The American playwright and author David Mamet used to say: “Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.”
Soccer’s transfer market doesn’t quite value seniority to the same extent. Every player’s price tag takes a dip once they creep the wrong side of 30 while the shiny new thing has never been in higher demand. “You are young, you score 10 goals in six months and some club will pay 60 or 70 million,” a 37-year-old Robert Lewandowski scoffed last year. “Before, you had to achieve something.”
