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Manchester City have the money but Liverpool the class in Fernando Torres
The events of two weeks neatly encapsulate the story of the Premier League's 19th summer.
By Rory Smith
Published: 10:00PM BST 07 Aug 2010
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Simply the best: Fernando Torres will spearhead Liverpool's attack Photo: PA
First, the second week of July, which saw Manchester City finalising a £24 million deal for David Silva, the lavishly gifted Spanish playmaker as Liverpool considered making an offer for Luke Young, the 31-year-old full-back deemed surplus to requirements at Aston Villa.
That Young, erstwhile of Charlton and, in their darker moments, of England, felt that Liverpool could not pay him enough simply added to the impression that the old empire could not cope in the face of the new world order. This would be the summer, it seemed, when City were confirmed as the coming men, and Liverpool condemned as the faded force.
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Vulgar though it may be, it all came down to money. Not greed, as is so lazily assumed, but access to funds. Silva's involvement, indeed, is apt: a year ago, he would have moved to Anfield, but Valencia, his previous employers, tried to prompt an auction Rafael Benítez could not afford to enter.
There were no such worries for City, of course; £24 million is just a quarter of their summer spending so far. Where Valencia proved truculent, hoping to elicit more money from Liverpool, a year ago, City simply blew all others out of the water. The two sides' relative places in the firmament were set.
Or they were, at least, until Sunday night. That was when the summer's narrative changed, as news first broke of Kenny Huang's interest in buying Liverpool.
It was followed by a miasma of information so contradictory that it is impossible to say what the outcome will be, but one thing all parties seem to agree on is that this, after three long, debt-ridden years, after seeing around £170 million paid to the Royal Bank of Scotland for the privilege of having Tom Hicks and George Gillett as owners, is the endgame.
Whoever Huang's backers are - the China Investment Corporation, Franklin Templeton, Dr Yang Guang, Marc Ganis, QSL - he is considered a serious contender to buy the club by Martin Broughton, the chairman, Barclays Capital, the bank appointed to run the sale, and RBS, the principal creditors. They have submitted an outline proposal, and a formal offer is expected to follow.
They may be joined in the bidding process by Yahya Kirdi, the Syrian-Canadian businessman apparently funded by money from Sharjah, one of the lesser Emirates. Rhone Group, the New York private equity firm, retain an interest. The Kuwaiti al-Kharafi family, too, are thought to have contacted Barcap.
Privately, sources acquainted with the deal admit it is hard to see Hicks and Gillett clinging on from here. They are due to refinance in October, and they will be asked to pay down a substantial portion of the debt. That seems beyond their means. The penury that forced Benítez to pull out of a deal for Silva, that allowed City their showpiece signing a year later, may soon be at an end.
And so to the second week which defined the summer. In the first few days of August, as City haggled with Aston Villa over whether James Milner, an essentially unproven midfielder, was worth £24 million or £30 million, Fernando Torres, the world's finest striker, pledged his continuing allegiance to Liverpool.
Cue rejoicing in the streets. If City capture Milner, as they seem set to in the next 48 hours, they would take their summer spending to £100 million for the second season running. Mario Balotelli's arrival would take that to £125 million. More may follow. Yet the impression remains that, despite spending just £3.9 million, and for all Joe Cole is a fine player, in Torres Liverpool have made the signing of the summer.
Here, too, is an illustration of the relative positions of each club. City have enjoyed a productive summer in the transfer market. Silva is the jewel in the crown, but Yaya Toure, Aleksandar Kolarov and Jerome Boateng are all intelligent additions. Milner and Balotelli, too, would contribute to making Mancini's squad the strongest in the league.
But none are players of the calibre of Torres or Steven Gerrard, another Liverpool loyalist whose devotion has been secured this summer. City have spent a huge sum under Arab ownership because of their relative position when Sheikh Mansour arrived: they needed to sign good Premier League players, and are now upgrading to Champions League versions.
That their progress has been incremental was both the correct approach and the only one. They will not, though, acquire a superstar until they are in the Champions League, possibly on a regular basis. Liverpool already have the loyalty of two, plus an array of respected internationals. Should they possess money, they would not need to spend it in the volumes that City have.
That Roy Hodgson last week alluded to his disinterest in a spree when asked who he would buy with a blank cheque and a blank canvas - as City have enjoyed - will come as a relief to those on the Kop, for all their weariness of American-induced poverty. It is most unbecoming of aristocrats to behave like arrivistes.
Mimicking City is simply not required, not least because Liverpool do not need a step-by-step approach. With money, they could aim straight for the stratosphere, if they so desired.
Perhaps, then, the week that posterity will judge the most pivotal is yet to arrive. It is the week Liverpool finally throw off their Yankee oppressors, the week that may define not just this summer or this season, but the old empire's future, and the new order's fate.
The events of two weeks neatly encapsulate the story of the Premier League's 19th summer.
By Rory Smith
Published: 10:00PM BST 07 Aug 2010
Rory's Twitter
10 Comments
Simply the best: Fernando Torres will spearhead Liverpool's attack Photo: PA First, the second week of July, which saw Manchester City finalising a £24 million deal for David Silva, the lavishly gifted Spanish playmaker as Liverpool considered making an offer for Luke Young, the 31-year-old full-back deemed surplus to requirements at Aston Villa.
That Young, erstwhile of Charlton and, in their darker moments, of England, felt that Liverpool could not pay him enough simply added to the impression that the old empire could not cope in the face of the new world order. This would be the summer, it seemed, when City were confirmed as the coming men, and Liverpool condemned as the faded force.
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Vulgar though it may be, it all came down to money. Not greed, as is so lazily assumed, but access to funds. Silva's involvement, indeed, is apt: a year ago, he would have moved to Anfield, but Valencia, his previous employers, tried to prompt an auction Rafael Benítez could not afford to enter.
There were no such worries for City, of course; £24 million is just a quarter of their summer spending so far. Where Valencia proved truculent, hoping to elicit more money from Liverpool, a year ago, City simply blew all others out of the water. The two sides' relative places in the firmament were set.
Or they were, at least, until Sunday night. That was when the summer's narrative changed, as news first broke of Kenny Huang's interest in buying Liverpool.
It was followed by a miasma of information so contradictory that it is impossible to say what the outcome will be, but one thing all parties seem to agree on is that this, after three long, debt-ridden years, after seeing around £170 million paid to the Royal Bank of Scotland for the privilege of having Tom Hicks and George Gillett as owners, is the endgame.
Whoever Huang's backers are - the China Investment Corporation, Franklin Templeton, Dr Yang Guang, Marc Ganis, QSL - he is considered a serious contender to buy the club by Martin Broughton, the chairman, Barclays Capital, the bank appointed to run the sale, and RBS, the principal creditors. They have submitted an outline proposal, and a formal offer is expected to follow.
They may be joined in the bidding process by Yahya Kirdi, the Syrian-Canadian businessman apparently funded by money from Sharjah, one of the lesser Emirates. Rhone Group, the New York private equity firm, retain an interest. The Kuwaiti al-Kharafi family, too, are thought to have contacted Barcap.
Privately, sources acquainted with the deal admit it is hard to see Hicks and Gillett clinging on from here. They are due to refinance in October, and they will be asked to pay down a substantial portion of the debt. That seems beyond their means. The penury that forced Benítez to pull out of a deal for Silva, that allowed City their showpiece signing a year later, may soon be at an end.
And so to the second week which defined the summer. In the first few days of August, as City haggled with Aston Villa over whether James Milner, an essentially unproven midfielder, was worth £24 million or £30 million, Fernando Torres, the world's finest striker, pledged his continuing allegiance to Liverpool.
Cue rejoicing in the streets. If City capture Milner, as they seem set to in the next 48 hours, they would take their summer spending to £100 million for the second season running. Mario Balotelli's arrival would take that to £125 million. More may follow. Yet the impression remains that, despite spending just £3.9 million, and for all Joe Cole is a fine player, in Torres Liverpool have made the signing of the summer.
Here, too, is an illustration of the relative positions of each club. City have enjoyed a productive summer in the transfer market. Silva is the jewel in the crown, but Yaya Toure, Aleksandar Kolarov and Jerome Boateng are all intelligent additions. Milner and Balotelli, too, would contribute to making Mancini's squad the strongest in the league.
But none are players of the calibre of Torres or Steven Gerrard, another Liverpool loyalist whose devotion has been secured this summer. City have spent a huge sum under Arab ownership because of their relative position when Sheikh Mansour arrived: they needed to sign good Premier League players, and are now upgrading to Champions League versions.
That their progress has been incremental was both the correct approach and the only one. They will not, though, acquire a superstar until they are in the Champions League, possibly on a regular basis. Liverpool already have the loyalty of two, plus an array of respected internationals. Should they possess money, they would not need to spend it in the volumes that City have.
That Roy Hodgson last week alluded to his disinterest in a spree when asked who he would buy with a blank cheque and a blank canvas - as City have enjoyed - will come as a relief to those on the Kop, for all their weariness of American-induced poverty. It is most unbecoming of aristocrats to behave like arrivistes.
Mimicking City is simply not required, not least because Liverpool do not need a step-by-step approach. With money, they could aim straight for the stratosphere, if they so desired.
Perhaps, then, the week that posterity will judge the most pivotal is yet to arrive. It is the week Liverpool finally throw off their Yankee oppressors, the week that may define not just this summer or this season, but the old empire's future, and the new order's fate.
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