One Good Year Does Not A Contract Make

By: chris | July 8th, 2009

I really hate when athletes do this. Really, really do.

But…Matteo Brighi?

I met with [Fiorentina director of sport Pantaleo] Corvino. For now the situation with Roma is of disagreement and Florence would be a great club for him to join.

“Matteo has a contract with Roma, but I think we will meet with Corvino again in the next few days.”

I get that this is a great deal of agentspeak and that Vanni Puzzolo, Brighi’s agent, is a supertwat of the highest order. Or maybe he’s paid by the word. I even want to believe that it’s all agentspeak and that Matteo is, as the consummate professional he’s been made out to be, perfectly happy with his contract. But this has been going on far too long and Matteo has surely noticed.

Fact of the matter is, if Matteo didn’t want a new contract he would’ve told his agent to stick something wildly inappropriate in his mouth to cease the talking – a binky, perhaps. And he most certainly would’ve told him to stop linking him to new teams or, worst case scenario, stop offering up his services to competitors whilst clutching his cane & chalice. But he hasn’t. Which leads one to believe it’s at least partially true.

The problem isn’t that he wants a new contract. The problem is that he wants a new contract after signing a new contract with a raise last summer. One that still has three years left to run. And the problem, somehow, is that Matteo had a very good year. I think someone even called him Roma’s best player, or something. (Numbnuts in hindsight.)

One good year does not make you a good or great player. And it certainly doesn’t make you worthy of a new contract. String together a couple on the back of a new contract – that’s one…two! – and then we’ll talk. But there have been far too many one to two year wonders in the history of sport for clubs and organizations to start handing off contracts when somebody goes on a half-decent run without confirmation of a pee test.

For all we know, this might’ve been the arrival of Brighi. But then again, it also might’ve been a one year aberration. He might go back to being a mere garbage-time player who spends next summer linked to the likes of Blackburn & Celtic. Hell, he might not even be that, should Spalletti scrap the 4-2-3-1, 4-3-1-2 and 4-2-4 in order to unleash a 4-0-6 formation in coming weeks. And suppose this were the case – do you think Brighi would turn around a sign a new extension next summer for a reduced rate to reflect the season he just had? Sure, right after Chievo wins the scudetto, Perrotta capocannoniere and Rosella giallorosso hearts the world over.

Unfortunately we’ve entered a a phase of professional sport where principle means very little anymore. Brighi agreed to a contract at current terms last summer and he accepted those terms for four years. Not three years or two years – not even one year if he had a great season. Four years. He doesn’t deserve a new contract – he deserves the chance to prove last season wasn’t a fluke and that he truly is worthy of a new contract.

Brighi has always been made out to be such a stand up guy, the perfect athlete, so I do genuinely hope this is mostly his agent. But in the event that he’s gone contract fishing with no concessions in sight, they only have one choice:

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

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Now would seem the appropriate time to offer up a Brighi highlight video.