Tottenham Hotspur must keep Gareth Bale
Bale was named PFA Player of the Year in two of the last three seasons and scored 26 goals in all competitions for Spurs last year, often single-handedly dragging the side to victory with a last-minute, 30-yard screamer.
Without Bale’s goals, Tottenham would not even have come close to a top-four finish. Simply put, he is unique and irreplaceable.
Even with a transfer budget of £100m, it is highly unlikely that Tottenham could adequately replace Bale. Several media outlets have touted a cash-plus-player exchange, with Spurs receiving Argentine winger Angel di Maria and Portuguese left-back Fabio Coentrao plus £51m, but it seems unlikely that the former would accept a move to Spurs, while both would probably have to take a significant pay cut for any deal to be agreed.
A sizeable chunk of any transfer fee would almost certainly go toward funding Spurs’ new stadium, while there is no guarantee that Daniel Levy would reinvest the remainder into new signings.
Even if he did, with Spurs unable to offer Champions League football, they would never be able to recruit a player even close to Bale’s quality. At best, Spurs would end up buying maybe three or four solid players, consolidating the club’s position as the fifth best in the Premier League. Tottenham should be aiming higher than this.
Those who advocate a move for Bale cite Tottenham’s lack of ambition in the transfer market as reason enough to seek pastures new; yet there is no stronger show of ambition than rejecting a world record fee from one of the biggest clubs on earth.
This is Daniel Levy’s opportunity to stand firm and demonstrate Tottenham’s ambition. In a year’s time, Spurs may have little option but to sell before Bale’s value begins to decrease as his contract runs down, but right now they would benefit more from one more season of his heroics.
Tottenham do not presently need to sell for several reasons: Bale signed a new contract just 12 months ago; he has an excellent relationship with head coach Andre Villas-Boas; he has never given any public indication that he wants to leave; and he does not seem the type of player to force through a transfer in the manner that Dimitar Berbatov and Luka Modric did in seasons gone by. Even if Bale is tempted by Madrid, if he still finds himself at Spurs on September 1 he will surely knuckle down and continue to give his best for the team.
Off the pitch, Bale is also worth a huge amount to Spurs economically, guaranteeing shirts sales and elevating the club’s leverage in advertising negotiations. A giant billboard of Bale in his Spurs kit currently overlooks Times Square in New York; he is also the face of BT’s Premier League coverage this season and appears beside Lionel Messi, the best player in the world, on the front cover of FIFA 14.
With global branding increasingly important to the revenue of football clubs today, such exposure is invaluable. Tottenham have never had such a mega star in the Premier League era; sell him and the club’s global profile would shrink dramatically.
Furthermore, if Spurs sell Bale now it will only reinforce the impression that they are a mid-level club that will always sell its best players when the elite come calling. This will not help the club to attract the top talent necessary to break into that elite.
The rub is that Spurs are now so close to establishing themselves as a top four side, having come fourth twice in the last four years, and having finished last season with 72 points – a club record in the Premier League era.
With a world-class training facility opened last year and with a new stadium on the way, Tottenham also boast a talented young coach with great tactical awareness and a strong team with an excellent spine in Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, Sandro and, of course, Bale.
With the signing of Roberto Soldado seemingly on the verge of completion at the time of writing, plus the capture of Brazil midfielder Paulinho and promising Belgium international Nacer Chadli, Spurs finally have a squad with sufficient quality and depth to mount a successful top-four challenge while still competing for silverware in the cup competitions.
Spurs finished the last two seasons just a point or two away from the Champions League places and if Bale stays there is a great chance that it will be third time lucky. Champions League qualification would guarantee an extra £20m-to-£30m in revenue next season – more than the amount that Bale’s value would depreciate by, as even if he does not sign a new deal he will still have two years remaining on his contract next summer.
Moreover, given that Bale’s performances have improved every year since he made his breakthrough toward the end of the 2009-10 season, there is every chance that he will score even more goals this time around. He is already the best player in Britain, yet having only just turned 24 he is still several years away from reaching his peak and realising his full potential.
The likelihood is that Bale will be just as sought after next summer; he will be a more developed player ready to step up to the very highest level; and he will still have many years ahead of him to claim the kind of silverware that teams like Madrid can offer him. Bale has little to lose from staying at White Hart Lane for one more year, but for Tottenham it could make all the difference.
‘Queen of the Pacific’ freed from US prison
Avila, 52, was sentenced to 70 months in prison in Miami on Thursday, but is already eligible for release having served more than five years in a Mexican prison prior to being extradited last year.
Avila was arrested in Mexico City in 2007, alongside former Colombian boyfriend Juan Diego Espinosa Ramirez, for allegedly trying to ferry nine tons of cocaine up Mexico’s Pacific coast into California. Mexican prosecutors alleged that Avila played a major part in the formation of the Sinaloa Federation in the 1990s, while Espinosa, alias “El Tigre,” is believed to have been responsible for managing the Sinaloa Federation’s trafficking arrangements with Colombia’s Norte del Valle cartel.
Born into narco royalty, Avila is a relative of Rafael Caro Quintero and the niece of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, both former heads of the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel. The latter, known as “The Godfather,” was the founder of the cartel and is currently serving a 40-year sentence for the murder of Enrique Camarena, a DEA Agent who in 1985 was kidnapped on the streets of Guadalajara and later found dead in Michoacan.
Avila, who reportedly owns several beauty salons in Guadalajara and used to divide her time between homes in Guadalajara and Hermosillo, Sonora, first drew the suspicion of investigators when her son was kidnapped in 2001 and she was able to pay a multimillion-dollar ransom for his return. Despite achieving iconic status as one of few powerful female figures in Mexico’s macho world of organized crime – she has even been feted in narcocorridos (drug ballads) by high-profile bands such as Los Tucanes de Tijuana – Avila has always maintained her innocence, claiming she made her fortune by selling clothes and renting real estate.
Prior to her trial in Miami, Avila was acquitted of organized crime charges in Mexico, with the federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) failing to prove that she had links to the Sinaloa Federation or that she was responsible for receiving shipments of cocaine arriving in Mexico. The only charge that stuck was for illegal possession of a firearm found at one of Avila’s homes in Jalisco, for which she served one year in prison while awaiting extradition to the United States.
Once extradited, a deal with the prosecution ensured that Avila faced reduced charges of aiding Espinosa to evade justice. Following the sentencing, she could be deported as early as this week and is expected to move back to Guadalajara with her family.
At first it was reported that there were no outstanding warrants against Avila in Mexico, but on Monday her lawyer Jorge Alfonso Espino Santillan told Spanish-language daily Milenio that she could yet be apprehended upon re-entering the country as she still faces money-laundering charges in Jalisco.
Avila stands accused of using illicit funds to pay for two life insurance policies, each worth around four million pesos, Espino said. He also revealed that he has filed a complaint against the PGR for not returning six legally purchased properties that were seized from his client when she was first arrested: three in Mexico City, two in Sonora and one in Jalisco.
The first workshop of its kind in Mexico, the taller is run by Cerveceria Minerva, a Tapatio brewery intent on leading a “beer revolution” to transform the country’s drinking habits.
“A year or two ago, the average person didn’t have the means to make beer. Even if they bought a brewing kit the only option they had was to look for instructions on the internet,” workshop manager Ivan Torres tells the Reporter. But as of January 2013, Minerva has been aiding ale enthusiasts to produce their own craft beer, with a range of different courses on offer.
At a cost of 1,500 pesos, the beginners’ course includes three days of classes over the course of a month. Participants learn about the basics of brewing and end the course with a batch of 20 liters of their own beer.
The advanced course is aimed at those who already have some brewing experience, or at least a basic understanding of the chemical and biological processes involved. It also consists of three days of instruction over the course of a month, although participants are free to come in at any time throughout the brewing process to observe and ask questions. The advanced course costs 2,500 pesos but participants finish with 40 liters of more sophisticated beer.
Should you wish to take both courses, they are available at a combined cost of just 3,100 pesos, to be paid in advance. The monthly courses require a minimum of five participants and at the end of each cycle everyone gets together to try each other’s produce and share feedback.
The taller also offers a third, mostly theoretical course for 1,500 pesos, which is focused on detecting and eliminating defects and improving the quality of a craft beer. “Discipline is very important,” Torres says, explaining that the three most important factors in brewing are the quality of ingredients – particularly the water, which comprises 96 percent of the beer; the process – which must be well defined in advance; and the levels of hygiene – with thorough washing, sanitization and sterilization crucial to maintaining the beer free from bacteria or harmful microorganisms.
Classes could be arranged in English for groups of non-Spanish speakers, Torres assures, and upon taking the courses, participants can buy all the necessary equipment from the workshop in order to continue home-brewing or even set up their own microbrewery.
More experienced home-brewers who do not feel the need to take classes but would like to take advantage of the equipment and expertise on hand can also rent the facilities and produce their own beer through the workshop’s “Haz Tu Cerveza” program. Minerva will provide the basic materials (if desired, brewers may have to provide more specific or exotic ingredients themselves) and all of the necessary equipment, while the instructors will always be present to impart advice.
The cost is 5,000 pesos – this can be split between members of a group – and participants will produce 40 liters of beer at the end of the month. Should they wish, participants can depart with 20 liters in a container with a tap, while leaving another 20 liters to be sold or stored for them to enjoy whenever they choose to return to the premises.
How Minerva became Mexico’s leading craft brewer
Founded in 2004, Minerva has grown from a tiny microbrewery to an ambitious operation aiming to position itself as the third most important beer producer in Mexico and the biggest Mexican-owned brewery in the country (Grupo Modelo belongs to Begian-Brazilian firm Anheuser-Busch InBev, while Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma is now owned by Dutch company Heineken International).
“At first we just had a tank of Vienna and one of Colonial. It was just sold by the barrel because we didn’t have bottling equipment,” recalls brewing master Roberto Rodriguez, who joined Minerva in May 2006 after nine years of home-brewing.
“We began bottling in around 2008 and we started to produce different styles of beer and sell them in a few bars and restaurants,” Rodriguez says. Minerva now has five flagship beers: Colonial, Viena, Stout Imperial, Pale Ale and Malverde, plus a number of special or seasonal beers, including Imperial Tequila Ale, a strong beer matured in oak barrels previously used to age tequila añejo; El Dorado, a fruity Indian pale ale; Rila, a red ale; Lupe Reyes, a Weizenbock; and Diosa Blanca, a white Belgian-style beer.
“Minerva has its own styles of beer, but other microbreweries also have their own styles,” Rodriguez adds. “We don’t see them as competition but as part of the growth of craft beer culture.”
The growth of this culture is the cornerstone of Minerva’s beer revolution and Torres says the main purpose of the new workshop is simply to encourage people’s interest in craft beer. Before the taller was conceived, the phase first of the revolution was the opening of El Deposito, “a boutique for Minerva products,” Torres explains.
There are now four Deposito stores across Guadalajara (the first at the Glorieta de Caballos; the second on Avenida Chapultepec; the third beside the workshop on Lopez Cotilla; and the fourth in Providencia), while two more have opened in Mexico City, where Minerva sales are also strong. Besides selling Minerva’s full range, El Deposito stores stock many other Mexican craft beers and import a wide range from Minerva’s partners in Europe: Fullers, Erdinger, Warsteiner, Schlenkerla and Delirium.
Minerva has also sought to promote quality beer through Guadalajara’s Festival de Cerveza, which began as a small event on Avenida Mexico and Chapultepec in 2008, but has grown into a large three-day showcase held every October in the Parque Metropolitano.
“Every year more important beer companies come with more interesting products. Practically all of the organization is done by Minerva. With events like this we can help people discover their favorite styles of beer,” Torres says.
Minerva’s central role in the festival reflects its senior status among Mexico’s craft beer industry. Its produce is now available in major retailers like Wal-Mart, Sam’s, 7-Eleven and Farmacia Guadalajara, while small quantities are also exported to the United States, Europe, Australia and Israel.
With a staff of around 15 overseeing production in 17 tanks – which each hold 5,000 liters – Minerva currently produces around 85,000 liters per month at its plant on Avenida Aviacion. It remains a small operation in comparison with giants like Modelo and Cuauhtemoc, Rodriguez says, but with Mexico’s Federal Competition Commission recently opening the market to smaller brewers, Minerva is well placed to capitalize as its revolution begins to bear fruit.
El Taller de Cerveza Minerva is located at Lopez Cotilla 1905-A, Colonia Americana. Open hours: Mon-Wed, 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Thur-Sat, 2 p.m. to midnight. For more information call (33)1813-6111 or visit www.facebook.com/eltallerminerva
The Tequila Files 