The big news these days is dominated by ‘big-headed’ players trying to squeeze every cent out of their current and prospective clubs. Are players getting too arrogant for their own good? Is this a tell-tale sign that the wage and transfer system currently used is outdated?

Frank Lampard has an offer of £135,000 per week for the next four years. If I were him, I would be jumping for joy at being the highest paid individual in the Premier League!

The vast majority of the earth’s population don't earn that in one year! However, what does he do? He baulked at the offer because he wants a five-year deal. I can understand his need for security at the age of 30, but he would definitely retire a millionaire regardless of four or five years for his contract. How about a bit of loyalty for your club?

Emmanuel Adebayor is another want-away player. After a season of 30-plus goals (achieved with many misses in the process), he feels he is the best striker in the world. No doubt that is good for his confidence and morale; however, the way that he is handling his new-found confidence is certainly rubbing off in the wrong way with his flip-flopping of comments to the media.

One moment he is declaring his love for Arsenal while the next moment he is saying that he is open to offers. Some papers are reporting that he has said: “I will play like Thierry Henry when I am paid like Henry” while others waved off the rumour that the player himself wants to leave.

The latest news is that AC Milan and Barcelona are scared off by Arsenal’s valuation while Arsenal may be forced to lower their asking price due to the antics of the player and his agent. In all this mess, the club supporters have labelled the player Ade- “BYE”- yor.

The biggest punk of all is Cristiano Ronaldo. With umpteen Player of the Year awards in his bag, he travelled to Euro '08 thinking he was the best player on earth. He publicly declared that he wanted to “wear the white (of Madrid) instead of the red'' (of Manchester United).

Well, he promptly went on to flop at Euro '08 while Real Madrid made overtures to sign him from United. Mind you, Red Nose was furious and launched a verbal attack on the Spanish club’s antics.

As the clubs fight tooth and nail over the issue, Ronaldo conveniently gets himself injured and will be out for the next 12 weeks. I am no fan of Manchester United, but I do feel for them as they do their best to nurse their errant child back to health, only to face the possibility of losing him to Madrid.

To rub salt into the wound in the case of Ronaldo, Sepp Blatter has publicly declared: “In football there’s too much modern slavery.” The FIFA president said on Sky News:

“I’m always in favour of protecting the player. If he wants to leave, let him. If Ronaldo stays at a club where he does not feel comfortable to play, then it’s not good for him or the club. The important thing is that we should also protect the player. And if they want to play somewhere else, then a solution should be found.” God knows what he was thinking!

Is there any player bigger than a club? Soccer is a game of 11 players on the pitch and many more on the bench. I dread the day when players dictate to a club . . . Or am I seeing it already?  

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