A Bit Of Wishful Thinking From Eagles With Buy Back Clause

Chris Eagles showed a fair bit of potential in his time with United but he never really looked as though he was going to make it with us. Maybe he would be good enough for another Premiership team, but not United.

Eagles is the same age as Wayne Rooney, give or take a few weeks. However, by the time Rooney had reached 23-years-old, he’d got over 200 appearances for Premier League clubs under his belt. In contrast, Eagles managed less than 100 appearances for professional clubs and just 6 appearances in the Premiership.

After spending half a season at Burnley, signing for around £1 million with add-ons, he has today spoken of his future plans to return to Old Trafford.

Eagles interview in this morning’s paper doesn’t quite seem to add up to me. First of all he claims he doesn’t hold a grudge against Sir Alex Ferguson, but then goes on to say his move to Burnley was against Ferguson’s wishes and that it was in fact entirely his decision.

“I’m not going to hold a grudge because I thank him for everything he’s done. He’s got me to where I am today and I have learned so much from him,” Eagles said. “You have got to have a basic talent but he adds to it. He didn’t want me to go. It was sort of on my own back and he fully understood. But he’s got a clause now that he can buy me back first. I got on so well with the gaffer. He’s like a second father to me. We had our ups and downs and he used to tell me off if I was in trouble. But I wouldn’t change it.”

Eagles then goes on to claim that he could have gone to a Premiership side, but decided to join Championship side Burnley instead, so he could ‘make his own name’. He also reckons that the manager watches him every week!

“It was a very hard decision to go because I had a few Premier League clubs interested as well,” Eagles added. “But I felt I wanted to make my own name and be my own person. The manager knew that and I know he watches me every week to keep an eye on me. You never know. My dream is that one day I will go back. My dream is to play for England, too, and I’m not going to stop until I get that.”

Eagles appears to be a bit delusional, to say the least. Premiership football is a realistic dream for him, Manchester United is not.