so where did everyone go?

By: j | July 16th, 2008

You wonder around the teams, here and there and over the last little bit new teammates are getting accustomed to one another. For fans of the game like you and I, we typically underestimate the intangible aspect of simply knowing one another on the pitch. The deft passing, the simple movements that we take for granted that only come with time are oh-so easy to forget. This is of course, contrary to this ridiculous transfer fees will tell you, a team game.

Yet when you mention the term “team” you assume a continuity of players and for that matter players themselves. This is of course what I’m getting at because Paul Le Guen must be wondering where-oh-where did everyone go without a single new player added.

This departure lists includes twenty-two year-old midfielder who heads to Gareth Southgate’s Middlesbrough for a transfer fee of €5m, twenty-five year-old Striker Amare Diané to Al Rayyan in Qatar for a fee said to be €8m and thirty-five year-old Goalkeeper Jérôme Alonzo to Nantes on a free transfer. In addition to this Willamis Souza, the twenty-nine year-old attacking midfielder is headed back to his native Brazil, on-loan to Grêmio and I would be remiss not to mention the loss of Bernard Mendy to Hull City, the contractual issues of Mario Yepes and the retirement of Pedro Pauleta, who I have already expressed my wishes to see back.

Yet most frustrating of all and an issue that truly needs to be dealt with by FIFA is the move of sixteen year-old Gaël N’Lundulu to Portsmouth. A brilliant young Striker within the academy, who left the simply because he was offered a professional contract. I will provide further details on this in an upcoming post however my point is simply for the sake of the game, regulations need to be in place before predatory tactics destroy the development process.

With this all in-mind and with cupboards bare, who will fill them and what tactics are we to employ?