The moments after a big game can cast a soccer diehard into a netherworld, especially after a match like today’s between Brazil and Uruguay. As Paulinho’s header flew just under Fernando Muslera’s crossbar, we were forced to come to grips with a premature end. What were we going to do with that next 30, 45 minutes we wanted filled by extra time? Even penalty kicks?
Ray Wilkins and Trevor Brooking provided my methadone via Al-Jazeera’s studio, a comedown that went haywire when the channel’s news update tried to convince me Shakhtar Donetsk wants Liverpool to fork over just under $50 million (€38 million) for attacking midfielder Henrik Mkhitaryan – a 24-year-old attacking midfielder who exploded for 25 Ukrainian league goals in 28 appearances. While that’s a prodigious total, it’s also completely out of character for the Armanian international, a less than one-in-three scorer for country who’d averaged just over eight goals per game during the previous three Premier League season.
And that gets to the crux of the problem. If Mkhitaryan really was a guy who’d proved he was scoring a goal-per-game soccer in the Ukrainian league, maybe you could justify that insane fee. But he’d also need to be replicating that output in Champions League. And at international level. And he would have had to have done so over a number of years. And when he wasn’t helped by a Shakhtar team that ran circles around their domestic competition.
Unfortunately, every piece of context tells is Mkhitaryan isn’t really a 25-goal player, yet that’s the kind of money Shakhtar want.
To put that into perspective, there have been 31 transfer fees in world soccer history that eclipse €38 million. Only 38 players in the whole, illustrious history of world football. Perhaps inflation, more money coming into the game, and the demand for players means that fee is justified for a player like Mkhitaryan, but it seems unlikely.
And when I say “a player like” Mkhitaryan, I don’t want to disparage him too much. He’s an extremely productive player, as his numbers can attest, but when you’re talking about a potential move to Liverpool, there are legitimate questions if a player of relatively normal speed and athleticism can justify that fee once h’es playing in the Premier League. Before last season, he wouldn’t have been on many’s radars, and while you can’t completely discount what he accomplished in 2012-13, there are more than your usual number of questions surrounding Mkhitaryan’s potential step up.
Searching online, there aren’t any sources that corroborate Al Jazeera’s reporting. The Sun’s grab bag puts the number at $38.3 million, while the Mirror says Liverpool’s bid is just under $30 million. Neither are the most reliable sources, so who knows where Shakhatar’s reported demands stand.
If you’re a Reds supporter, you should hope these reports are way off. That, or your club is smart enough to move on from Mkhitaryan. While there is a need to keep upgrading the talent around Anfield, there are better ways to use this money. Players with longer track records, better skillsets, and fewer doubts can be had for $50 million.
