The notion of the pot calling the kettle black comes up often in football, and the Premiership especially. The latest incident is Chelsea’s scout Piet de Visser claiming that United have overrated Nani’s long term ability and paid over the odds for him,
“Of course we knew about Nani for a long time,” he told Tien TV.
“He is a talent, but if you look at the European Championship in Portugal and the current tournament in the Netherlands – Nani has not shown any progress.
“Therefore I think Manchester United have paid too much money for a player who has talent, but has not developed since last year.”
Chelsea completely redefined the notion of overpaying for players, often with reckless abandon, and its amusing to hear anyone from the club pointing fingers at another team. But even de Visser’s point about Nani seems strange for a professional scout – surely the ability to spot a player not only looks at how they’ve developed at their current side but also identifying how much they would develop under your club’s tutelage?
Would Cristiano Ronaldo have been the same player had he stayed at Sporting Lisbon? Would Joe Cole have developed so much as an all round player if he was still at West Ham rather than the firm hand of Jose Mourinho and the Chelsea coaching staff?