Sheva’s Going Home. Unless He’s Not.

By: chris | August 20th, 2008

And here we go: Sheva to Milan is back on. Again. After the early summer speculation and “imminent” move (the press does love that word), everything fell apart. Until now, as it seems Big Phil shares the feelings of his predecessors Avram and Jose: Sheva’s just not cut out for the Prem. Serie A definitely, thus Milan wants him back in the family and, if you believe those involved, it’s actually going to happen. Again. (I’ll believe it once the contract is signed in blood.)

Truth be told, even though he could be joining the direct rival of my beloved team, this can only be seen as a good thing. He’s due. This is his mercy killing. Sport is the arena for great athletes and Shevchenko is certainly that. This little stretch in London (thanks, Kristin) has done nothing but take away two prime years from one of the sport’s deadliest players. In Milan he was an absolute joy to watch when shredding defenses and giving opposing coaches night sweats the night before a game. Now? Not so much.

After all, everybody remembers this:

Has to happen - for football. But it’s not exclusive to Sheva. There are a number of strikers who are in need of a merciful change of scenery. To name a few:

Lukas Podolski: He got some PT (and a goal) this weekend with Franck Ribery and Luca Toni out, but it remains to be seen how the rest of the season will play out. If it’s anything like the rest of his Bayern stint, he’s just a younger Sheva.

David Villa: A top 5-10 striker and his team finished tenth in La Liga last year, only nicking European participation through the domestic cup. He’s better than that. He’s true huge club material. One of these days…

Michael Owen: Liverpool - Real Madrid - Newcastle. One of these things doesn’t fit. Not to mention the medical facilities in Newcastle appear to be absolute garbage.

Dimitar Berbatov: Mercy for him? No. Mercy for us. How @#$%ing long has this been going on now? Sell him already!

There’s a charitable organization waiting to happen somewhere in here. Sponsor an Underappreciated Striker, or something. Milan, ever the family, is trying to do the honorable think by starting with Sheva, and for that we’re thankful. For the good of the sport.