Arsenal, RVP, and Soccernomics

     Over the summer, I read a book called Soccernomics, by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski. I have been thinking about studying economics in colleges, so of course I found combining the topic with my favorite sport to be an interesting first gain of knowledge about economics. If you ever watched or read Moneyball (that baseball movie with Brad Pitt, if you don't remember), Soccernomics is that Billy Beane-like analysis of soccer.
     The first part of the book was about the English Premier League's transfer market. Economics and statistics are used to find value in players that are overlooked, and to know who which clubs can afford. My favorite club, Arsenal, is managed by an economics major, the great Arsène Wenger. I have an Arsenal bag that says "We don't buy superstars, we make them." I chose to buy this bag because other clubs (*cough cough* Manchester City) spend millions of dollars to buy a starstudded team. It irritates me to no end that teams going into endless debt buying wins, while wonderful Arsenal uses balance and economics.
     This has been particularly irking this year because all summer I was following the traumatizing summer pursuit of Robin Van Persie. After years of being injured and nutured by Arsenal for seven years, he finally had a breakout year last season and was the top scorer in the entire English Premier League. And last summer he decided he wanted to leave. I won't go into much detail, but summer was a tug-of-war. No wanted to pay big bucks for a 29-year-old, and Arsenal didn't want to sell him for anything less than big bucks, but no one wanted to miss out on the hottest player on the transfer market. (But what I knew from Soccernomics didn't give me much hope that RVP would stay.)
     The soccer world is ruled by contracts and money. It is frightening for us fans. Especially when you get to go to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in London, and you can't decide which jersey to buy, for fear that the player you spend seventy pounds on will be sold for $24 million. Out of that fear I avoided the #10 RVP jersey. I even skipped on Walcott, and instead went with #19 Jack Wilshere.

     The transfer market closed, and before that happened, Robin Van Persie was sold to Manchester United (and then Man U lost their first game of the season and I found it hilarious).

     While I nurse my wounds, the same wounds I nursed last year when Fàbregas left (at least we didn't lose Walcott, but Wilshere just had to change his number to the special #10. I knew this jersey-buying business would never work out perfectly), I am still interested in the study of the transfer market. Arsenal bought three new, and cheaper, players: Podolski, Giroud, and Cazorla. I know Soccernomics policies must have been used; none of the three were definite starters in their national teams at the Euro 2012 Cup, but they all, knowing Arsenal, will be turned into superstars. AND IT'S ALREADY STARTING! THEY SCORED LAST WEEK VS. LIVERPOOL AND IT WAS AWESOME!
      Anyways, bear with me if you don't like soccer (But you should, it's the beautiful game, and the world's favorite game. Only America doesn't realize this. I could go on a rant about American football versus ACTUAL football, but I will restrain myself.) But if, *sigh*, you don't like it, economics applies everywhere. I find it interesting. Sometimes, a lot of times, money makes the world go round. And hopefully, the very smart economists at Arsenal will continue to create beautiful soccer. And the games I watch each weekend, though sometimes equally frustrating, are way better than the dirty money behind them. GOOOOO GUNNERS!