Chelsea FC have in recent years joined Arsenal in the premise that players over the age of 30 shouldn’t be given multi-year contracts much to the detriment of their own teams.
When Chelsea sold Nemanja Matic to Manchester United this summer many people around the league scratched their heads. Why would Chelsea FC send such an influential player to another club and Premier League rival on the back of such a strong season? The reason is because like Arsenal have practiced poorly for the past 20 years they have miscalculated the importance of players in the 30 year age group.
Nemanja Matic is 29 years old and was going to be 30 next summer. Matic wanted a multi-year contract and that is something that Chelsea, in a policy adopted idiotically from Arsenal, simply will not do for a player over the age of 30. It is a truly ridiculous, outdated and self-defeating policy. Why Chelsea would adopt a policy from a club that hasn’t won the Premier League in over a decade or the Champions League ever is beyond me.
If we look at squads that have won the Champions League in the past 5 years. They have been comprised of a combination of younger and older players not players all in the same age group. Real Madrid during their 2016-2017 season had six players aged 30 or older in the team. During their 2015-2016 season they had six as well.
When Barcelona won the tournament in 2014-2015 they had six also. Finally when Bayern Munich won during the 2012-2013 season edition their team had four in their team. Chelsea during their glorious and unbelievable 2011-2012 triumph had eight! Didier Drogba who essentially won that trophy for Chelsea on his own was 34 years of age!
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In order to win the Champions league a team needs a certain amount of experience. Even if they don’t play too often they need to be in the squad for the purpose of professionalism and integrity. It’s insulting to players over a certain age to cast off their wealth of knowledge and experience by saying they can only have single year contracts. It simply isn’t the case. Would it not be worth it to have another year of salary to pay a loyal player in exchange for a champions league trophy?
Arsenal lost Patrick Viera, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Frederik Ljunberg to their ridiculous rule or fear of it eventually ruining their careers. Now look at Arsenal, they haven’t won a legitimate trophy in over a decade.
For players to succeed they need to be offered support and security by their clubs if not then why risk health and harm for them? If a player is offered a two-year contract with a club option that is a very good deal for both sides. The player has an extra year in case of injury and club has one in case they perform well. If after two years the deal has worked out for both parties then the third option provides a perfect safety net for both sides.
Real Madrid understand how to treat their players and it’s why they inspire such loyalty. Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo sign new five-year deal almost every 2 years. Building an atmosphere of harmony and trust in a competitive environment is just as important as squad rotation if not more so. It makes the club a more appealing destination.
Chelsea have in recent years begun to be the sort of club who has a bid accepted and then gets turned down by the player. They need to for the good of the club fix the way they are perceived as cold and calculating. Football is an arms race.
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A talent arms race. You need to acquire as much talent as humanly possible every single second. The moment you aren’t a desirable destination anymore you’ve lost the race already.