Brinkmanship: The Bane of the Beautiful Game of Football

The game of football has indeed burnt its bridges. And it happened when unprecedented money,from TV revenues and merchandising, poured into the sports. While this has been grist to the mills of the sports and all stakeholders, it however tipped the balance of power between clubs and players to favour the latter.Unlike in the past when the distinction between players and field athletes was negligible, footballers are now superstar millionaires, who now have an armada of handlers like lawyers, publicists, advisers, stylists, tax consultants, personal assistants, financial consultants, agents and sometimes even therapists. Confined to history, is the period when footballers were only coached on field and attracted little spotlight , nowadays they are also coached off it basking in a bubble of limelight. Players are not only told what to say, where to visit, which dresses they should wear, but are whisked off to magazine set for photo-shoots, meetings with executives of fortune 500 companies, introduced to circles of models, pop stars and Hollywood royalties. Their lives on and off the field are stage managed, sometimes to the detriment of the clubs their primary employers. This was exactly what Sir Alex Ferguson’s feared as he tried to rein in David Beckham when he was on his cusp of becoming football’s first golden boy. When the legendary coach realized he couldn’t clip Beckham’s wing, who was already associated with popstardom, he was sold off to Real Madrid.

But there is certainly no peril in footballers dating models, going for photo shoots or even spotting the latest hairstyle,however the danger occurs when their handlers stage manage them into forcing the club’s hand to offering them better deals. Sadly the dangerous seed of this precedence has long been sown and only God knows what monster tree it would grow into in the future. In the present era of media blitz and social media craze, football handlers know that everything their star players do is news, which they of course use to manipulate clubs. Remember when Cristiano Ronaldo famously claimed he was sad, after failing to celebrate despite scoring two goals in the win against Granada in 2012.It became news sending jitters down the spines of Real Madrid’s hierarchy, who then did not see any reason to offer the Portuguese a better deal than the £10 million a year he was netting. His handlers also followed this up by telling the Portuguese to reminisce about his old Club, a sort of ‘come and get me plea’ raising the possibility that he might return to Manchester United. This ante was upped, when leaks filtered to the press that Ronaldo who was pictured shopping for boxes or whatever, was about to sell his House in Madrid. The media went on a speculative rampage about his imminent departure. But at the end of the day, Ronaldo under the tutelage of his handlers was able to get a better contract from Madrid using both the media and Manchester united as pawns-£15million a year after tax.

In recent time, Danny Alves also adopted the same tactics to ruthless success. The Brazilian and his handlers, when it became clear that Barcelona was not disposed to offering the type of contract expected, put word out that the defender was keen on leaving the Blaugrana. Rather than denying such rumours, the Brazilian added fuel to it by publicly flirting with the idea of signing for other clubs. This piqued the attention of both the media and several clubs including Paris Saint Germain, PSG and United. Expectedly, the strong display of interest by these clubs to sign the Brazilian forced the hand of the Catalonian club to offering the Brazilian a better deal. Again another player got a better contract using the media and other clubs as pawns. Now, Sergio Ramos and his camps have also ripped a page off Alves copybook after contract disagreement with his present club Madrid. It started first when news broke that Ramos had been offered as a secret election weapon to one of the presidential candidates of Madrid’s bitter rival, Barcelona. When Madrid did not budge, news filtered out again that the defender might be interested in signing for Man U, seemingly another ploy to force the hand of his club, a situation presently unfurling in the media.

Then there are also the forgotten cases of Rooney who got Man U over a barrel by using Chelsea to extract a better contract, and John Terry employing Manchester City’s interest in him in forcing a better deal from Chelsea, amongst many. Sadly all these cases of brinkmanship leave a sour taste in the mouths of clubs, many of whom are neck deep in debts. It is a known fact that prices and wages in football are spiraling out of control as footballers are sold for astronomical amounts, while they also earn wages disproportionate to what the general populace could ever make. Brinkmanship is however going to make this trend worse, forcing clubs to pay beyond their means to keep players from being prised away either by local or continental rivals. If this practice is not curtailed, then the financial future of many clubs could be bleak, including the ones at the top of the money chain.

Is Falcao what Chelsea needs

As Ramadel Falcao ended his third match for Colombia at the Copa America without registering a goal, many at the Chelsea hierarchy including fans should be a tad worried. With the Colombian loan transfer to Stamford Bridge seemingly cast in stone, facilitated by his powerful super-agent Jorge Mendes, his form at the South American football tournament might just be a straw in the wind. While the Colombian undoubtedly was one of the world’s best central striker at his prime, he seems to have skated past that, a signpost that was evident at Copa America for all to see. This truth was driven home more painfully during Colombia’s third game against Peru. At a time when his country was tied goalless with the later, and where frantically searching for a goal to ensure their qualification to the next round, El Tigre was hauled off by his coach at the 66 minute. The match eventually ended goalless, with Columbia qualifying by the skin of its teeth. But such speaks volume, one of which is that Falcao cannot be counted upon when the going gets tough. This also throws up the question of what Chelsea, particularly Jose Mourinho, his label mate- as they share the same agent- see in him. The Portuguese tactician, while recently speaking to Direc Tv Sports expressed his interest in bringing the striker to Stamford Bridge. “It really hurts me that people in England believe that Falcao is the guy they saw at Manchester United. He’s a player I know, one that I have followed since Atletico Madrid and if I can help Falcao arrive at his level I will do it,”he said.

Mourinho, clearly passionate about Falcao, was wise to gloss over El Tigre’s performance at United, because it was dreadful. A return of 4 goals in 17 appearances, hardly justifies £265,000 weekly wage. Little wonder United opted out from making his loan deal from Monaco permanent, which was as much an economic sense as football. Not deterred by these, the Portuguese believes he has the magic potion to restore Falcao back to his Olympian height. Indeed at his best, the Columbian was a beast plowing 62 goals in 69 appearances for Athletico Madrid, and 68 in 83 appearances for Porto, almost averaging a goal a game. It was this red hot form that seduced the principality club to fork out £52,000,000 for the Columbian without wincing. Even at Monaco, he was off to a flying start scoring 11 goals in 19 appearances before his injury, a tear in his anterior cruciate ligament, ACL, put an end to the momentum, sideling him for almost a year. Since coming back from the ACL injury, Falcao has been a shadow of his former self evidenced by a drastic drop in his goal rate; notching 6 goals in 29 league appearances for both Monaco and United. His short per game also fell from 3.6 in the three seasons before his injury to 1.5 last season. Chelsea undoubtedly is in need of at least an additional striker to augment the two it has. Most top clubs have three or four at their disposal, which prevents a situation where they cannot field any striker, in the event of two or three incurring injury at the same time. Even so, the Blues would be chancing its arm by signing the Colombian, not just because of the hefty wage he would collect, but also because he has been injury prone since tearing his ACL. Having three injury prone striker makes no sense irrespective of whether the Colombian rediscovers his form or not. Chances are however high that the Colombian might turn out to be another

Fernando Torres, a striker whose career was on a knife edge before the Blues signed him from Liverpool for a club record of £ 50 million. Torres ended up scoring 46 goals in 117 appearances for Chelsea a far cry from his heady days at Liverpool when he banged in 81 goals in 126 appearances. Never mind that the Special one’s attempt to coax back the Spaniard’s old form was like drawing blood out of stone. If history is a guide, then Chelsea could have another Torres in the Colombian, the only difference being that the latter would be on a loan deal. But what good would such be to the reigning English champion.

Benzema and Rihanna: Union of Pop Stardom and Football Royalty

The Union of pop stardom and footall royalty might be afoot. And the wannabe inductees into this exclusive higher echelon club are pop princess Rihanna and Real Madrid galactico footballer Karim Benzema. Both stars have recently been spending some of their hard earned spare time together, fanning the rumour mills that love is in the air for the pair. Last week, both stars were seen together drinking and cuddling at a Fatty Wap concert in Hollywood, before retiring to a night club. This was also followed by a lunch later in the week. These frequent sightings have led to the belief that the stars are dating, though both sides have neither confirmed nor denied such. However this wouldn’t be the first time a pop princess is swept off her feet by a footballer.

Remember Gerard Pique, the Barcelona defender who dribbled his way into the heart of the Colombian bomb shell Shakira. The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer and the footballer have been partners for about four years with two children. Then there is Manchester United Keeper David De Gea who is dating Edurne Garcia 29, a Spanish pop star. But the gold standard of the union between a pop star and a footballer is no doubt David Beckham, former Madrid and United midfielder and former Spice girl member Posh,

The married couple have four children. Would Rihanna and Benzema follow the path of the Beckhams? While it seems unlikely, only time will tell.

Can this Treble-winning Barca still Improve

How do you improve a side that has just won a treble and has arguably the best forward line in history? Some would say do nothing. Why tinker with a winning side that has a devastating attacking trio in the form of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, players that can individually conjure goals out of thin air. It’s not trite to conclude that many teams would be content having just one of them. Just ask Liverpool, a team that imploded after selling Suarez to Barcelona. But Barcelona is no Liverpool. And that is why, despite having the most devastating strike force supported by a midfield that can hold its own against any in the world, and a defence that blurs the line between attackers and defenders, the Blaugrana believes it can still gild its lily. Hence it has turned its attention to Italy, batting its eyelashes furiously at one certain French midfielder Paul Pogba. Barcelona director, Ariedo Braida, who was in Italy on club business, last week, was not subtle when he openly courted Pogba. The former Rossoneri chief, now in charge of scouting international transfers for the Nou Camp was effusive about Pogba’s talent. He certainly knows that the French man is no pig in a poke acquisition. “Pogba is an interesting player with great qualities and would be useful for any team. It’s only natural that everyone wants him. I hope he can play for Barcelona. If he were to choose a new destination, I think Barca represent an extraordinary club and project. I'll advise a lad like him to choose Barca,” he told Gazzetta TV. Braida added his voice to that of many, pushing for the French man to ply his trade at Nou Camp. But the question remains: does Barca’s midfield marshalled by the supremely gifted Spaniard, Andres Iniesta, really need Pogba. Not forgetting that even Barca’s front trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar, are playmakers and strikers bolted into one body. Won’t Barca be barking up the wrong tree by acquiring Pogba? Pogba is undeniably a great talent, technically gifted and could play either has a central holding or left attacking midfielder. In Juventus, he has played in both position but was deployed more as a left attacking midfielder last season, notching 10 goals and 6 assists in 36 appearances. The French man, who left the Theater of dreams for the old Lady has a combination of trickery and athleticism, sprays good passes and is an aerial threat inside the box. These qualities have made him the world’s most sought after midfielder. However if he were to ply his trade at Noun Camp he would either compete with Sergio Busquets for the holding role, or Iniesta, for the left attacking role. As a holding midfielder, Busquets, a World and European cup winner, still has more discipline at shielding his defence

than Pobga, while he also has a better pass rate than the French. The Juve midfilder, according to whoscored.com has a pass success percentage of 83.9 per cent, which is inferior to Busquets’ 91.8 per cent, while his Aerials won of 1.6, falls short of the Spaniards 1.7. In the attacking department, the French man notched up more goals and assist than any of the Blaugrana’s regular midfielders. Iniesta, in 35 appearances had 3 goals and 6 assist, Ivan Rakitic, in 44 appearances racked up 8 goals and 8 assist, while Busquets, a defensive midfielder, in 43 appearances had one goal and 2 assists. But one should not impute much importance to these statistics due to Barcelona’s style of play, in which its attackers are also playmakers; hence they lift the creative burden from their midfielders. This is why last season Messi had 23 assists, Suarez 17 and Neymar 9- we are discounting goals since the trio are attackers. If Barca however decides to field Pogba as a left attacking midfielder, a role nailed down by Iniesta, it means it would either have to bench the Spaniard which is unthinkable or shift him to the right thus displacing Rakitic, hence, Pogba, Busquets and Iniesta. As good as this formation may appear on paper it holds no aces over the Blaugrana’s standard formation of Iniesta, Busquets and Rakitic. But beyond that, Pogba’s addition to Barca, which would no doubt cost the club an arm and a leg, may mean that some regulars will cool their heels on the bench, a breeder of discontent. Never mind that Barca, currently facing a transfer ban, would only be able to bring the French man in January when the season is half way, thus disrupting whatever rhythm the club might have achieved. Even though the addition of Pogba may indeed be the icing on the cake for Barca, larding the midfield with a different dimension, chances are high that the French man may just be that extra cook that spoils the broth. It’s a gamble that is indeed there for Barca’s taking.

Is Guardiola Really Spectacular

With Guardiola’s treble legacy in Barcelona equaled he needs to conquer Europe with a less fanciful team to make his greatness enduring In the footballing world, Pep Guardiola, ever since achieving unprecedented success with Barcelona, has been viewed as an elite coach with almost no rival. In the four seasons he managed the Catalonian giant, Guardiola notched up 14 trophies while playing a brand of football that was aesthetic and philosophical. Barcelona under Guardiola’s tutelage, crafted a style of play, while not novel, was pure fantasy to the senses. His Barcelona side elevated possession and crisp passing-based football to a state of art like a beautiful Rembrandt painting donning the Louvre museum. But what made Guardiola’s legacy untouchable was that he won the treble for Barca in his first season as head coach, the crown jewel of his achievement. Until then, the Catalonian club had never achieved such feat of sweeping the two domestic competitions in Spain,together with the champions league in Europe, in one fell swoop season. Guardiola did it, and he did it in style. Hence a star was born. And to even make things interesting, the Catalan coach had achieved such at a relatively young age of 37.By the time he was leaving Barcelona, having clinched 14 titles in his first 4 years of being a head coach, the Catalan was viewed as a rare breed of a coach. The only other coach that had won so much within a short coaching period was Jose Mourinho. Then M

ourinho had won 20 trophies in 12 years. But While Mourinho and Guardiola are perceived as super coaches, placed on a pedestal akin to that of Messi and Ronaldo, there are many who still believe that the Catalan’s couching skills puts the Portuguese’s in the shade. And this is purely based on Guardiola’s mouthwatering achievement with Barcelona, where he had a formidable armada of gifted players, including the football wizard Lionel Messi, at his disposal. At Bayern, a club he took over in 2012 with an array of gifted players, Guardiola has successfully grafted his brand of philosophy on the club’s style of football. In his two seasons there, Guardiola has won three major trophies, doing a double of domestic competition in his first season. While this is impressive, it is in no way spectacular as Bayern had won a treble in their last season before the Catalan took over. Indeed Guardiola’s two seasons in Bayern so far have not been spectacular. But the spectacular legacy he left behind in Barcelona in his first season, which seemed unreachable, has now been rivaled. As Barcelona was crowned the champions of European club football at Berlin last week, which was their third major silverware in 2015, Guardiola’s legacy was breached by another Catalonia product in the person of Luis Enrique. Enrique had conjured a treble in his debut season for Barca taking the gilt of Guardiola’s gingerbread. But Enrique did so with a better winning rate, while his forward trio racked up more goals. In Guardiola’s debut season in Barcelona, his team won 42 out of 62 games while his frontline trio of Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry and Messi bagged 100 goals in the process. Impressive as that is, it still does not hold a candle to Enrique’s debut season in which he won 50 of 60 games, while his forward trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez scored 122 goals,knocking Guardiola’s trio into a cocked hat. But a quick glance at Enrique’s coaching achievement, which was no great shakes before taking over Barcelona, throws up the real picture about Guardiola’s success that is often forgotten. Enrique started his career as head coach in Roma in 2011, but failed to qualify them for even the much maligned ugly step sister competition in Europe, the Europa league. That season, Roma finished seventh on the table, worse off than the previous when it finished sixth. The Spaniard, not pleased with his performance opted out of his two-year contract with Roma, moving to Celt Vigo, where his new Spanish club finished 9th on the table in 2014. In those two clubs, Enrique understandably did not do well as he had no straws to make bricks. Notwithstanding, Enrique became the head coach of Barcelona last year, a club bursting at the seams with elite straws and pronto, he made a brick of treble silverware at the end of his first season. This in a way throws a damper on Guardiola’s achievement proving that his spectacular success was really down to the raw materials, a cycle of exceptional players that Barcelona have had since 2006. Indeed any coach fielding a team with exceptionally talented players like Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique, has the ball at his feet But then, it can be argued that both Tito Vilanova and Tata Martino had these same set of raw materials at their disposable but underachieved. Quite true.In the case of Vilanova, his health problem proved a distraction for the club in his first and only season as Barca’s head coach, while Martino was a bull in a China shop as he was not steeped in the club’s footballing culture as Guardiola, Enrique and Villanova. While it would amount to grave injustice to conclude that Guardiola is not a great coach, he needs to take a club devoid of arrays of first class superstars to conquer Europe. After all, Mourinho his arch rival did it with Porto and Inter Milan. Only then and then will Guardiola’s greatness endure over generations.

EPL Conquers Europe Again

Despite its foundering fortunes on the pitch in Europe, the EPL is still a great brand

The English Premier League has once again conquered Europe. Never mind that none of its sides, on the field of play, progressed into the quarterfinals of this year’s Champions League which was won by Barcelona in Berlin Last week. Despite such failings in Europe, the EPLstill progressed in the field of branding, as Manchester United edged out Bayern Munich and Real Madrid to become the world’s most popular football brand. The Red devil, despite missing a season of Champions League football, somehow managed to fire up its brand value from $739 million in 2014 to $1.2 billion in 2015. In the 2015 rankings of the World’s most valuable football brands released by Brand finance, six English club sides made the top ten. Along with United that topped the list, Manchester City was fourth, Chelsea fifth, while Arsenal , Liverpool and Tottenham were seventh, eight and tenth respectively. Take that La Liga! Though Barca with its constellation of stars might have bested Man City on its way to conquering Europe, the English club’s brand still has more sparkle than the Blaugrana’s. City’s brand value, haven risen astronomically since taken over by Sugar daddies from the Middle East, was put at $800 million compared to Barcelona’s $773 million, placing the Catalonian club sixth on the table. Translation: Whatever magic Lionel Messi could pull on the pitch for Barca that bred fan loyalty, the citizens PR machine could better leading to more merchandise. While the EPL seems to have a bee in its bonnet about branding, other European leagues might want to borrow a leaf from the English book as more English sides made the top ten this year as against lasts. Though five English teams made it last year, Tottenham was able to edge past Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 into the top ten even without Champions league football this year. This brand power could be viewed as the icing on the cake for the Premier League which recently secured a record breaking $7.96 billion domestic TV deal to run from 2016 to 2019, a 70 per cent increase on the previous one.The Premier League is indeed worth its weight in gold as no other league in Europe came near such a jackpot. In the same vein, Manchester United also inked the biggest sport licensing contract in football, when it penned a $1.28 billion 10 year sponsorship deal with Adidas, last year. While the English sides are floundering on European pitches, they certainly still pack a punch as great salesmen of their product.

A Devastating Trinity

The footballing world might have the best frontline trio ever in Messi, Neymar and Suarez You can call them the trident, three musketeers, triumvirateor trinity, but what thing is certain? Barcelona’s front three of Messi, Neymar and Suarez, dubbed MSN; have indeed bankrupt the oxford English dictionary. There is just no apt superlative that captures the ethereal football chemistry between the trio, which makes them slice through the tightest of defenses like hot knife on butter, producing jaw-dropping goals in the process. This threesome has made the art of scoring look easier than eating cherries with cream topping. But it’s not just the amount of goals the trio have racked up, 120, which is quite staggering, but the style in which they dispatch the ball into the opponents net. A fitting testament to this is the Copa Del Rey final between Barcelona andBilbao, which the former won by 3 goals to one. The first goal, which resulted from Messi’s individual genius saw him nutmeg three players, took out the fourth before slotting the ball into the far corner of the net beyond the keepers outstretched hand. It was simply magical. The second goal, a result of crisp pass interchange had the foot print of the trio, as Neymar converted a pass from Suarez, with Messi heavily involved in the buildup. The third goal saw Messi convert a cross from Dani Alves. Indeed, Barca is lucky to have the best player from Argentina, Messi, the best from Uruguay Suarez and from Brazil Neymar in the ultimate forward line up. While the footballing landscape has been blessed with fantastic frontline trios, we might perhaps be witnessing the best of the best, as no other attacking threesome have racked up as many goals in a single season. This season Messihas netted 58 goals, Neymar 38 and Suarez, despite his two month suspension, 24 totaling 120 goals. This tally is considerably better than the previous club record of 100 goals established by Eto’o, Messi and Henry in 2008/9. Even the famed trio of Ronaldo, Benzema and Higuain, of Real Madrid, at the peak of their partnership in 2011/12 season, notched 118 goals which cannot hold a candle to MSN’s 120. But the real story behind the comparison is that Ronaldo and co. with their goal scoring feat could only muster one silverware, La Liga, while MSN has two silver wares in the bag, La liga and Copa Del Rey, and are still in contention for the ultimate club football trophy, the champions league in berlin. Victory in Berlin will no doubt cement this tricky trio has the best forward line as they would have paired their goal scoring feat with winning all the available silver ware just as the Barcelona trident of 2008. I wouldn’t bet against this trio.

Let the real Bruce Wayne please stand up!

Will the modern world ever have a real Life Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne? For all comic book fans, having a real life Oliver Queen or Tony Stark would be beyond cool. Just imagine being mugged on the street and pronto, a billionaire in an armoured suit appears to save the day. You’ll probably ask him for a selfie before darting off to gush with your friends about the experience. And chances are high that you would put the picture all over your various social media accounts, eliciting several likes, tweets, perhaps breaking the internet like one certain Kim Kardashian. The comic world is fortunately sprinkled with billionaires, who got bored with making green back that they took up extra curricula activities as vigilante or super heroes. These set of billionaires are usually spurred by a higher goal beyond profit making. Take Bruce Wayne for instance who inherited his billions and industrial business from his late parents Martha and Thomas Wayne. He was well heeled enough to live a luxurious life without bordering himself with the decadent state of his city Gotham. But instead, Wayne, spurred by the murder of his parents decided to rid his city of crime and evil in the form of Batman. Of course this was no small feat, as Bruce incurred several injuries to his mortal body in the cause of his crusade, sometimes even losing billions of dollars. His crusade against crime was more than a fleeting passion. There’s also Oliver Queen, a billionaire playboy known as the vigilante called Green Arrow. Like Wayne, Queen used his skills and bags of trickyarrows to fight crime in his city. Then there’s also the genius-billionaire-playboy, Tony Stark, who had a bevy of armoured suit that could fly, shoot lasers and missiles and could lift heavy objects. One denominator common with these comic book billionaire super hero is that they rely on technology to fight crime. From Stark flying horizontally in his armoured suit to Queen disarming villains with the tip of his arrow, these high techs that make them special are not available in our modern world. At least not yet. Stark’s Mark suit, for instance which is capable of horizontal flight, has repulsor beam, jet boots is still decades far from reality. While the world right now might sadly not have such billionaires with super powered gadgets saving people from perilous situations, it has billionaires who are also saving lives and making the world better with their inventions or charity work. Perhaps what the modern world has that is closest to Tony Stark is Elon Musk. The South African born entrepreneur is also a genius, billionaire, innovator with big dreams. Apart from founding the company that became PayPal, a worldwide internet payment system, and Telsa Motor, which produces electric cars, Musk has revolutionized the space travel industry by creating inexpensive rocket launch vehicles that are reusable. Due to this, Musk has reduced the cost of travelling to the International Space Station by 90 per cent, from $ 1 billion per mission to a measly $ 60 million, while still working on his main mission of sending humans to the moon for sports. Tell me if that isn’t Tony Stark enough? Still, the modern world also has Bill Gates, who could compare with Bruce Wayne. While Wayne fights crime and evil in his world with his brain and brawn, Gates has been using his money and Foundation to fight killer diseases such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. In essence both Wayne and Gates have deployed their resources to fight killers and are both entitled to be called super heroes. So for now, comic book fans can make do with billionaires such as Musk and Gate, till the time when the modern world is ready to debut a real Stark.

How Marvel May Write Robert Downey Jr out of its Universe

The billion dollar question for Marvel is how it can get other actors to portray Tony Stark, just as in James bond, without hurting the box office of the franchise Robert Downey Jr has no doubt proved to be a lottery jackpot for Marvel. His four previous Marvel films have been gold at the box office grossing almost $4billion. But then, the astronomical fee he pockets is also a thorn in the financial flesh of the studio. For portraying the ‘genius, billionaire, play boy’ in the first Avenger movie, Downey‘s wallet got fatter by $ 50 million. Even so, this reportedly did not go down well with everybody at Marvel, considering that Downey earns far lesser dough on non –marvel flicks. Downey however seems poised to scoring a fatter cheque for the second Avenger movie: Age of Ultron; a trajectory some in Marvel are reportedly not too excited about, eliciting whispers that Iron man may be written out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe due to the hefty money Downey pockets for suiting up in iron. But how did Downey become the Sun in Marvels Cinematic Universe commanding such hefty fees? It all started way back before 2008, when Marvel took a gamble on him to helm the first Iron Man movie, against the backdrop of his chequered history with drugs and rehab. Downey was able to portray Tony stark in a charismatic way that turned a B-rated comic book super hero to an A Lister. The movie which cost $140 million, grossed $585.2 million as Downey cemented Stark in the consciousness of comic movie lovers, laying the rock that the whole Marvel world was built on. Iron Man laid the foundation for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But in doing that, Downey made himself inseparable from Tony Stark. In other words, many fans view the Sherlock Holmes star as an extension of Tony Stark and cannot imagine any other actor playing the ‘genius-billionaire –playboy philanthropist’. This apparently was the case with Joss Whedon, Avengers director, who was quoted as saying that he wouldn’t shoot an Avenger’s movie without Downey jnr. Whedon, in an interview in 2013, on the subject of Downey, said: “He is Iron man. He is Iron Man in a way that Sean Connery was James Bond. I have no intention of making ‘Avengers 2’ without him, nor do I think I’ll be called upon to do that. I don’t think it’s in my interest, Marvel’s interest, or his interest and I think everything will be fine.’ Whedon’s statement reveals a lot. Maybe some at Marvel wanted Whedon to exclude Downey from Avengers 2. But we all know now that, that did not happen, a testament to the merger of Downey and Stark. While Downey certainly deserves the credit for jump starting the Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU, which looked precarious after the failure of the first hulk movie- though not a part of MCU- Marvel must be ruing how it allowed Downey to have so much clout in its universe as against other stars. This was evident when Downey who was supposed to play a small role in Captain America 3, got Marvel over a barrel, securing a bigger role thereby scoring a bigger cheque of $ 40 million. He also reportedly negotiated a portion of the film’s backend profit. But it didn’t even end there. In addition to receiving a cut of Captain America 3’s profit, there is a clause set in Downey’s contract that will put him in line for another pay out if the film breaks the franchise’s record. In other words, if Captain America : Civil War exceeds the $714 million that Winter Soldier grossed, Downey will receive an extra pay out, presumably for making that happen. And he is not even the titular hero. So the big question for Marvel is how it can get other actors to portray Tony Stark, just as in James bond, without hurting the box office of the franchise. The answer to that billion dollar question may just lie in the infinity stones, which have been central to the story arc of MCU. There are six infinity stones in Marvel comic books, of which four have debuted in MCU. The first was the Tesseract, which we saw both in the first Captain America and Avenger movie. Tesseract is a space stone that can teleport anything from one point in the universe to another. Loki used it in the first Avengers movie to summon the Chitauri army. Aether- another infinity stone- which we saw in the second Thor movie is a reality stone, capable of being absorbed into the body, granting the host incredible strength. It also has reality bending abilities able to cover a world in darkness. Orb, an infinity stone, which we saw in Guardians of the Galaxy, is a power stone imbuing the wielder with incredible power. It has enough power to destroy a planet. Then there is the mind stone, which was embedded in Loki’s scepter, which allows the wielder to control the mind of others. This was the reason Loki was able to use his scepter to control people in the first Avenger movie. The two stones that have not been featured in MCU are the soul and time stones. The soul stone, whatever name it will eventually be called in MCU, is a somewhat sentient substance that could trap, steal a being’s soul. Finally we have the time Stone that could alter time. Now the key to changing the actor that portrays Tony Stark might lie with the time stone. Marvel, which is yet to debut the time stone, could create a story arc in which Tony Stark somehow fumbles with the time stone, as he his wont to, which then transforms him to a younger Stark. That would be a good way to supplant Downey who is over 50, with a younger actor without ruffling the armoured feathers of Iron man’s fans.