfer in was bonkers, but Guardiola falling out with him for no apparent reason and then cutting him lose after one moderately successful season was truly truly stupid. By all accounts, Ibra loved it there, too. And selling him wasnt a prerequisite to getting David Villa, since he is only out on loan anyway. Can you imagine Villa and Ibra being fed by Messi Xavi and Iniesta? f**k

Zidane: lets not rewrite history. He was 29 when he got to Madrid, of course his best days were behind him. Yet he still managed to win La Liga and win the CL with an unforgettable goal. Madrid were an absolute circus at the time dont forget. They signed Beckham and stuck him at holding midfielder. Not exactly his fault that the years were underwhelming in terms of silverware.

I had my reservations about Torres and this fee, but I dont want to act like it was because I am worried about spending big. It was the player we spent big on, his injuries, and his history. But what is done is done, and I dont think this will be Sheva II at all.

Even if Torres doesnt hit the heights here, I wont panic. He is 26 now, 27 in the summer. Clubs like Milan and Barca have been linked to him for years, and I am sure they would pay a hefty percentage of the fee we did to take him on even if he was 28 or 29. Especially Barca, who seem to need to respond to Madrid's big money moves with ones of their own.

 
I think Westway the First has this spot on.

Cronaldo has pretty much unquestionably been Real Madrid's best player, with a scoring record only topped by that of Messi. I feel that with this squad (with Cronaldo as the shining light), assuming Real have the patience to keep him on, Mourinho will probably have another Inter-style treble within the next couple of seasons.

Kaka was underwhelming for his first season, (the Madrid fans I know claim it was due to his desire to save himself for the World Cup) and has been injured for the entirety of his second. It may be a little early to judge this one.

Ibrahimovic was incredible for the beginning of his season with Barca, but went off form and was only at the same level again in patches. Then Barca decided to offload him to AC Milan... I'm far from the biggest Ibra fan in the world, but I get the feeling that Guardiola could have handled this one a lot better.

Zidane still managed to shine in a team which was populated by global superstars. He was probably the best on the planet at the time, and I wouldn't say he lost that title until Kaka started hitting his top form at AC Milan.

As for Torres, only time will tell, but I feel that if anything is going to hold him back it will not be the pressure of being the club's record transfer.

 
I think the only thing that is going to stop Torres reaching unbelievble heights with us is injury, its the only slight concern I have with him. I think he is going to be a cracking player for us!

 
£50m is over the odds (forgetting the economic climate!).......................and there is a worry over his fitness as he usually misses about quarter of the season, but by comparison with OUR previous 'disasters' I am hoping he'll deliver, just to remind you;

Appreciate some amounts look low but in their day they were big numbers

david hay - £2m

Robert fleck - £2m

Andre Shevi - £30m..................

Mutu £16m

veron £22m

 
50m is worth it just to see the inhabitants of Self Pity City burning their shirts :JC_doubleup:

 
For people with longer memories, Lentini went to AC Milan for a huge transfer (at the time). I don't remember him setting the world alight there.

 
Ibrahimovic scored a lot of goals at Barca he only went cause he fell out with Pep Guardiola. Ronaldo's been a success. I know he didn't cost as much as Torres but Rio cost Man U £30 mil and he's been superb for them. Zidane won the European Cup at Real Madrid which is more than Ronaldo has one there so far and he's classed as a success so I'd say Zidane was aswell.

 
Zidane was better at real than he was at juve without a shadow of a doubt. he may have been 29 when he signed but some of the football he played was the greatest I've ever seen.

Ibrahimovic still scored a good few goals in his first season, but he moved to a new country and was prematurly written off, like etoo was a year earlier i'm sure if he'd have had the benefit of more than 12 months to settle at his new club, he'd have been better.

Kaka has been injured for pretty much 10 out of the 18 months he's been there, and had 2 operations. Again he's plying his trade in a new league, and I think people who say he's past it will be proved wrong.

Torres is moving to a new club in the same league, so if u compare that to shearer going to newcastle for a then record, or andy cole signing for united, both of which played better than had in their career.

 
Remember transfer fees generally aren't what cripples teams anymore, it's wages.

 
Good shout on Ferdinand. Nobody has since equalled that for a defender, and that was 10 years ago. Adjusted for inflation in the game, thats probably near the Torres fee today.

Liam said:
and Roy Keane.
Click to expand...
That is bonkers. 20 years ago a player was a record signing for a little over 2m, and last year one went for 80m.

This is quite an eye opener: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_football_transfer_record#cite_note-0

Particularly the column that is adjusted for inflation. Its funny that for all the flack we and other English clubs hear about spending, English clubs have never been the market leaders in all this. The Italians and then the Spanish have been the ones jumping to the front of the line. Shearer's transfer is the only English one in the last 80 years to break the record.

 
Ibra & Zidane "complete failures" in Spain ?!? Er, no. Try again.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top