Manchester United – The Latin Question

Allow me to clarify before I lay the poser – I do not question the quality of our Latin American contingent and I get excited as any fan to hear that we’ve been linked with the next big thing – be it Falcao of recent times, the links to (fat) Ronaldo or Batistuta in the mid 90s, and the thrilling signing of Anderson last year.

Certainly the addition of the likes of Ronaldo and Anderson have introduced an incredible dimension to Manchester United that before we as fans could only dream of. Sir Alex has married, quite beautifully, the style and flair that is the trademark of the club we love with the unique individual styles of the new players.

My “dilemma” is one that comes from a feeling I got following the weekend reports that Anderson fancies a move to Italy and Inter, and under Mourinho. Of course the accuracy of these reports is open to debate, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they are true. That on its own leaves me gutted – behind Giggs and Rooney, “Jiggy” is my favourite United player.

But should we be surprised? We’ve already gone through a summer of Ronaldo saying his dream is to play in Spain while every so often we hear of Tevez’s desire to play in La Liga. Would any of us be agog if say, Nani wanted a move to Valencia or Milan, or a couple of years down the line, Rafael made clear his wish to leave?

The question therefore is as follows – has Sir Alex swopped the team ethic borne through longevity in his 1996-2001 side for an equally talented but less dedicated group of players who see their future elsewhere?

Back in 1996, all the way through the team you saw players who loved United and would only leave if kicked out of the door. They were at their holy grail, they were part of the fabric of the club. The nonchalant chest puffing of Eric after scoring an outrageous goal was accompanied by the unbridled passion of a goal that meant something to the club. In 1999 Ryan Giggs’ stunning FA Cup Semi Final goal was celebrated in such crazy fashion – yet the nature of the celebration was probably 90% down to the importance of the goal rather than the quality of it. And for all reports about Beckham’s ego, scoring against Spurs in the final league game of that year was celebrated with the relief and importance of what it meant to the CLUB, not the player.

I actually enjoy the shrug of the shoulders of Ronaldo when he’s like “oh yeah, I just did that”, and the Chun Li celebrations of Nani are entertaining on the eye, but just once I’d like them to go wild eyed, spin around the goal supports alá Eric, or kiss their badge in front of a couple of thousand baying Scousers. Sometimes it’s discouraging as a fan to see Berbatov sulking away after scoring a goal at the stretford end.

I may sound like I’m placing too much emphasis on goal celebrations, but there’s only so much lack of enthusiasm you can take before you begin to wonder whether the players are more bothered about their reputation rather than the end goal, which of course is always more trophies for the club. That lack of desire to achieve for the club rather than for themselves could be the difference between trophies or not. The treble year, and the dozen or so times we snatched a result from defeat or a drawing position shows that.

Ferguson has managed to maintain that dedication to the club through some of the current squad – Ferdinand wants to retire at Old Trafford, and Rooney’s devotion to the club is undoubted, but where in 1996 or 1999 I could believe that every single player would give their all to play for Manchester United, hand on heart I don’t believe I can say that about the current crop, as talented as they are.

Maybe I’m a little misty eyed and allowing myself to indulge in my first real “good old days” reminiscing at the grand old age of 27, but is it a worthwhile sacrifice? Am I just worrying about nothing? Am I placing too much importance on player loyalty?

Perhaps I’m being a little over cynical or over sensitive. Perhaps I shouldn’t expect that Anderson will give 8 years of his career to United with the same unwavering dedication that Schmeichel did. Maybe it’s too much to expect that Ronaldo will become an icon in the mould of Cantona not only for his brilliance but, too, for his love of the club and his commitment to the fans.

What do you think? Do you prefer the dedication of yesteryear or are you just happy to see the likes of Anderson and Nani light up Old Trafford with their outrageous skills, even if their heart isn’t truly at United?

Source:(Yolkie)

4 Comments on Manchester United – The Latin Question

  1. I think we are asking for too much…keep on looking around for home-grown players that can be the heart-beat of our team for years like Carrick and Ferdinand and accept that the current generation of foreign player grew up watching Serie A or La Liga, maybe it will be different in 10 yrs when there are players who watched the current premiership as kids….but even then we are still in rainy Manchester, not London and foreign players from Brazil or the Mediterranean will always want to be somewhere similar…happy days, we are a miracle club when you consider the rest of europe’s big clubs are from London, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Rome etc and as for goal celebrations it’s just ronaldo’s that annoy me, even in moscow it’s always about himself, Berbatov will get into it eventually, he hasn’t scored a really important goal yet, if he’d put that header in on saturday I bet he’d have gone mad…

  2. Yeah. I agree, goal celebrations say a lot and kissing the club badge rates as one of the best ways to show your love for your home club. I too wish the stars would do this more often.

    Btw, did you hear about Old Trafford being broken into? Trophy Stolen?

    Please read about it at http://www.newmanutd.com and let me know what you think. Thanks.

    Ulrik Fredrik

  3. I totally agree with this article. As a Man U supporter, i would expect only players with loyalty to be in the team. The likes of Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson,etc are pretty to watch but only players such as Cantona, Schmeichel, Keane, Giggs will stay in my heart. These kind of players are the reason why i support the club in the first place. The current crop may be the most talented but they don’t have the same aura as the teams from the 90s. Nowdays i feel that i’m forcing myself to cheer for the team when Ronaldo plays. It’s almost a sore to the eye watching him on a MU jersey. The Fergie of the old days would have shown Ronaldo the door out of Old Trafford months ago.

  4. Thanks for the comments guys – Jake, I was going to expand on it having something to do with rainy weather and the like. On the money they are on though they have the means to go anywhere on their time off and let’s be honest, they get a lot of time off! To be fair to Ronaldo he did bring more or less his entire family over. You certainly make a great point about the generational point of view. Fingers crossed then for Rhian Davis, eh!

    Fredrik – good site mate, seen that Gerrard pic floating around for a while! Always makes me laugh.

    Rubanraj – while I wouldn’t go as far as to say I force myself to cheer, but I certainly know what feeling you’re trying to describe.

    On the flip side, it’s why just about every United fan was brought to the edge of tears by Scholes semi final goal against Barcelona, Giggs’ title clincher against Wigan or Giggs scoring the winning penalty against Chelsea.

    Ronaldo had a brilliant season last year and his attitude since he “decided to stay” hasn’t surprisingly put me off him, but ask me to name my top 3 memories from last season and those above will top the list every time. Players who have given so much to the club and were never bothered about how much they would be valued in a transfer window or worth in a contract dispute. Players who now want long term contracts just so they can stay at United and give their all for the club for as long as they can.

    I don’t know if I totally agree but yeah, perhaps the Fergie of old would have kicked Ronaldo out. Perhaps, too, Fergie has had to “evolve” to handle the egos of the players of today.

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