How should We Judge a Footballer?

Before I begin, I want you to know that I am entirely aware of how most of us judge a player.  We judge him quite simply on whether or not he plays well.  If he plays well, we love him, he’s the “next” (insert club legend here), or he’s in line for a big money move to a big club.  God forbid this human athlete does not play well, as then he’s branded a failure, not fit to wear the club’s jersey, or deemed to only care about the money he’s being paid.  It is this very final point, regarding players’ wages that I want to explore here…
Football today is a money spinning merry go round, a revolving door of players coming in and out.  Manchester City spending £30 million on one player can set off a spiral of transfers shaking up the squads of multiple clubs.  With the new found riches of clubs like Manchester City, PSG, Liverpool, QPR, Anzhi etc we can expect to see some lavish transfer activity this summer.  Throw on top of that the added value a player acquires by performing well in a handful of games at the European Championships, and it proves to be another busy summer glued to Sky Sports News patiently waiting for that yellow “breaking news” scroll bar to roll across the bottom of the screen.
As the transfer kittys are increased, so are players’ values.  Clubs can very easily be held to ransom over players’ values, and so the merry go round is set in motion which brings me nicely to my main point…

Should players be judged according to their price tags?  Is it fair for players to be expected to perform based on how much a club paid for them?  My answer, simply, is no.  What a club is willing to pay for a player, should have no bearing on how he performs.  A player has absolutely no say in how much he is sold for.  The buying club comes in with a price, and the selling club negotiates based on a combination of how much they value that player AND how much they believe they can get for that player.  Let’s start with Jordan Henderson…

Shortly after announcing he was going to buy young British players to rebuild Liverpool, the de throned King Kenny launched his bid for Henderson.  I think we can all see Sunderland clearly held Liverpool to ransom, BUT, this is not Henderson’s fault.  He is a Sunderland boy, and never asked to be sold for £16 million.  What Jordan Henderson (and his agent of course) does have a say in, is what he gets paid (weekly) by Liverpool.  Along with the obvious performance based criteria, these are the factors on which Henderson should be judged.  If he asks to be paid £60,000 per week, he should then be expected to deliver a performance deserving of that amount each time he plays.  After all, he feels he is worth that money.  Using this as my starting point, let me share with you some interesting wage statistics that back up why I am either very critical or very supportive of certain English Premier League players.  All wage stats are based on figures for the start of 2011/2012 season.

Our case in point, Henderson, is on £70,000 per week. In his first season at Liverpool, he scored two goals and had one assist in 37 games.  A good return for a man who thinks he’s worth £70,000 per week?

Sticking with Liverpool, let’s not judge Stewart Downing on his similar £16 million price tag, but more on the fact he is on £80,000 per week. In his debut term for the Reds in which he played 36 Premier League games, Downing neither scored nor set up a single goal.  For a man receiving £80,000 per week and particularly for a winger whose primary role is to supply strikers with chances and ultimately goals, I do not think it unreasonable to expect at least one assist.
Even further up the Liverpool payroll is Dutchman Dirk Kuyt on £85,000 per week, a significant sum of money for a man who is largely seen as a worker rather than a creator or finisher, despite the fact he plays in attacking positions. He contributed two goals and one assist in 34 games.  So basically Jordan Henderson but £15,000 per week more expensive!


Let’s compare these “big club” players to their counterparts at a much “smaller club” in Swansea City. Scott Sinclair (in my England squad if you read my first blog post) earns, in Premier League terms, an unremarkable £14,000 per week.  He managed eight goals and four assists in 38 games while Nathan Dyer, on the same money as Sinclair, notched five goals and produced two assists, and Gylfi Sigurdsson (on loan from Hoffenheim), is on £1,000 per week less than the English pair and contributed seven goals and three assists in only 18 games.  Combine the wages of these three together for a total of £41,000 and you still need to raise £39,000 per week to be able to pay Stewart Downing to score nothing and provide nothing.  Somebody get me my checkbook…

For the record, the highest paid player in the Swansea squad is on £14,000, and the lowest paid member of the Liverpool first team is Jonjo Shelvey on £12,000.  Maybe he could get a game for Swansea?  His wage demands are similar to Swansea’s top earners, but his goal return is similar to that of Liverpool’s midfielders.

Let’s now take a look at English strikers. Wayne Rooney is on £180,000, and registered a pretty decent return of 27 goals and four assists from the Premier League season.  Providing you have the money to spare, that seems like value for money.  But is Jermaine Defoe worth £50,000 per week for 11 goals and one assist?  Did you know Defoe has commanded £30.5 million in transfer fees (although we don’t judge on that, remember?) in his career, and has only ever scored more than 15 league goals in a season once. Big Peter Crouch fancies himself with £45,000 per week, but is 10 goals and two assists worth that?  Grant Holt commands £12,000 per week, and has scored 15 times with two assists.  Peter Crouch has NEVER scored that many goals in a single English Premier League season and it’s a safe bet that in his Liverpool and Spurs days he was earning more than he does at the Brittania. Meanwhile, returning to value shoppers Swansea, Danny Graham is on £14,000 per week and has scored 12 times with two assists.

QPR battled relegation bravely, but should they have been in such a situation if the so called big earners had performed as their wages should suggest?  Joey Barton, £65k per week, 3 goals, 3 assists, countless red cards and over three million tweets.  Shawn Wright-Phillips, £65k per week for a return of no goals and three assists.  Maybe he could get a game for Liverpool?  Bobby Zamora, a man who has only scored more than 8 goals ONCE in his Premier League career is on £65,000 (the magic number for the top QPR boys obviously) and contributed to the QPR relegation cause with a mere two goals and no assists (from January onwards).  Anton Ferdinand (also known as Rio’s brother and that guy John Terry said something nasty to) feels he is worth £40,000 per week, and played 34 times in a defense that shipped 66 goals in 38 games. I don’t think so Anton.  So let’s spare a thought for seven goal, two assist man Jamie Mackie (arguably one of QPR’s top performers this season) who takes home a comparatively minute £10,000 per week.

Finally, and in the classic form of saving the best until the very last, Emile Heskey earns £60,000 per week, and in his Aston Villa career (if you can even call it that) has scored nine goals in 92 appearances.  Newcastle’s transfer window wonder Papiss Demba Cisse meanwhile is on £30,000 per week, and scored more goals in his first 8 eight English Premier League games.

People will not change, and will continue to judge players based on performances, which I agree with wholeheartedly.  However, as players’ price tags inflate, the old “is he really a £20 million pound striker?” or “he’s not living up to his massive price tag” lines start to creep onto the lips of the commentators, pundits and fans. Maybe we should all take a step back and start to judge a player on what he thinks he is worth, and not the inflated market price his selling club managed to get for him.

As always, give us your thoughts and tell me what you think.