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For
the so-called “bigger clubs” in football, transfer fees mean very little in
these modern times. Manchester City can afford to go out and pay £30 million on
an average player because their owners can afford to spend hundreds of millions
in the pursuit of that Holy Grail: the Premier League trophy. Liverpool are, in
some respects, in the same boat as City, as they can afford to spend a reported
£20 million on Ajax forward Luis Suarez: a player who has torn the
Eredivisie to shreds in recent seasons but is a slight risk given the history
of players coming from the top Dutch league to the top English league.
Blackpool,
on the other hand, cannot afford to throw away money and that includes selling
players for under-valued prices. In total, the Tangerines have spent £320,000
this season, all of which comes from the transfer of Matt Phillips from Wycombe
in late-August. Charlie Adam, Blackpool’s captain and talisman this season, was
signed for £500,000 in August 2009 from Scottish giants Rangers after
a successful loan spell at Bloomfield Road. The Scottish midfielder is now the
subject of a transfer-tussle between his club (or rather, Ian Holloway) and a
few reportedly interested Premier League clubs, including Liverpool.
The
only sticking point, it seems, is the fee of the potential transfer. “If they
are going to offer me £4m, then that is insulting” says Holloway, and he’s
right. Adam may be in the last year of his contract but that doesn’t mean that
Blackpool have to sell him on the cheap. Holloway continues “I think they are
wasting their time because we don't need to sell him at the moment."
Aston
Villa are the other team reportedly interested in capturing the signature of
25-year-old Adam but their offer was supposedly only £3.5 million at most.
Obviously, if Blackpool don’t reach an agreement over the fee then Adam would
be able to leave the club on a free transfer when his contract eventually runs
out, which would be detrimental to Blackpool both to their team and their
finances. But Holloway is right to request more money for Adam; he’s right to
dismiss Liverpool and Villa and ask for some “respect” in the matter.
Adam’s
performance against Sunderland on Saturday was a clear indication as to how
talented the Dundee-born midfielder is. His range of passing was exceptional
throughout (see chalkboard below) and, while some passes may not have quite
found their intended target, the fact that he is looking to
play the pass shows great ambition and great drive. Also, if Adam were in a
better equipped team, his passing ability would be used to better effect. At
Villa, for example, Adam would have the chance to spray balls out to the wings
to either Marc Albrighton or Gabriel Agbonlahor, while Darren Bent, who got off
the mark for his new club on Saturday, would benefit massively from the supply
line that is Charlie Adam.
Central
midfielders that can pass as well as Charlie Adam can do not boast transfer
fees of under £5 million; they are worth much more than that. Adam is one of
the most creative players in the league and whoever acquires his services will
have signed a fantastic architect of attacking football. For a deep-lying
playmaker his ability to score goals isn’t bad either, with sixteen goals to
his name last season in the Championship and four so far this season, all four
of which have come from the penalty spot.
Adam’s
passing has been key to Blackpool’s success this season along with the sheer
work rate that players such as DJ Campbell and Neal Eardley have exerted in the
Premier League since August last year. Adam has been at the heart of
Blackpool’s attacking play this season, shown by the fact that he has made four
assists so far in 2010/11, the same number assists that David Silva has made
for Manchester City and one more than Raul Meireles has made for Liverpool.
Adam has been particularly influential against teams that Blackpool really need
to beat in order to stay up, such as teams like West Brom who, amongst others,
are going to be in the same sort of position as Blackpool come the end of the
season. Against West Brom in November, Adam was again the creator; his
cross-field passing to the right-wing (see chalkboard below) started many attacks
for Holloway’s side. Adam also scored a penalty in that game to give Blackpool
an early lead.
Adam
has all the qualities of a player worth at least £10 million, so why are
Liverpool and Aston Villa (‘bigger’ teams by all accounts) offering Blackpool
an under-valued amount for a player still relatively young and therefore still
has the potential to grow into a fantastic player? Holloway himself says that
“I believe that Charlie is shining and his star will only shine brighter”, and
he’s correct. At twenty-five Charlie Adam could become the versatile, creative
star in the Premier League that Holloway clearly expects him to become.
The
midfielder has now allegedly handed in a transfer request, but Holloway
will still be reluctant to let him go. The only niggling point on Adam’s
transfer is the length of time left on his contract and the amount of money
that Blackpool paid Rangers for the player. Many would argue that, as Blackpool
signed the player for relatively cheap in today’s market, Holloway should
happily accept a £4 million offer, or even a £7
million offer as is now being reported, as this would provide Blackpool
with a big profit. But that doesn’t mean Blackpool should let Adam go for
anything less than £10 million; in today’s market (quite rightly described as
“ridiculous” by Sir Alex Ferguson) Adam is at least worth as much as Southampton
teenager Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, possibly as much as £15 million. This
money would possibly then enable Blackpool to go out and buy a few decent
replacements for Adam as they strive to stay in the Premier League.
Clearly,
no human being is worth millions of pounds but, in the current
transfer climate, surely Charlie Adam commands a higher transfer fee than that
which the top guns in the Premier League are offering? Holloway explains that
“We're not stupid little Blackpool. If you want him, I want the right amount of
money”, and that is how the ‘bigger’ clubs are treating Blackpool with this
offer – stupid and little. Not only is Adam worth more than what has been
quoted, he commands more and, it seems, until Blackpool receive an offer they
deem to be acceptable, Adam won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
This article
originally appeared on sports website Sports Haze but is now unavailable due to
the site closing down.
Picture from kongniffe
