I just read that Angulo backed out of the move to join Arsenal because he feared that he would not fit into the side, and would not be able to adjust to the lifestyle in London. Drivel? Nonsense? Maybe.
However, before we call him “Yeller bellied”, let’s examine a few things. He is 27 years old, has been part of the Valencia side for years, perhaps from his early 20s. He’s put down what you may call roots. And he’s been part of the Valencia side that knocked Arsenal out of the Champs League twice!! In his shoes would you not choose to stay with the club that has been to two Champs League finals, albeit being outclassed completely in one and losing the other on penalties, rather than join the club you have helped knock out of the competition on your way to those two finals? I think I’d stay, rather than choose to pull up my rather extended roots and move to an uncertain climate. He ain’t 16 or 20 guys. He’s no Jose Reyes or Cesc Fabregas. He cannot afford to just move like that. And in both their cases, we had Lauren, a senior player, to help them settle in. Can you imagine Angulo and Reyes becoming best buddies so Jose can help him settle in? He’s not some young guy looking for guidiance. He’d worry about his family and what the move might do to his kids. Take a look at Beckham to see what a move abroad late in a career can do to your personal life.
So he came, checked out the setup, and said “Thanks, but no thanks guys.” And I can’t say I blame him. Of course, it’s a disappointment to lose a player who was apparently sealed and delivered at the last minute, but have we not recently witnessed something similar and breathed sighs of relief? Did Vieira not take a good, long, hard look at things and say “My roots at Arsenal are just too large to pull up and move”? Right at the death? He told Real Madrid he wasn’t leaving Arsenal. For emotional reasons. So indeed, fear is a big factor in players deciding to move or not. It’s just too bad that in this case, the scales came down on the other side. And we gotta live with that. So no sour grapes please.
19 Responses to “On Football Players and Fear”
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September 1st, 2004 at 7:18 am
Not here to have a go at PV but these are 2 different ball games.
I don’t know where you got your information from but Angulo pull out of the deal after preliminary medical test and the rest. The problem was the English lifestyle and part Arsenal.
When is comes to PV unless you were in Guantanoma for the past 2 years he wanted to move but came back short with some lovely excuses.
September 1st, 2004 at 7:28 am
i got to be sick, but i was partly happy for the fact that we didnot get angulo. imagine half way thru mid season, freddie is injured, wenger got no choice but to play pennant, and suddenly pennant shines and finally earn wenger’s confidence, and at the end of this season, we got another english player to be proud of.
that will be sweeter to me.
don’t worry, no sour grapes for me. i would care more if this is about tom huddlestone, or m.dawson. rumours said we are interested in these two very good english centreback. hopefully…
we can keep that 3 million to bolster our purchase power if we were to get jesus navas..now that’s a real deal for me
September 1st, 2004 at 7:43 am
I agree with you here.. I hope to see Pennant play and with time the kid can do the same job as freddy.
And is about time the English players have the chance to shine. During last week midweek games played on tuesday and wednesday there were a total of 22 English players in the premiership out of 6 games and if that is not bad enough then I dont know what next.
September 1st, 2004 at 8:33 am
Vieira did a Paula Radcliffle. He fall short and got himself emotionally crushed “I love Arsenal”.
Why was he trying to signed a Midfielder instead of a defender.
September 1st, 2004 at 8:34 am
That is why they called it the EPL : European Premiership League.
September 1st, 2004 at 9:16 am
I got my information from skysports website where Angulo’s agent was quoted. And as for PV wanting to leave for the past 2 years, I think that’s not very fair to him. The only time we have been seriously worried about him leaving or not was this past summer when the rumours were really strong and he didn’t say anything himself. Last season he came out and said he did not want to leave.
September 1st, 2004 at 9:19 am
I am on board about Pennant, but what if its the other scenario: Freddy gets injured, Pennant finaly gets his chance and then….. sucks! I think you should accept the fact that England is not a big country, that you dont owe half of the world anymore and that there just arent that much good Englishman ready to play at Arsenal level.
And dont get me wrong, I am huge Pennant admierer, Ive seen him in pre season in Austria (this season and last) and I think he has the potential, but when you have kids like Ashley, Kolo, Cesc, Jose…. it is really difficult to shine. And in order to make it at Arsenal he should be at their level.
And after all, trust Wenger, the man knows, if Pennant is world class there is no reason why Wenger would not play him.
September 1st, 2004 at 9:24 am
I haven’t given this topic of lack of English players in the league a lot of consideration, but you’d have to be blind not to notice it. I wonder how much it has to do with the recent increase of European managers, especially in high profile teams. Wenger, Mourinho, Santini…it seems English managers have had a sacking as of late, with a certain Scotsman taking his lumps as well.
Also, with an increasing focus on doing well in the CL, it seems that there is a reaching out of sorts to understand the European game outside of the UK.
Just some thoughts.
September 1st, 2004 at 9:50 am
Am not one who always sings the English or British praises but to say England is not a big country got nothing to do with the comments the guy put above. Pennant had to be given the chance but at the same time it helps to have an English based players in each team.
Ok here in America is all about winning at any cost but try and also understand what sports is all about.
September 1st, 2004 at 10:00 am
Currently there are 9 English managers in the EPL. Some are very good with the amount of funds and players they have.
But you have to say the scots have been very successfully in England before Mr Wenger turn up.
September 1st, 2004 at 10:13 am
Damn man I can’t believe you said that. Don’t start a war in here.. PR & PV scenario is a bit crazy but funny. I took me a while to get it.
September 1st, 2004 at 10:18 am
All I said about PV was, only ppl in Guantanoma for the past 2 years will not know what the deal with him was about. And nothing to do with him leaving Arsenal for the past 2 years.
September 1st, 2004 at 10:31 am
One thing I have found out from this great web site of ours is most Yanks put the players b4 the club whiles the Brits here put the club b4 any player. And not saying all yanks or brits thinks alike but you read into any good debate here.PV debate was an example.
At the end of the day I will love to see England/Dutch/Ghana do well and more home based players in any team is good for business and the future as well.
September 1st, 2004 at 11:32 am
It would have been a difficult move for Angulo…
and I think it was a difficult decision for Vieira, when it became close to occuring… at midnite, he shied away from the unknown at Madrid.
no grudge against Angulo at all…
I have none against Paddy….
I still say…. LAY OFF VIEIRA!!!!!!!
Now… if you wanna rehash the English players scenario… if they were Good Enough… they’d play… its really as simple as that.
AND… when they ARE good enough…. they tend to cost MORE than they should, simply because they are English.
I’d love to see Pennant get some playing time, because I think he is a good player, with lots of skill.
September 1st, 2004 at 11:39 am
better we found out now and not sign him than sign an unhappy flop who is a liability to the side
lucky he is not like Mutu who does it for the money
September 1st, 2004 at 12:20 pm
People just have different priorities.
If weather was the biggest thing to you, which would you choose, England or Spain? There are some people who are miserable without a lot of sun, I don’t understand it but there it is.
As far as I’m concerned, if anything like that outweighed playing for the Arsenal, our money is better spent elsewhere anyway.
September 1st, 2004 at 4:29 pm
He’s rooted and will not leave because he loves his team…so it got a little miffed as he was left out of an important match…once you’ve been playing that long for a really good club side its hard to leave…we have been able to stay Henry and Vieira which were coveted by Madrid but there rooted and love the fans,boss,pitch,and town…let him stay and lets go out and get ourseleves alittle insurance in the back line instead.
September 1st, 2004 at 6:44 pm
Im gald he left 2 much congestation in teh mid-field.
September 2nd, 2004 at 9:13 am
the comments were made in reference to those of shini_chan, not the article, I am sorry if I pressed the wrong comment button. and why are you putting my words out of context and making me sound like nazi?
it was not easy in the past to know who the best players in the world were. english clubs didnt have scouts in spain, france, africa or argentina. internet doesnt existed. footballers had chance to shine only in world cups and european cups.
today it is different and if you want to maintain at highest level, you have to keep an eye everywhere. it is NORMAL that the best clubs have a lot of foreign players, because odds-wise it is more likely for them not to come from england (because england is not that big a teritory). that is all I wanted to say.
even in thecountries where the number of forein players per club is limited,they brake the rule by giving foreign players national passports!
kidK
p.s I tought what sport is all about…and again came to… winning! and because you wont trust me, maybe you”ll trust wenger:
and qoute:
“Frankly, I find change for the sake of change unacceptable, the basic desire of a player is to win and everything else is superficial.”
“If a player comes to me and says he can’t win things and wants to leave, that’s fair enough.
“Why does Michael Schumacher stay at Ferrari? Because he knows he can win there.”