La Liga Weekly

Give the English papers a chance and they’ll have you believing that half of Barcelona’s players, or practically all of Real Madrid’s, are in for any one of the clubs in England. Don’t get me started about managers either. I mean, Pep Guardiola is a Camp Nou legend, his family are blaugrana through and through, and he’s supposed to give that up for being Sir Alex Ferguson’s second? No disrespect to the so-called biggest club in the world, but no matter how many Chinese they fit into form-fitting Nike kits, they will never capture the imagination of an entire ethnic group, never represent themselves politically, socially and linguistically for their supporters enough to call themselves mes que un club. 

So, call this series a bit of a reality check, a bit of perspective for an island of sheer, British myopia, especially concerning Spain and Spanish football. Here’s the first topic: English Players.

Can you think of the last English player to have a significant on the field impact in Spain? You’d have to go back aways, the last “golden age” of English players barely made a dent when they went overseas: Beckham, Owen and McManaman for Real Madrid. Jonathan Woodgate for them as well? Maybe if you go further back and say Gary Linekar for Barcelona. The greats could have played anywhere in the world, Bobby Moore was skillful enough, and so too Bobby Charlton, but why is it that so few of today’s “great players” have taken it upon themselves to prove themselves away from home?

The obvious answer is that England is home, sure, and in the past, adapting to the Spanish culture, language and lifestyle has been difficult for most.  Some will also add economics; the average English player earns more in the Premier League and is more expensive than the average “foreigner”; the Premier League over-values the homegrown player, but what about the top level athlete? You don’t think that Real Madrid would have paid extra if they believed that Wayne Rooney had been a better player than Cristiano Ronaldo? Is it simply that Cristiano wanted out and Wayne would never have considered leaving at all, or could the answer be that he just isn’t as good as CRon is for the brand off football played in Spain?

Wayne Rooney is the best British player of his generation with a special combination of talents that suits the English game perfectly. His game is about power off the ball, tracking back and muscling it through the opponent, finding the open space and taking his opponent on man-to-man. His balance is superb and what makes him stand out further is his unequaled ball skills. In England. He is a very strange combination of winger/midfielder/support striker that works for the haphazard nature of the English game. Take him out of his comfort zone, ask him to play in league where possession and ball-control are valued more, where buildup play is more measured and less direct, and frankly where defenders leave less unattended space to run into, and the pundits would scream that “you’re reigning in his talent, he has to express his individual qualities.”

You’ll disagree with me, which is your right of course, but consider this fact: with contract talks being held this week between Rooney’s representatives and Manchester United, reports started to surface from the English papers that both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona were considering a move for the Scouse striker. When asked in the Spanish papers however, neither club had any keen interest for the player, and that’s considering the fact that both clubs need players on that left wing/support striker’s role: Real Madrid are in for Franck Ribery instead and Barcelona were even considering Robinho. When pressed for explanations both Spanish clubs blamed the player’s reps for stirring up a contract dispute, knowing full well that neither the club nor the player took the threat seriously.