Quote (kbk @ 2 Jan 2017 21:33)
Juventus was offering him something like 4.5M/year which is somewhat standard for the wage structure within the club.
I would've liked to see him at Juventus but I'm not bothered.
Chinese money isn't scary, but AC Milan and Inter both have Chinese owners, I'm sure that will get interesting soon.
well i wouldn't be bothered either, he's a solid player but certainly not one a team of juve's quality depends on for their future. also, i'm sure that a majority of quality players will still rather join a club that offers high level competition and the promise of improving their skill (along with a decent wage obviously) over pure money.
that's not the point though. this thread is not about the chinese league destroying european club football but witsel's choice to put money above everything else... again!
Quote (zarkadon @ 2 Jan 2017 21:32)
He's following Hulk's exact same steps... Witsel isn't the only (let alone worse) case of football mercenary mentality, so I don't think it's fair to call him the ultimate mercenary. There are far worse cases... even my Mallorca boy Eto'o is worse than Witsel.
This doesn't take away the fact that it's a very disappointing attitude on his side... it's just that we've seen worse.
the hulk example is a good one at first glance since he basically made the same steps. however, hulk played 4 years in portugal, won 3 championships and a european title there, which he greatly contributed to, and joined zenit at the same time although he's 2 1/2 years older than witsel. still a mercenary though, no doubt.
about your boy eto'o i don't think he's as bad or even worse. yes, his frequent team changes after his anzhi move (despite being 30 at that point he still was a player in his prime, it most definitely was a mercenary money move and after that it's gotten outright ridiculous) certainly support your argument but i would counter this by pointing to what he had already achieved in his career: he DID play at the highest level and he was very successful there, won the champions league three times(!) with two different clubs, triples with barcelona and inter(!), multiple league and cup titles and being a top 3 player of his continent from a very young age.
my point here is that while he certainly became a mercenary later in his career, he did NOT choose money over competition in a way that you could say this impacted his possible development while being in his prime...