Chelsea bought Zenden from Barcelona for real money 8 years ago even though he appeared next to useless. A winger without pace, tricks or crossing abilities – a Dutch Downing. After failing at Chelsea he then went to Boro and Liverpool before being released by Rafa. At 33 he is back in the top flight at Sunderland.
Just because someone was/is a Dutch international does not make them above replacement level. After all it’s a country of 15 million and whilst it will have a few stars not all its World Cup 23 will be good. Not even a country England’s size has had many squads with 23 first class players until recently. Yet I feel this is how the market works on insinuation even though you can view almost every top flight game a player has played with a little effort.
I hope Sunderland are barely paying him but doubt that. However a relatively low weekly wage will still be an insult to the fans of Sunderland and many would struggle to earn that in a year.
This spending appears more a power thing: managers judge a club’s commitment to them by what they get to spend: board members get to show off to the world (spivery).
Bruce has a good recent track record at Wigan so if I was a Sunderland fan I’d watch a few games to see if this works out.
Even if Zenden works out I am sure signings are often purely on name recognition and assumption.
