Transfer rebels humbled as season kicks off

Sometimes the most interesting things in football happen off the pitch. Things like transfer sagas, bashing interviews and even footballers’ family troubles, will keep fans glued to their TVs even when the game isn’t being played.Arrogant players like Cristiano Ronaldo will get in the news for anything including a shirtless show on a beach with a pretty model, while meek people like Lionel Messi will still get their share in tax fraud cases.For now, it has been the transfer window that kept us busy as we waited for Saturday’s big kick off of promises to a mouthwatering 2013/14 Barclays Premier League season.Many players have successfully swapped clubs, but there are those that didn’t despite having tried – and for a long period, they are bound to play at least one more season in the club they wanted to abandon.This means that we are going to hear quite an overwhelming number of boos in England, or perhaps, across Europe when you come to think of players like Robert Lewadowski at Borussia Dortmund or a certain Luis Suarez somewhere in a red shirt.Wayne Rooney did everything in his power to have his way out of Manchester United, a club that pays him a staggering Rwf237 million a week. Suarez and Gareth Bale have done the same, urging their pursuers to push on despite their clubs’ reluctance to let them go.And going into the opening weekend of the season, all the huffs and puffs have come to nothing, at least for now as the like of Brendan Rogers, Andre Boas Villa and David Moyes have stuck to their guns not to let players leave, whatever the price.Funny enough though is that the want-away players didn’t see it coming. Their antics seemed to suggest that they were quite sure that they would get their wish to leave for greener pastures.Rooney was kept away from Manchester United’s preseason tour due to a dubious injury claim, while Suarez and Bale haven’t featured much for Liverpool and Tottenham either during preseason.When I watched Rooney play for England against Scotland on Wednesday, he wasn’t the usually sharp and hardworking player I’ve known him to be. Manchester United will claim it’s because of an injury, but just as Roy Hodgson stated, I think the transfer saga and not an injury has cost Rooney his fitness.Had he participated in the preseason games, he would by now be back to his best, or somewhere close.But now throughout the season, Rooney has to find his way back to the hearts of United fans – of course only if he doesn’t force a move to Chelsea or any other club at the stroke of midnight on August 31.As for Suarez, he has angered the Liverpool faithful to the extent that manager Rodgers demanded him to apologise for the way he has handled his transfer saga.Some players tend to forget that clubs are bigger than any individual footballer. If a club decides that a player will stay, he definitely will stay, unless he is out of contract.They should have learnt from Peter Odemwinge’s experience, who found out the hard way last season when he tried to push his way out of West Bromwich Albion to QPRUnless otherwise, they are certainly going to suffer a cloud of shame and a “mercenary” tag from fans, who now believe that these players are disrespectful and disloyal to clubs that gave them everything they have ever dreamt of.