In the mad world we now live in and with transfer fees for soccer players off the scale, you have to start wondering how on earth some of the prices can be justifiable.
I mean, Declan Rice going to Arsenal for over £100 million pounds? There is no doubt he is a talented player and can often control the tempo of a game from his deep-lying midfield position, but is he worth this much? I really don’t think so.
In fact, if he had decided to continue his international career with the Republic of Ireland instead of declaring for England four years ago, you could almost guarantee his market value would be a lot less than what it currently is.
English players, for some reason, have a value set way above anyone else and that in itself is just ridiculous.
Look at the flood of players going to play in Saudi Arabia right now. It definitely has nothing to do with the quality of league they are going to play in, although I did see a quote from Cristiano Ronaldo claiming the Saudi Pro League would bypass the Danish and Dutch leagues for quality within the next year, simply due to the calibre of player they are attracting.
These players are chasing a big pay-day, and why wouldn’t they?
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has reportedly been offered £700,000 a week to join Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq.
Henderson is a player I respect and admire as a Liverpool fan, but when you break those numbers down, it is very hard for a 33-year-old coming towards the twilight of his career to potentially turn down £100,000 per day, even though the leading soccer players across the globe are already mega-rich.
Dion Dublin was a guest on the BBC’s GAA Social podcast recently, where he spoke about the wages Jack Grealish is on at Manchester City. He is getting paid £350,000 per week, not because he demanded that amount, but because he was offered it on a plate and was always going to accept it.
Grealish is another player blessed with an abundance of talent but, like Declan Rice, he probably would have been earning less if he declared for Ireland.
When that kind of money is available in sport, I believe players should capitalise and earn what they can as careers can be cut short, as we have often seen in the past.
After watching the All-Ireland semi-finals at the weekend, I couldn’t help but wonder what value would be placed on the likes of David Clifford, Shane McGuigan or Brendan Rogers if they were playing a professional sport.
These guys are in their prime and improving year-on-year, and if Rice is worth over £100m what on earth would a gifted scoring machine like Clifford cost?
It is purely hypothetical, of course, but when you look at our game and the talent around at present, you have to appreciate the level of entertainment we get from these amateurs.
These players cross the white line and put their bodies on the line week-in, week-out for no financial reward, but will always continue to do so because it is in the DNA, and they know nothing else.
From a very young age, it is engrained in each and every player that you are representing where you come from and that is where the hunger and desire comes from mainly.
We represent our clubs at local level and if lucky enough and good enough, you get the reward of representing your county.
That is something the majority of millionaire soccer players can’t ever experience, unless they come from Ireland and have pulled on the club shirt before or after a professional career.
It provides a strong sense of belonging and we wouldn’t want it any other way, although the financial reward soccer players get would be nice.
Monaghan and Derry both gave a great account of themselves against Dublin and Kerry respectively at the weekend, even though both were written off beforehand.
In fact, the Ulster sides had their chances to win and went with brave gameplans to do so, and you have to admire them for that.
Ciaran Meenagh gave a very insightful interview after Derry’s loss when he spoke of having prepared for every scenario Kerry would throw at them.
This preparation is vital, of course, but it didn’t impact negatively on his own team’s performance. They went at Kerry and apart from a period where their shooting let them down, Derry can’t have too many regrets.
The same can be said of Monaghan. Two Ulster teams had the opportunity to get to play on the biggest stage of all and if there is anything we can take from the games, it is that it won’t be too long before an Ulster side is back competing in the All-Ireland final.
