It wouldn't be a problem for Delaney if Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk were our owners just because they are rich (Western) individuals and not 'states'?
The whole point he is making crumbles given that United have spent about as much as us on their squad. The net difference between both clubs since Pep's arrival is a Mendy who barely plays anyway.
His whole argument crumbles on pretty much every front, and none more so than his opening gambit about the “rigours” of this particular season being such that only ”state-funded” clubs can ride out the storm.
Unfortunately, Miggles‘ attempt to paint a picture of 19 Premier League clubs’ treatment rooms resembling the amputations tents at the Battle of Inkerman, whilst City merrily tag-team their way through English football’s answer to the Crimean War by simply introducing a whole new cohort of troops if the first cohort happens to get wiped out, doesn’t bear much in the way of scrutiny.
With the exception of Liverpool, who are having a very bad season in terms of injuries (and it’s worth drawing a comparison with the previous two seasons, when they had astonishing good fortune with injuries), and Leicester, who’ve been similarly decimated, but, noticeably, haven’t spent the whole season bellyaching about it, and indeed have markedly improved their performances to lie 2nd in the table, most of the other top 4 contenders are actually having a better season injury-wise than they did last year, a fact that torpedoes Miggles’ argument at source.
The following stats, comparing player absences of more than 3 matches for the first 25 games of the 19/20 and 20/21 seasons, are culled from Transfermarkt, who are usually pretty accurate.
Leicester 19/20: Amartey 14, James 21
Leicester 20/21: Soyuncu 11, Fofana 6, Morgan 7, Pereira 17, Castaneda 10, Ndidi 11, Praet 8, Amartey 9
United 19/20: Bailly 21, Rojo 12, Shaw 10, Pogba 17, Martial 6, McTominay 7
United 20/21: Williams 5, Bailly 7, Pogba 4
Spurs 19/20: Lloris 14, Foyth 4, Sessegnon 10, Davies 12, Ndombele 7, Lo Celso 5, Lamela 9, Sissoko 5
Spurs 20/21: Tanganya 11, Reguillon 5, Lo Celso 13, Alli 4, Lamela 7
Chelsea 19/20: Rudiger 14, Emerson 4, Alonso 5, James 9, Kante 8, Loftus-Cheek 25, Barkley 8, Hudson-Odoi 5, Pedro 5, Giroud 11
Chelsea 20/21: Thiago 5, Havertz 5, Gilmour 8, Pulisic 5, Ziyech 9
City 19/20: Laporte 21, Stones 13, Mendy 9, Zinchenko 12, Silva D 4, Sane 25, Aguero 4
City 20/21: Ake 14, Mendy 5, Zinchenko 8, Fernandinho 5, DeBruyne 6, Jesus 8, Aguero 14