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Monday, October 18, 2010

One small step for man, one giant leap for a footballer

With the Wayne Rooney saga taking another, possibly decisive, twist, is it really conceivable that the boy from Croxteth really could wind up plying his trade away from these shores?

'Una mas cerveza y uno vino tinto, por favor,' he uttered to the bar-person, according to the Observer.

This was not an expert linguist flexing his oral muscles but a footballer. A Scouser, no less.

Steve McManaman moved to Real Madrid and acclimatised well enough to the lifestyle there and, though not fluent, managed to attain a decent level of Spanish.

McManaman was nominated by ESPN as Britain’s must successful footballer abroad after a trophy laden stint with Los Blancos at the beginning of the 21st century.

According to some newspaper reports, Wayne Rooney will soon be following in the footsteps of McManaman by making the bold move to La Liga.

The Manchester United striker has been linked with a record breaking transfer to Barcelona and this rumour follows hot on the heels of Christiano Ronaldo's plea of "come and join me" at Real Madrid.

So will the England international make the ambitious move abroad? Can you really imagine him lapping up the delicacies that another European country can offer?

Some may find this hard to believe and would more likely imagine Rooney to be more at home as a typical English tourist in the Catalan capital, wandering down La Rambla wearing a vest and shorts, donning a pink tan, rather than enjoying the local tapas and learning the language.

However, few would have predicted Jermaine Pennant upping sticks and moving to Spain but that is exactly what the former Liverpool winger did this summer when he moved to Real Zaragoza. He is enjoying a modicum of success there, too, though the different taxation laws in Spain mean that he is on the equivalent of £80,000 per week and that probably aids his satisfaction.

Of course, it is not always plain sailing for our footballers abroad. Take, poor old Darius Vassell's plight since moving to Turkish outfit Ankaragucu earlier this year.

The club have encountered financial difficulties since the former Aston Villa and Manchester City striker arrived at the club and subsequently are unable to foot the bill for the player's hotel. As a result, our Darius could well be consigned to the streets of the Turkish capital in seek of accommodation.

However, sometimes our Brits abroad deserve less sympathy. For example, Ian Rush made a multi-million pound move to Italian side Juventus in the mid-eighties but the move proved unsuccessful for the Welshman where he failed to find the back as frequently as he had done for Liverpool.

Rush allegedly complained that his Italian experience was "like living in a foreign country." Unsurprisingly, he returned to Anfield after just one season with Juve’ with his tail well and truly between his legs.

Some other players have adapted far better to their surroundings in Serie A.

David Platt found success with Bari, Juventus and Sampdoria throughout the nineties, scoring goals aplenty from his favoured midfield position.

He enjoyed his time there and succeeded where many of his British predecessors failed — he managed to learn the language.

This would appear to be a crucial aspect to any footballers life when living abroad. Gary Lineker sampled life in Spain with FC Barcelona and then Japan with Nagoya Grampus Eight and he felt it was imperative to learn the lingo.

Lineker explained to cilt.org.uk: “My wife and I learnt Spanish and Japanese when I played at Barcelona and Nagoya. We spent hours and hours in tuition – yet we could have learnt either language at school. Modern languages prepare you for modern life.

He added: “I've really enjoyed learning Spanish and Japanese. Getting to grips with a new language can be great fun, and you learn so much about other people and what makes them tick.

“Immersing yourself in the culture is critical to making it work abroad.”

Former Scotland manager was in agreement. He oversaw the international careers of Paul Lambert. who enjoyed Champions League success with Borussia Dortmund, and John Collins, who starred for Monaco.

Brown said to the same website: I am happy to confirm that international players such as Paul Lambert and John Collins learned the required German and French languages very quickly.

“As a consequence, their children are bilingual and the players settled easily into their environments.”

John Charles proved to be the perfect export where he plundered goal after goal for Juventus in the sixties, assisting the Turin-based club to three Serie A titles.

Then, of course, there is the case of David Beckham, arguably England’s most famous footballer of all time.

Becks has endured mixed fortunes during his spells with Real Madrid, LA Galaxy and AC Milan, but no-one can complain he has not tried and having Real and AC on your CV is a pretty admirable achievement.

Trying hard is not something that would be associated with Paul Gascoigne during his spell with Lazio.

He spent large amounts of time out injured and showed occasional flashes of his undoubted talent, but he did cause great offence to the Italian public with some of his outlandish behaviour, notably belching proudly in front of the cameras in a post-match interview.

Whether Rooney will join this select band of footballers who ply there trade on the Continent is not yet clear but what is apparent is that if you make the effort to familiarise yourself with your surroundings, you can definitely reap the benefits and improve as a footballer.

Perhaps England, as well as Rooney, would prosper from such a career move.