Vidic - Photo Austin Osuide CCA
With the season over the rumour mill has kicked into full speed, aided by the familiar catalysts of Roman Abramovich’s insatiable appetite for European success, the returning Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, and Manchester City’s big ambitions and bigger bank balance.
As cynical football fans the world over brace themselves for a torrent unlikely and unsubstantiated rumours placing their favourite players in other clubs and a host of unlikeable players at Blackburn Rovers, the major players have taken to the field and jostled for position. Agents, super-agents, clubs, continental club Presidents, managers, third-party owners, relatives doubling up as agents and journalists (with little inclination for research or facts when hearsay and anonymous sources inside the club or ‘close to the deal’ are so readily available) are all doing and saying different things about players and managers, and things are already getting silly.
We’ve already looked at how Tony Adams has talked himself into the Celtic job in the fantasy land where his managerial career isn’t a total catasrophe. The Kaka ‘deal’ - which saw the Milan playmaker insist he was staying at Milan before reports broke that he has signed for Real Madrid for £56m when he actually hasn’t yet, but still probably will, even though everyone said that about Manchester City in January but haven’t learnt their lesson about prematurely announcing very complicated big money transfers - is something we are watching closely and will no doubt address in due course.
In the meantime, the breaking news on today’s BBC Gossip column has neatly summed up the madness of the rumour mill with a few updates on Nemanja Vidic’s future:
1001 BST: Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic is definitely staying with the club, ending talk of a move to Inter Milan, according to his agent. (Full story: Setanta Sports)
Well that should quash the rumours - he’s definitely staying. Unless…
1132 BST: Real Madrid are set to launch a £30m bid to lure Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic to the Bernabeu. (Full story: The Independent)
Only 91 minutes later, and Real Madrid are after him? Does Florentino Perez not watch Setanta Sports News in between clandestine meetings with representatives from Milan and Kaka’s family?
Let’s take a closer look at what exactly was said to see how such contradictory stories came about. On Setanta, his agent seems pretty adamant:
Vidic staying at Old Trafford
Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic is definitely staying with the club, according to his agent. Silvano Martina has been quizzed by the Italian media after the Serbia international was linked with Inter but reiterated the centre back’s commitment to Old Trafford.
[...]
After once suggesting Manchester was a miserable place to live, hopes were raised in Italy that he could be lured to Serie A.
However, Martina has again slammed the door shut on any exit talk.
“No, there are no prerequisites for Vidic leaving Manchester,” he told TMW. “Despite the Champions League final loss, he is at a great club with much ambition, and which has reached the final of the greatest European competition for two consecutive years.
“This season, he also won The Premier League.”
The door is slammed shut, say Setanta! No prerequisites for Vidic leaving Manchester says the agent (leaving the door open for ‘Vidic to Manchester City’ rumours, we can’t help but wonder?).
That should have sealed things - though agents can’t always be trusted when trying to engineer a money making move for their client that would give them a healthy cut themselves, when nothing is to be gained from stating no intention to leave they can be taken at face value as a fairly solid source. The logic behind wanting to stay - he keeps winning things and is at a club who are in a great position to keep winning things - is fairly sound.
Still, this didn’t stop the Independent wading in with this:
Real Madrid are set to launch an audacious £30m bid to lure Manchester United star Nemanja Vidic to the Bernabeu.
Serbian defender Vidic, however, who is under contract until 2012, has been a colossus for United in recent years and Sir Alex Ferguson will fight tooth and nail to hang onto the Old Trafford favourite - but family reasons may lead to a move.
It is understood Vidic’s wife has failed to adapt to life in England and would prefer to move to a hotter climate and new Real President Florentino Perez is ready to make his move.
United will not be keen to do business with Real though, who continue to publicly court World Player of the Year, Cristiano Ronaldo.
If Vidic gives the slightest hint he could leave the Premier League champions, Barcelona will also make their move, but Real have put themselves firmly into the driving seat.
Spot the evidence? No? Probably because there isn’t any amidst the wild assertions:
“It is understood his wife has failed to adapt to life in England and would prefer to move to a hotter climate.”
Well, the agent scotched that one and said there are no prerequisites for him leaving Manchester.
Additionally, his wife, Ana Ivanovic (not the tennis player), is a Kosovan refugee who met Vidic whislt studying at Belgrade University and no doubt followed him to Manchester three years ago via a two year spell with Spartak Moscow. Kosovo, Belgrade and Moscow are hardly known for their “hotter climates” (the latter indeed known for its colder climate), and given he moved to Manchester over 3 years ago you’d think that if the weather was an issue it might have come up before now.
“United will not be keen to do business with Real though”
Good reason not to take the story seriously.
“If Vidic gives the slightest hint he could leave the Premier League champions…”
Which he hasn’t. In fact, his agent has done the exact opposite.
“…Barcelona will also make their move, but Real have put themselves firmly into the driving seat.”
Nice work throwing Barca into the mix - no evidence, though - and how exactly have Real put themselves firmly in the driving seat? Based on what - seeing him first and calling shotgun? Are high profile transfers now conducted in the school playground? Anyhow, the claim that Real are in the driving seat has already been undermined by the earlier assertion that Manchester United will not be keen to do business with Real: when half the people involved in the supposed deal intensely dislike the other half of the people, that doesn’t really scream driving seat.
Furthermore, the fact that his agent says he wants to stay due to the lure of trophies surely means that trophy-laden Barcelona would be in the driving seat if he did look to leave. Unless this is to be taken really, really literally and Real Madrid have bought a car and sat in the driving seat, there appears no way they are actually in the driving seat here.
Still, shoddy as the story is from the Independent, there’s a nice get out clause:
This story was sourced from the Belfast Telegraph.
Indeed it is, reprinted word for word no less - it’s reassuring that they felt they could trust the Belfast Telegraph with this kind of scoop without searching for something to back it up. Sort of.
