Why doomsayers need to relax

The whole transfer ban imposed on Chelsea by FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber has been the topic of much discussion this past week. A complaint was filed by FC Lens immediately after Gael Kakuta broke his contract to sign for chelsea in July 2007, and the verdict was given by FIFA two years henceforth, provoking angry reactions from the chelsea camp and making the headlines its own. While the end to this saga is yet to be seen, it has brought focus to the ongoing state of affairs at Chelsea and the man (allegedly) responsible, Frank Arnesen. Arnesen left Tottenham to join as Academy Director at Chelsea four years ago. He was promoted to the role of Sporting Director after the arrival of Ancelotti this summer. Famed for bringing exciting youth talent to the Spurs, he was quoted as saying “I want to find the next John Terry” while joining Chelsea but has failed to do so. In the four years as Academy Director, Arnesen has failed to produce a single senior team regular from the academy. Despite being repeatedly questioned on his youth policy at the club by Jose Mourinho in early 2007, and numerous poaching stories to his name (Nathan Porritt of Boro, Ashley Cole from arsenal, John Obi Mikel from United), Abramovich has stuck by him as a loyal servant and stood up for him. The fact that their academy graduates are struggling to find a place in their first team for so long speaks a story in itself. Whereas United have a strong youth development policy and it is no surprise that our young academy graduates like Darron Gibson, Johnny Evans and Danny Welbeck find a place to play in the first team as part of the excellent squad maintained by Sir Alex Ferguson. These are homegrown players, not pinched from any youth academy, mind you. Apart from them, we have Kieran Richardson, Chris Eagles, Richard Eckersley and David Jones among others who will play in the Premier League this season.

The victory of FC Lens has given hope to Le Havre AC who are crying foul over Manchester United’s recent acquisition of Paul Pogba, giving rise to fears that FIFA will be just as harsh on United, but in my opinion that fails to be the case. Especially since there are no past records of controversial poaching incidents against United, as is the case with Chelsea, and more particularly, Arnesen. Hence, it is my opinion that the decision taken by the DRC will bear these things in mind, but that is IF AT ALL UNITED ARE FOUND TO HAVE BROKEN UEFA GUIDELINES. So cheer up! We cant end up as bad as Chelsea for sure!