There's that side of it, but it's also that football is just so much more interesting if good players are spread around so that there are plenty of good teams.
It's shit seeing a player you really enjoy watching for a second- or third-tier club being signed for a top-tier club only to sit on their bench.
Has the double whammy of weakening the second-tier side and spoiling a player.
I think it's great seeing lesser teams keeping their players wherever possible, whether it's done in the way that Athletic Club have or if it's just someone like Cagliari holding onto players like Nainggolan and Astori for far longer than they really have any right to in this day and age.
Just sad that it's impossible for small clubs to put together strong teams any more. You're probably never going to see an '85 Verona or a '70 Cagliari ever again.
Udinese, in getting into the CL a couple of times recently, have probably done the most that these smaller teams can possibly hope to achieve before they are forced to sell their best players and return to the ranks of the also-rans.
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Exactly! Personally some of the players that I admire the most are players that have those attributes. Ale, Gigi, Totti, Raul, Gattuso
Wouldn't include Gattuso in that.
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