Nothing Lasts Forever; The dwindling Fortunes Of Wesley Sniejder

Manchester United spent the entire summer of 2011 chasing the diminutive No. 10, it appeared only a matter of time before a deal would be done and the attacking midfielder would be heading for the north-west of England. However, the numbers just didn’t add up for any of the three parties. First, Inter wanted more than €35m, with United chief executive David Gill indicating the Red Devils could go up to that figure, but only paying an initial €28m with the rest coming in bonuses, Inter refused to budge and United wavered, while the Premier League giants were also scared off by Sneijder’s €200,000-a-week wage demands as they were only willing to pay €170,000. After three full months of wrangling and no sign of a compromise, the whole deal collapsed. Sneijder has stayed on but has started only 20 of 52 league games since the beginning of last term, and has often had little effect in what has largely been a struggling side over that period. Meanwhile, United may still be searching for a midfielder to bolster their ranks having last season failed to make the knockout phase of the Champions League and lost their Premier League title, but this term they sit atop the English top flight and are safely into the last 16 in Europe.

Sporting director Marco Branca announced recently that the 28-year-old will not return to the first team squad until he agrees to a deal which would see his €6m salary reduced to a €4m deal, albeit with a one-year extension built in, he scored a massive own goal on the club’s behalf. "We need to modify his current contract,” Branca told Sky Italia. “He and his entourage have to decide what they want to do about our proposal. Sneijder will not play until he makes a decision about his contract." 

With two-and-a-half years still to run on his current deal, it seems a very overbearing move by the club’s hierarchy to demand that Sneijder make a decision on revising his deal so soon. If anything, it comes across as the Nerazzurri simply wanting to force the transfer of a player whose value has dropped markedly since the near-miss with Manchester United. It is ironic that a player who was possibly the most sort after midfielder last summer has become this redundant.