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Daily Mail, Saturday, August 17, 2019Open window
leaves clubs
so vulnerable
@petercrouch
Follow me on
Twitter...PETER CROUCH
IT’S BEEN A TERRIBLE TIME FOR OZIL AND KOLASINAC
The european
Super Cup was a
thriller and I know
what it will have
meant to Liverpool’s
players to have won
in Istanbul. I was at
the club in 2005
when we beat
CSKA Moscow in
the Super Cup and it was a big deal
for everyone. There is some talk
about Liverpool’s defence not being
right but I watched the front three
dazzle once again. Mo Salah looks
so sharp but Sadio Mane (above)
was brilliant. he is primed for
another huge season.MY FINAL WORD
WHAT a shame it was to see
Sol Campbell leave Macclesfield
on Thursday. I know Sol well and
spoke to him a few times about the
difficult situation the club
experienced with regards to their
finances. There were restraints in
terms of being able to buy and some
players didn’t get paid
at times.
Under the circumstances, what he did
last season was absolutely
remarkable. Macclesfield looked dead
and buried when he took over in
November but he ended up keeping
them in League Two. He has proven
that he can do a good job. I hope he
gets another chance very quickly.T
hIS was always going to
happen. The moment it
was decided england’s
transfer window would
close before the rest ofeurope, the potential for huge
problems was there.
Now, with two weeks of August remain-
ing, two of our biggest clubs — Tottenham
and Manchester United — find themselves
in a difficult situation, caught up in specu-
lation about two of their biggest players
with people asking: will they stay or go?
It’s ridiculous. I can understand why
Premier League managers wanted the
window closed before a season starts but
that idea was only going to be successful
if the rest of europe went along
with the idea and closed their
business at the same time.
Clubs in Spain, Germany,
France and Italy all want to
sign our top players, as we
want to sign their best. That’s
why, really, we are all inter-
linked. That’s what made their
need to agree imperative. When
they didn’t, it made situations
with Christian eriksen and Paul
Pogba inevitable.
Both those players had an impact on the
respective victories their sides enjoyed on
the opening weekend. Pogba looked
wonderful at times against Chelsea, while
eriksen was responsible for transforming
the contest against Aston Villa.
The days that followed, though, saw the
gossip around them ramp up. Pogba’s
older brother, Mathias, said it ‘wasn’t
impossible’ that Real Madrid would sign
him before September 2, while eriksen’s
future with Tottenham again attracted
headlines.
Do Mauricio Pochettino and Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer (above) need to be answering
those questions? Of course not. They want
to talk about what those players can give
going forward and how such important
figures will help them achieve their
ambitions.
eriksen is a prime example. he has been
superb for Tottenham and has a manager
who really trusts him. harry Kane scored
the goals that ultimately defeated Villa
but it was only when the Dane came on
that they really went through the gears.
But as he has shown no indication that
he will sign a new contract, you cannot
rule out the idea that Tottenham will sell
him before the window closes. Real Madrid
is the club he wants to join but I wonder
whether it would suit him.
I moved many times during my career
and you realise occasionally the grass isn’t
always greener. Would Madrid suit him?
he wouldn’t be the main man there and
could end up lost. eriksen is talented and
professional but that doesn’t guarantee
anything in Madrid. Look at Gareth Bale.
Pogba, clearly, also wants to go to the
Bernabeu but he should be United’s
driving force. every time I watch
him, I feel there is so much more
to come. he was delightful at
times against Chelsea but he
can be better. I’ve played against
him and you know he has the
ability to step up another gear.
United’s start to the season
was so positive, so you can imag-
ine Solskjaer would have been furi-
ous when the Madrid link re-emerged
— just when he felt he had his squad in
the right place to progress, the sideshow
of speculation returns.
In the respective dressing rooms, I’d say
the players are all relaxed. I’ve been in
teams when someone has wanted to move
and, really, they find themselves on the
end of unrelenting banter. Speculation
doesn’t tend to unsettle a squad.
For an individual and a club, however,
constant speculation is unsettling. Man-
agers are asked about it, fans talk about it,
the media debates it — it means it becomes
background noise that you cannot switch
off until something definitive happens.
had the window closed around europe,
football would have been on the agenda
for Pochettino and eriksen, Solskjaer and
Pogba. Instead, it leaves United and
Tottenham vulnerable.
And it will happen to others in the future
if this rule remains.The situation that Mesut Ozil
and Sead Kolasinac have faced
in recent weeks is absolutely
dreadful and goodness knows
how they must feel.
Footballers enjoy wonderful
lives but, increasingly, they can
feel vulnerable out in public. I
have always been fortunate in
that I get on with the vast
majority of opposition
supporters but others are not
so lucky.
When you are out, you know
that someone will be watching
you. My wife Abbey has shown
me messages people have sent
her on Twitter, saying I’ve
been here or there. The people
who sent the tweets never
bothered to speak to me
themselves, so I found it all
weird.
It makes you realise that you
have to be so careful. I’m
forever telling Abbey not to
put locations on Instagram if
we are away. One little post
and suddenly everyone knows
where you are and what you
are doing. You have to think
about these little things all
the time.
Thankfully I’ve never been in
the dreadful position that Ozil
and Kolasinac experienced
and the level of threat they
were exposed to was reflected
in the fact they have missed
games. They have my utmost
sympathy and I hope they are
back in action soon.
Sad departure: Sol CampbellUp for grabs: Christian Eriksen (left) and Paul Pogba can still move to Europe GETTY IMAGES