Are transfer saga’s good for any sport?

The whole situation surrounding Bradley Wiggins is turning into high farce and the main loser will end up being the Garmin/Slipstream rider. Any energy he is spending on this proposed transfer to Team Sky (even if it is mental) is going to be detrimental next July.

I have looked back at many of sports protracted transfer dealings and the short answer is that no-one wins in these situations.

Patrick Vieira the footballer was linked with Real Madrid for a number of summers whilst at Arsenal. His form suffered, the clubs fans suffered and eventually when he was allowed to leave he ended up going to Juventus as Madrid didn’t want him any more.

In rugby you could look at Jonny Wilkinson who was linked with a move away from Newcastle-Falcons for many seasons but kept getting injured and his club's fortunes suffered. He has finally got the sun on his back in the south of France with Toulouse and with the saga over Falcons have started to show signs of improvement in the Guinness Premiership.

The latest road.cc article makes reference to the fact that if Wiggins joins Sky he might not even get to ride the Tour due to their new team status. That will be playing on his mind because despite the financial rewards of being part of Dave Brailsfords empire he will not want to miss out on a stab at the big one. A rider has only a limited number of attempts at the Tour de France in them.

He also has the support of one of the best teams in the sport in the Slipstream set up. Christian Van De Velde and he will make a formidable mountains pairing and with David Millar in the foothills you can see that he would have the chance to repeat his 4th place.

You shouldn’t under estimate the effect of being based in Girona too. If you visit the city there is a true sense of pride in the Garmin team and the men in argyle have a great area to live and train. Those Catalunyan roads could be a key part of any Tour build up.

For me Wiggins has to see his contract with Garmin out for the final season. He should let Sky get off the ground (pun intended!!!) and then make the move next winter when he has had chance to confirm he isn’t a one tour wonder and the team has ironed out any teething troubles.

Makes perfect sense to me !!!