In his 13th exclusive column for CaughtOffside, super-agent Rob Segal lifts the lid on what’s really going on in British football. In this week’s edition, Segal talks all things VAR, what the January window could have in store for Spurs and Arsenal and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United career.

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VAR is ruining football…

I genuinely believe that the point of VAR is to disallow rather than to allow. It’s like the ruling out of goals is its default position and I think that needs to be reversed.

It really is ruining the game. We’re nearly always talking about a slither that is almost immeasurable, it’s just ridiculous. The excitement is gone, especially when it takes four or five minutes to come to a decision like we saw between Spurs and Sporting Lisbon in mid-week.

I know Antonio Conte came out and almost echoed what I am saying now, but they can’t really complain, can they? – They got to the final of the 2019 Champions League because Manchester City were on the wrong end of VAR. This time it’s Spurs, so it is swings and roundabouts, but its a really poor advert for the game overall, especially when you have a manager coming out and behaving so petulantly. It’s highly emotional and we know that but when it comes to VAR, it’s just not good for the game. Football is all about talking points and there’s barely anything to talk about other than ‘was VAR right?’ and ‘was VAR wrong?’ – the once ‘beautiful game’ has turned ugly.

But let me just say this – speaking as an insider and somebody who works with the players day-in-day-out, they hate it. The feeling of the ball hitting the back of the net for the players cannot be replicated and that emotion is slowly being taken away from them, so their frustrations, in a way, are even greater than the fans’.

Both North London clubs will be busy in January…

At the moment, Spurs are playing really badly.

Conte has been adamant that it’s going to take him two or three transfer windows to build the team he wants, so that is a cloak-and-dagger statement which basically means ‘Daniel Levy, you’ve got to give me more’, so I do expect them to try some things in January.

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In terms of what positions they may view as a weakness, I think Conte will see it as a complete picture and therefore want to load up on multiple reinforcements. The same can be said for Arsenal. I can definitely see Mikel Arteta pushing for a couple of winter signings to build the team’s quality in depth.

Cristiano Ronaldo must accept he isn’t the player he once was…

One of the biggest stories at the moment is Cristiano Ronaldo and his Manchester United career.

He had a strop against Spurs nearly two weeks ago, missed the Chelsea game the following weekend but came back for United’s Europa League group game against FC Sheriff on Thursday and scored.

Personally, I think Ronaldo is testing Erik Ten Hag when he doesn’t really need to be tested – it’s unnecessary.

Unfortunately, what is happening to Ronaldo right now is what happens to every player, even the best ones. Of course, it’s hard for him to take but from Man United’s point-of-view, they’re no worse off when he isn’t playing. There is an argument to suggest they’re actually better without him.

When it comes to what could happen with him in January, I think unless an offer were to come in that was mutually beneficial to all parties, he will stay and see out the remainder of his contract.

I think as it currently stands, United will be thinking ‘Ronaldo, you can go at the end of the season unless something decent comes in for you in January’, and I don’t think that is going to happen unless he helps Portugal win their first-ever World Cup.

The post Exclusive: VAR is killing the beautiful game, Spurs and Arsenal will spend in January and why Ronaldo may have to see out Man United contract appeared first on CaughtOffside.