Why Daniele De Rossi has joined Boca Juniors after leaving Roma
Towards the end of their careers, many modern footballing greats look to wind down their playing days in China or the United States -- as well as the financial inducements, there is the pleasure of boosting the culture of football in places where the game has not been historically strong.
Daniele De Rossi has taken a different path. After spending two decades at Roma, the 36-year-old Italian midfielder has opted to cross the Atlantic and join Buenos Aires giants Boca Juniors. There will be nothing new in this South American adventure, instead, De Rossi will be playing in one of the world's most famous old stadiums: La Bombonera. Nicknamed, La Bonbonera (the chocolate box) because the stands go straight up, with one layer right on top of another, Boca's ground is a worldwide symbol of old-style football passion.
De Rossi did not want to hang up his boots without spending some time soaking up the unique atmosphere of Argentine football. It can get out of hand, as shown by the controversy and violence that affected last year's Copa Libertadores final between rivals River Plate and Boca, but it is also a vibrant, intoxicating experience that every football fan should get to know.
The Italian comes across as a fan, following a dream and swapping the European heatwave for the rigours of Argentina's winter because he wants to experience the atmosphere from a privileged point of view: out on the pitch.
De Rossi has chosen the road less travelled by. Paradoxically, though, in some ways he will feel at home. Buenos Aires is an aggressively Italian city, peopled by the descendants of mass European immigration in the late 19th and early 20th Century. The city's Spanish is spoken with a strong Italian intonation. Boca's nickname (The Xeneizes) is a derivation of "Genoveses," or those from the Italian port of Genoa.
So living in Argentina should not prove a massive culture shock for De Rossi and his family. The problems of adaptation are perhaps more likely to take place on the field.
Diego Simeone, for example, forecast that Boca's new signing will have problems, and drew on his own experience of returning to Argentina as a veteran midfielder in 2005 after 16 years in Europe. "It's not going to be easy for De Rossi," he said. "He comes from an Italian culture that is very tactical. The spaces are reduced, with the lines of the team close together. In Argentine football the teams are much more open, and this is complicated for those who are not used to it. It happened to me when I came back from Spain. The spaces on the field in Argentina were much more open, and I found this very hard."
Similar doubts were expressed a few years back when Dutch master Clarence Seedorf decided to have a late career adventure in Brazil with Botafogo.
Seedorf got round the problem with a mixture of talent, experience and sheer force of personality. He read the game wonderfully well, identifying in which part of the field he could be most effective in and adjusted his position accordingly. The action appeared to take place wherever Seedorf was, and he appeared to be enjoying himself immensely, so he perhaps regrets the decision to retire when the call suddenly came to go and coach AC Milan.
Will a World Cup winner like De Rossi have a similar impact? He has clearly not come for an extended holiday; the move was set up by Boca director and former centre-back Nicolas Burdisso, a former teammate of De Rossi at Roma.
In addition to the matchday experience, Burdisso has sold De Rossi on the quality of the club's structure. Initially it was thought that De Rossi's contract would only take him up to the end of the year, but it seems that he has signed on until 2021.
That should be plenty of time to create history and make some memories that he can tell his grandchildren.
The Guardian view on the collapse of Bury FC: a tragedy bigger than mere football
Football is about more than money, however much lucre has come to shape the beautiful game. Over this summer, English top-tier clubs had spent a total of £1.41bn, with Manchester United shelling out a world record fee on a defender of £80m for Leicester City’s Harry Maguire. Yet these amounts and the teams that spend them are symptoms of an unsentimental business model that is indifferent to tradition, place and practice. It is eroding the sense that many football clubs are a central and vital part of people’s identity.
That is why the end of Bury Football Club after 134 years is important. Before it was shut, 400 supporters had volunteered to mop and sweep the Gigg Lane ground hoping to show that the true value of their football club cannot be counted in pounds and pennies. Bury FC was the town’s pride until 5pm on Tuesday. The club disappeared after prospective buyers said that there were “systemic failings” that could not be overcome. With capitalism increasingly dominating community as the driving force in modern football, other clubs could risk a similar fate.
Bury’s mayor, David Jones, said the club’s demise would be the last nail in the town’s coffin. He has a point. Since 2010, the council has suffered cuts of £85m, 61% of its annual budget. Several libraries, those other cherished emblems of small-town identity, have closed. A hard Brexit may well make matters worse – it’s predicted to shrink the north-west of England’s economy by 12%. Bury’s football team has also suffered from their proximity to two of the world’s most famous football brands: Manchester’s City and United. Both have been bankrolled by foreign billionaires. How could a humble League One team compete on that playing field? Bury’s Metrolink tram service to central Manchester, which has made the town more attractive for young commuters, might also have encouraged football fans to forgo Gigg Lane, and instead travel to the Etihad or Old Trafford to see the Premier League’s highest-paid players, Kevin De Bruyne (£350,000 a week) at City and Paul Pogba (£290,000) at United.
Today, football typifies British inequality. At Tottenham Hostpur’s new stadium, for instance, the elite “H Club” pay an estimated £30,000 a season for their seats, and are offered carefully sourced half-time cheeses and the chance to drink beers from the in-stadium microbrewery. Bury, by contrast, is not a club of big cheeses. Bury was formed from teams of football-loving Victorian churchgoers. It was brought low by Mammon: ending life as anasset-stripped shell, sunk by debt and mortgaged to a company based in Malta via the British Virgin Islands.
It’s too soon to say if Bury FC’s fanbase can bring the club back from the dead. AFC Wimbledon’s rise from the ashes may offer a precedent. For now, an unfashionable club in a small English town has been destroyed by speculative capital while the football authorities paid insufficient attention. Bury deserved better.
How Bury FC gave Bhaichung Bhutia opportunity to make history in English football
Bury FC: Where Bhaichung Bhutia made history
Bury FC became the first English club to sign a player from the Indian sub-continent when they signed Bhaichung Bhutia from East Bengal. Bhutia initially signed a three-year deal and became the first Indian to sign a professional contract for a European club. It was on October 3, 1999, that Bhutia managed to make his debut for the club, coming on as a substitute for Ian Lawson. He then created history by providing an assist to Darren Bullock in the team's second goal of the game.
April 15, 2000, saw him become the first Indian to score a league goal in English football, finding the net against Chesterfield. With his last appearance coming in the 3–0 defeat to Swindon Town on 27 August 2001, Bhutia made a total of 37 league appearances (46 overall) for the club, scoring three goals. He then returned to playing for India with Mohun Bagan in 2004.
"It has always been my dream to play in Europe, particularly in England. When I was growing up most youngsters wanted to be cricketers but my first love has always been football. It feels great to be in England and with Bury," he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
Bury FC Records:
Bury have become the first club since Maidstone in 1992 to have been expelled from the Football League but they do take with themselves some records.
Bury hold the record of registering the biggest win the history of FA Cup, jointly with Manchester City, having hammered Derby County 6-0 in the final of the competition in 1903.
The year 2005 saw Bury make history becoming the first and till date the only club to score 1,000 goals in all of the four professional football tiers in England.
It is often heard in modern football that the club isn't ambitious enough in buying top quality players or paying high wages to retain their top stars. The fall of Bury FC could serve as a lesson.
Vietnam star Doan Van Hau to join Dutch first division club(Eredivisie) SC Heerenveen and will be third Vietnam player to play in European league.
First one is Le Cong Vinh who played in Belgium top tier. And Cong Phuong is 2nd player. He has been loaned to Belgian club side, Sint-Truiden on a one-year loan.
Ansu Fati becomes youngest ever FC Barcelona goalscorer in La Liga
With his header against Osasuna, Ansu Fati becomes the youngest every Barça player to score in La Liga. The striker, at the age of just 16 years and 304 days now leads the list of most precocious goalscorers in a Barça shirt. The Guinea Bissau born striker only made his first team debut in the 5-2 win against Betis in the previous league fixture, playing 12 mnutes of the second half in the win at Camp Nou. After making a good impression, Ernesto Valverde included him in the squad for the trip to El Sadar and he appeared at half time as a substitute replacing Nélson Semedo. Just six minutes into the second half Ansu headed home Carles Pérez's cross to hand Barça the equaliser.
At 16 years and 304 days, Ansu Fati takes over the record from Bojan Krkic who scored against Villarreal in 2007 at the 17 years and 53 days. In third place comes none other than Leo Messi after his goal against Albacete in 2004 at the age of 17 years and 312 days, Thiago Alcántara who scored in 2019 at 18 years and 315 is fourth and fifth is Munir El Haddadi after his goal against Elche in 2014 aged 18 years and 358 days.
Third youngest in league history
Futhermore, Ansu Fati becomes third on the all time list of youngest goalscorers in la Liga. The Barça youngster is behind leader Fabrice Olinga who scored at the age of 16 years and 98 days for Málaga and 2010 and Iker Muniain who scored for Athletic Club in 2009 at the age of 16 years and 289 days.
Europe's top five leagues spend record £5bn in summer signings
The top five leagues in Europe spent a combined record £5bn in the 2019 summer transfer window, an increase of £800m on the previous record set in 2018, according to Deloitte.
Premier League clubs spent £1.41bn, following a flurry of signings on their deadline day on 8 August.
Spanish top flight clubs paid £1.24bn in 2019, doubling spending from 2017.
Clubs in Italy's Serie A, Germany's Bundesliga and France's Ligue 1 all set new transfer records in their leagues.
La Liga sides spent a combined total of more than £1bn for the first time, with Antoine Griezmann moving from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona for £108m, Joao Felix switching from Benfica to Atletico for £113m and Eden Hazard transferring from Chelsea to Real Madrid for £90m.
Scottish Premiership sides spent an estimated £25m, with Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers making up the majority of that total, while other top teams utilised loan and free transfer methods for players.
Dan Jones, head of Deloitte's sport business group, says the record spending is "unprecedented" and has been driven by a number of factors, including additional money from new television contracts, and squad revamps resulting from managerial changes.
"The improved financial performance of European football clubs has also reduced the need for clubs to sell their best players," Jones said.
He added, though, that Premier League spending has fallen.
"Looking to the Premier League, this summer's player transfer expenditure fell narrowly short of record levels, and net spend was at its lowest level since summer 2015," he said.
"While this level of net spend as a proportion of revenue of 11% is the lowest since summer 2011, we still expect wages to increase at a greater rate than revenue in the next couple of seasons."
The European transfer window closed on 2 September.
Yet Liverpool made a profit this transfer window and have only the 12th highest net spend among PL clubs over the last 4 years since Klopp became manager.
Comments
Goa PL 13-14 I think
Why Daniele De Rossi has joined Boca Juniors after leaving Roma
Towards the end of their careers, many modern footballing greats look to wind down their playing days in China or the United States -- as well as the financial inducements, there is the pleasure of boosting the culture of football in places where the game has not been historically strong.
Daniele De Rossi has taken a different path. After spending two decades at Roma, the 36-year-old Italian midfielder has opted to cross the Atlantic and join Buenos Aires giants Boca Juniors. There will be nothing new in this South American adventure, instead, De Rossi will be playing in one of the world's most famous old stadiums: La Bombonera. Nicknamed, La Bonbonera (the chocolate box) because the stands go straight up, with one layer right on top of another, Boca's ground is a worldwide symbol of old-style football passion.
The Italian comes across as a fan, following a dream and swapping the European heatwave for the rigours of Argentina's winter because he wants to experience the atmosphere from a privileged point of view: out on the pitch.
So living in Argentina should not prove a massive culture shock for De Rossi and his family. The problems of adaptation are perhaps more likely to take place on the field.
Diego Simeone, for example, forecast that Boca's new signing will have problems, and drew on his own experience of returning to Argentina as a veteran midfielder in 2005 after 16 years in Europe. "It's not going to be easy for De Rossi," he said. "He comes from an Italian culture that is very tactical. The spaces are reduced, with the lines of the team close together. In Argentine football the teams are much more open, and this is complicated for those who are not used to it. It happened to me when I came back from Spain. The spaces on the field in Argentina were much more open, and I found this very hard."
Similar doubts were expressed a few years back when Dutch master Clarence Seedorf decided to have a late career adventure in Brazil with Botafogo.
Seedorf got round the problem with a mixture of talent, experience and sheer force of personality. He read the game wonderfully well, identifying in which part of the field he could be most effective in and adjusted his position accordingly. The action appeared to take place wherever Seedorf was, and he appeared to be enjoying himself immensely, so he perhaps regrets the decision to retire when the call suddenly came to go and coach AC Milan.
Will a World Cup winner like De Rossi have a similar impact? He has clearly not come for an extended holiday; the move was set up by Boca director and former centre-back Nicolas Burdisso, a former teammate of De Rossi at Roma.
In addition to the matchday experience, Burdisso has sold De Rossi on the quality of the club's structure. Initially it was thought that De Rossi's contract would only take him up to the end of the year, but it seems that he has signed on until 2021.
That should be plenty of time to create history and make some memories that he can tell his grandchildren.
The Guardian view on the collapse of Bury FC: a tragedy bigger than mere football
Football is about more than money, however much lucre has come to shape the beautiful game. Over this summer, English top-tier clubs had spent a total of £1.41bn, with Manchester United shelling out a world record fee on a defender of £80m for Leicester City’s Harry Maguire. Yet these amounts and the teams that spend them are symptoms of an unsentimental business model that is indifferent to tradition, place and practice. It is eroding the sense that many football clubs are a central and vital part of people’s identity.
That is why the end of Bury Football Club after 134 years is important. Before it was shut, 400 supporters had volunteered to mop and sweep the Gigg Lane ground hoping to show that the true value of their football club cannot be counted in pounds and pennies. Bury FC was the town’s pride until 5pm on Tuesday. The club disappeared after prospective buyers said that there were “systemic failings” that could not be overcome. With capitalism increasingly dominating community as the driving force in modern football, other clubs could risk a similar fate.
Today, football typifies British inequality. At Tottenham Hostpur’s new stadium, for instance, the elite “H Club” pay an estimated £30,000 a season for their seats, and are offered carefully sourced half-time cheeses and the chance to drink beers from the in-stadium microbrewery. Bury, by contrast, is not a club of big cheeses. Bury was formed from teams of football-loving Victorian churchgoers. It was brought low by Mammon: ending life as anasset-stripped shell, sunk by debt and mortgaged to a company based in Malta via the British Virgin Islands.
It’s too soon to say if Bury FC’s fanbase can bring the club back from the dead. AFC Wimbledon’s rise from the ashes may offer a precedent. For now, an unfashionable club in a small English town has been destroyed by speculative capital while the football authorities paid insufficient attention. Bury deserved better.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/28/the-guardian-view-on-the-collapse-of-bury-fc-a-tragedy-bigger-than-mere-football
How Bury FC gave Bhaichung Bhutia opportunity to make history in English football
Bury FC: Where Bhaichung Bhutia made history
Bury FC became the first English club to sign a player from the Indian sub-continent when they signed Bhaichung Bhutia from East Bengal. Bhutia initially signed a three-year deal and became the first Indian to sign a professional contract for a European club. It was on October 3, 1999, that Bhutia managed to make his debut for the club, coming on as a substitute for Ian Lawson. He then created history by providing an assist to Darren Bullock in the team's second goal of the game.
April 15, 2000, saw him become the first Indian to score a league goal in English football, finding the net against Chesterfield. With his last appearance coming in the 3–0 defeat to Swindon Town on 27 August 2001, Bhutia made a total of 37 league appearances (46 overall) for the club, scoring three goals. He then returned to playing for India with Mohun Bagan in 2004.
"It has always been my dream to play in Europe, particularly in England. When I was growing up most youngsters wanted to be cricketers but my first love has always been football. It feels great to be in England and with Bury," he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
Bury FC Records:
Bury have become the first club since Maidstone in 1992 to have been expelled from the Football League but they do take with themselves some records.
It is often heard in modern football that the club isn't ambitious enough in buying top quality players or paying high wages to retain their top stars. The fall of Bury FC could serve as a lesson.
Ansu Fati becomes youngest ever FC Barcelona goalscorer in La Liga
With his header against Osasuna, Ansu Fati becomes the youngest every Barça player to score in La Liga. The striker, at the age of just 16 years and 304 days now leads the list of most precocious goalscorers in a Barça shirt. The Guinea Bissau born striker only made his first team debut in the 5-2 win against Betis in the previous league fixture, playing 12 mnutes of the second half in the win at Camp Nou. After making a good impression, Ernesto Valverde included him in the squad for the trip to El Sadar and he appeared at half time as a substitute replacing Nélson Semedo. Just six minutes into the second half Ansu headed home Carles Pérez's cross to hand Barça the equaliser.
At 16 years and 304 days, Ansu Fati takes over the record from Bojan Krkic who scored against Villarreal in 2007 at the 17 years and 53 days. In third place comes none other than Leo Messi after his goal against Albacete in 2004 at the age of 17 years and 312 days, Thiago Alcántara who scored in 2019 at 18 years and 315 is fourth and fifth is Munir El Haddadi after his goal against Elche in 2014 aged 18 years and 358 days.
Third youngest in league history
Futhermore, Ansu Fati becomes third on the all time list of youngest goalscorers in la Liga. The Barça youngster is behind leader Fabrice Olinga who scored at the age of 16 years and 98 days for Málaga and 2010 and Iker Muniain who scored for Athletic Club in 2009 at the age of 16 years and 289 days.
https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/news/1332598/ansu-fati-becomes-youngest-ever-fc-barcelona-goalscorer-in-la-liga
Europe's top five leagues spend record £5bn in summer signings
The top five leagues in Europe spent a combined record £5bn in the 2019 summer transfer window, an increase of £800m on the previous record set in 2018, according to Deloitte.
Premier League clubs spent £1.41bn, following a flurry of signings on their deadline day on 8 August.
Spanish top flight clubs paid £1.24bn in 2019, doubling spending from 2017.
Clubs in Italy's Serie A, Germany's Bundesliga and France's Ligue 1 all set new transfer records in their leagues.
La Liga sides spent a combined total of more than £1bn for the first time, with Antoine Griezmann moving from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona for £108m, Joao Felix switching from Benfica to Atletico for £113m and Eden Hazard transferring from Chelsea to Real Madrid for £90m.
Scottish Premiership sides spent an estimated £25m, with Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers making up the majority of that total, while other top teams utilised loan and free transfer methods for players.
Dan Jones, head of Deloitte's sport business group, says the record spending is "unprecedented" and has been driven by a number of factors, including additional money from new television contracts, and squad revamps resulting from managerial changes.
"The improved financial performance of European football clubs has also reduced the need for clubs to sell their best players," Jones said.
He added, though, that Premier League spending has fallen.
"Looking to the Premier League, this summer's player transfer expenditure fell narrowly short of record levels, and net spend was at its lowest level since summer 2015," he said.
"While this level of net spend as a proportion of revenue of 11% is the lowest since summer 2011, we still expect wages to increase at a greater rate than revenue in the next couple of seasons."
The European transfer window closed on 2 September.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49563624