Once again a Premiership player has hit the headlines for publicly criticising his team. Patrick Viera, French World Cup winner, has gone on record assaying that his team, Arsenal, are just not good enough to win anything, and because of that, he wants to leave.
But like Nicolas Anelka before him, instead of playing to the best of his ability, attempting to make Arsenal a better team, he has gone public, insulting the club, and saying that he wants to move away from them.
Let's take a quick look at Veira's career before he moved to Arsenal.As a 20 year-old unknown, he was merely on the fringes of the Inter Milan team. No one in England knew who he was when Arsene Wenger paid £3.5 million for him.
Wenger, & Arsenal, turned Viera into a world-class player. While at Highbury he has won major domestic honours, played in European finals, and become a World Cup & European Championship winner.
Yet this does not seem enough for him. I can understand his desire to be successful, but at the age of 24 he has already achieved far more than many of his current peers.
By going public in the way he has, he has made himself look greedy and foolish. Instead of insulting the club in the press he should have kept his feelings behind closed doors.
There is talk of Manchester United putting in a bid for him, but I don't think this will happen. Although they are always looking for world class players, they always keep an eye on the temperament of any possible purchases. Viera would not fit in well here.
So, if Viera gets his "dream move" to a club like Barcelona or Juventus, what would stop him stamping his little feet and throwing a paddy if his new team didn't sweep all before them? Anelka did this at Real Madrid. Viera could do the same for any prospective team.
And so, after years of watching football, and seeing the likes of Anelka and Pierra Van Hooijdonk act the same way, it begins to make you wonder - is there such a thing as loyalty in football anymore?
But like Nicolas Anelka before him, instead of playing to the best of his ability, attempting to make Arsenal a better team, he has gone public, insulting the club, and saying that he wants to move away from them.
Let's take a quick look at Veira's career before he moved to Arsenal.As a 20 year-old unknown, he was merely on the fringes of the Inter Milan team. No one in England knew who he was when Arsene Wenger paid £3.5 million for him.
Wenger, & Arsenal, turned Viera into a world-class player. While at Highbury he has won major domestic honours, played in European finals, and become a World Cup & European Championship winner.
Yet this does not seem enough for him. I can understand his desire to be successful, but at the age of 24 he has already achieved far more than many of his current peers.
By going public in the way he has, he has made himself look greedy and foolish. Instead of insulting the club in the press he should have kept his feelings behind closed doors.
There is talk of Manchester United putting in a bid for him, but I don't think this will happen. Although they are always looking for world class players, they always keep an eye on the temperament of any possible purchases. Viera would not fit in well here.
So, if Viera gets his "dream move" to a club like Barcelona or Juventus, what would stop him stamping his little feet and throwing a paddy if his new team didn't sweep all before them? Anelka did this at Real Madrid. Viera could do the same for any prospective team.
And so, after years of watching football, and seeing the likes of Anelka and Pierra Van Hooijdonk act the same way, it begins to make you wonder - is there such a thing as loyalty in football anymore?
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