If you happened to read the last two parts then you might have noticed the mention of a player called Abdón Porte. Here's his story.

Abdón Porte was a midfielder and star player for Nacional in Uruguay, leading them to 18 titles. At a point he got severely injured in a time when substitutions weren't allowed so he forced himself to keep going in a story of extreme devotion. However, logic prevailed and his injury got worse because of his actions, resulting in him being sidelined for a long time, and then he would return but never the same as his injury returned with him. Soon after that, Nacional decided to move forward and brought in another midfielder.

Porte found himself facing the prospect of having to end his career by the end of the season, and decided it was too difficult for him to deal with this and shot himself in the heart, contrary to most people who commit suicide by shooting themselves in the head. Porte then became a living memory in Nacional's history.

Before you think I am condoning suicide or consider his actions as admirable, let me tell you that Porte was 25 when he committed suicide and while his actions aren't acceptable, and considering that he fell in love with the club when he was a teenager, you could definitely understand that level of love and devotion. If you're still a teenager then you should know that in the end, no period in your life would leave an impression on you as much as your teenage years.

Porte loved the club with all his heart, and suddenly, there was nothing. As cruel as it sounds, the only thing Porte and today's stars have in common is that sense of entitlement that the club, the fans, the coaches, somehow owe them. Don't get me, Porte definitely had more of a case in this situation as it was happening during a time when players were getting paid pennies or even less, as some players were playing for just dinner. So yeah, Porte might have had a case that the club and fans do owe him something. But it is different for today's stars.

Entitelement

Now, there haven't been any cases where a player said the club and fans owe him outwardly. But, that's only because they use different words for it with things like "My history is bigger than this", "My credit allows me", "The respect I deserve". They always take the argument to an unquantified area. After all, how do you measure something like "History", "Credit", or "Respect".

This comes because of a simple fact that these players are simply terrified of having their performance decline and the empty hole football would leave when they retire. They would miss the glory, the chants, the intensity, even boos and criticism. Their pride won't let them simply say it, so they resort to treating it as an earned right and you are ungrateful if you say otherwise.

Salah's performance with Liverpool can't be treated as debt that they have to pay for it endlessly. Same with Messi and Barcelona, and the same for Cristiano and Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus. Clubs and fans can't just treat these as debts and keep a star playing forever or have to deal with his statements and press problems and constant demands.

When we start treating these as debts, even in a world not governed by professionalism and contracts, everything becomes toxic. As humans, we do love the idea of having done favours for others, we love space to be spoiled and excuses. For these to remain a relationship, we can't treat them as something to take to the bank and ask for something in return. As humans, we also don't like to be in debt to someone, or have someone rule over us unconditionally, no matter who.

When a conversation starts with "I did this and that", the rational response is "You also got this much and that much". I mean, whether it is Messi, Cristiano, Salah, Ramos, you name them, no one played for free. Fans stood behind who have achieved any sort of glory. They didn't get benched for a bad game, fans power led them to winning fights they had with club management, changed coaches for them, fired adminstrators for them, and the list goes on. They asked for certain tactics and formations, they got it, a certain player didn't work for them, they leave, asked not to defend in exchange of attacking properly, they got it.

Throughout their career they asked for better contracts because they deserve a better contract as they exit their 20s, then another for their early 30s, and because they had a great season at 33, they got a better contract. You'd say Salah was right to do all those things, and I would say all players do it but it would be empty talk.

Empty Talk

What turned this into an empty talk is simply because one side decided to take their glory, goals, assists, and moments to the bank and asked for a return. One side decides to treat the past as debt or loan to live off its dividants. But, in the end, Slott can't go to Moyes and state that Salah had scored against Everton before and that they should let him score this time as well. After all, Salah has enough "History", "Credit", and he should the "Respect he deserves".

There are no dividends for clubs to get interest from when it comes to matches. The same can be said for Cristiano, Messi, or even Arsene Wenger. They simply weren't the same person. In the end, football is a broken game. Cristiano, Salah and others have turned themselves into money hoarders with ads, commercials, and sponsors, they recieved millions upon millions from every way possible. Still, they demanded unconditional love and support along with a history to protect their fall.

This is a material world and no one can keep up with its demands at a certain point. This world was created by the player, his agent and club and cannot be handled by the player, his agent and club when they are the ones who have to provide by that same logic. The player can't handle the club sitting with a pen and paper and decide how much to pay based on whether the target result was reached.

Football, and the world of sports overall, is the only place where you are paid ahead of the work. None of us can go to our bosses tomorrow and demand a full month pay when we missed half the days. We can't miss an entire month and still get paid because we worked hard the month before. You can't say you have "History", and "Credit" to get paid for work you haven't done because you will be fired on the spot for it.

The logic used by Salah and his agent, much like hundreds of thousands of players and their agents, also states that if Liverpool made promises, then Salah has made them as well. That's because based on Salah's promises, he earned the contract he had, why isn't the club allowed to break its promise when Salah can?

That's why there's no such a thing as a player who won't fight for his place. If you were in my team, playing for free, I still would take you out if you were performing badly. If Salah was still fighting for his place, but he was just unlucky or underperforming while fighting, it wouldn't have mattered what the club says, fans would stand behind him.

Salah and all stars like him get paid up front for everything, including sacrifices, history, and credit. After that, there's no room for negotiations and life becomes dry, material and difficult. Thus they are forced to face their logic.

The real lesson from Abdón Porte's story isn't love, devotion and romanticism. It is simply that between 1918 and now, no one is willing to give unconditionally that they are actually in his debt, nor is someone willing to be in someone's debt. The real lesson is that in today's game, there's no Abdón Porte and no one would believe anyone pretending to be.