Wirtz will always be judged against a very high benchmark, given the fee we paid. Longevity matters as well. If he’s here into his thirties and gives us eight or nine strong years, I would not doubt for a second that he’ll justify the outlay. If he walks on a free in four years, the conversation may look different. There’s also a wider point. We’ve paid what feels like a superstar fee, but there's a valid argument that superstars today are a) not as good and/or b) far fewer of them, and that isn’t nostalgia talking. Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Adriano, Henry, Zidane, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Raul, Totti, Del Piero, Crespo, Riquelme, Klose, Drogba, Eto’o, Luis Figo, Robinho, Inzaghi, Villa, Torres, Tevez, Shevchenko, Ibra, Larsson, Robben, Van Person, Nedved all played in the 06 World Cup. The state of that list compared to anything that will feature in the next World Cup is absurd. I solely blame that dog fucker, the other side of the Pennines and everyone who copied him.