Daniel, We Hardly Knew Ya…

By: Thad | July 2nd, 2009

No new signings to report this week, so let’s take a moment to reflect on the senior players who have just been let go:

Darius Vassell: As previously commented in this space,
the former England man did his part in a City shirt, but his role in the club long ago expired. Darius takes his wares to Turkey, unlikely to ever be seen in the Premier League again. A shame perhaps because I think he still has more left in the tank than the man he replaced during the 2002 World Cup defeat to Brazil, Michael Owen. But strangely enough, Vassell is not getting any contract offers from the other club in Manchester. Life just isn’t fair.

Danny Mills: Mills was signed on a 5-year contract by Kevin Keegan, along with Ben Thatcher, to help shore up a leaky City back line. City’s goals conceded did drop the following season, and Mills held his place at right back for the better part of two seasons when fit, the undoubted highlight being his shock screamer to defeat Everton in a fall 2005 match. His last meaningful action in the first team came when Stuart Pearce threw him on for the last few minutes of City’s improbable victory over Arsenal in August 2006. Since then he’s been away on loan or in the sick room. Finally, he’s off the books.

Michael Ball: Ball came to the club as a stopgap measure in January 2007 after Thatcher’s horror tackle and long suspension made his future at City untenable. Ball played an involved role in the home derby that spring, stamping on Cristiano Ronaldo and getting away with it (he was later banned for the start of 2007-08), then winning a somewhat soft penalty late on which Vassell went on to miss. Ball had his limitations but managed to win his place back from Javier Garrido under both Sven and Mark Hughes. Wayne Bridge’s arrival effectively made Ball redundant.

Didi Hamann: Came from Liverpool via Bolton in farcical circumstances, but had minimal impact his first year at the club. He blossomed under Sven as a steadying influence in a side that got off to an astounding start to the 2007-08 campaign. Master of the well placed 5 yard pass, yes, but that was what City needed at the time. Famously derided by former owner Thaksin Shinawatra as “getting old,” a comment that was one of the first signs that neither Sven nor Thaksin’s time at City was going to end smoothly. Hamann’s last meaningful contribution unfortunately was to help set up a Nottingham Forest goal with an errant pass in the disgraceful FA Cup exit in January.

Glauber Berti: Became first a running joke, then a minor cult figure among City fans. Mark Hughes bowed to the wishes of the masses by throwing the Brazilian on for the final minutes against Bolton in May, and Glauber acquitted himself quite well. Might be a good pickup for a newly promoted side.

This brings us to Daniel Sturridge. About 4 years ago, City fans began spinning an elaborate, happy mythology about Sturridge, the supremely gifted teenager that Chelsea wanted to steal from us, leader of our FA Youth Cup winning side, the player who might prove to be our very own Michael Owen or Wayne Rooney, a boy wonder who would take the league by storm and turn the future blue.

The irony here is that Sturridge is in fact just about as good as advertised, and there is every reason to think that the future is turning sky blue, but Sturridge is not going to be a part of it. He’s been released after failing to agree a new contract; reportedly he demanded 80,000 pounds a week to stay, a demand the club refused. Instead, he appears to be off to Chelsea (and then I would guess, right back out on loan).

This may have been a case where City’s newfound wealth worked against the club–it’s hard to believe Sturridge’s advisors would have demanded quite so much if the old regime were still in place. Ironically, too, if the old (Wardle) regime were still in place, Sturridge would be much more important to the club, and probably would have been an automatic first-team choice this past season. As it is, perhaps a few City fans are be-moaning the fact that Sturridge’s contract wasn’t extended long ago, or are thinking wistfully on the glimpses of brilliance Sturridge did provide, notably in leading the two-goal comeback against Blackburn last winter. But for most City fans, it’s minor news compared to landing Tevez or possibly Eto’o.

That’s sad in a way, not just because I think that there is still a chance Sturridge could in fact emerge as one of England’s big next things (though I don’t see how going to Chelsea will make that easier). There’s something romantic and exciting, if slightly disturbing, about grown men getting really excited about an academy kid, and anxiously scouting the ranks of the younger players for someone to pin one’s future hopes on. Now City’s hopes, for better or worse, rest not on the vagaries of youth or the guesswork of potential, but on the club’s newfound ability to buy the finished article.