英超深度海外編譯：為什麼每個人都跟保羅·博格巴有過節？

編譯：李林

The Manchester United midfielder has an up-and-down relationship with the nation. But why?

曼切斯特的中場球員跟這個國家有著過山車一般的關係。為什麼？

Jose Mourinho bit down on his own sense of injustice following Manchester United's FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Chelsea, choosing instead to mount a public, effusive and slightly contrived defence of Paul Pogba, his ailing midfielder. Mourinho played fast and loose with the hyperbole, to the point of parody, but he was still picking his words wisely. Pogba needed a show of faith.

何塞 穆里尼奧 在曼聯四分之一決賽勝過切爾西以後揹著良心為博格巴， 他帶病的中場球員， 說了好多虛偽的花言巧語。 穆里尼奧誇張的辯護像是拙劣的表演， 但是他還是在遣詞造句上下了功夫。 博格巴需要一場信仰的比賽。

Game after game, the world's most expensive footballer continues to labour. Neat touches come in two and threes, offering a quick glint of the exorbitant ability he inarguably possesses, but there remains little impact at the point of delivery. United themselves are a stuttering, semi-functional side, but Pogba's personal malaise seems to have come at the cost of his easy charm.

一場場的比賽， 這個世界上最昂貴的球員賣力打球。 乾淨的停球給我們展示了這位超群的球員無可置疑的能力，但是這對於傳球並沒有什麼幫助。 把球員團結起來是非常費力且效果甚微的， 但是博格巴的焦躁完全遮蓋住了他的冷靜一面。

At his most radiant he exudes a cool, infectious charisma but now, having endured seven months of erosive judgement, the light in his eyes has dulled and his expression has drooped to a perma-frown

以前他總是散發著冷靜的氣質， 充滿個人魅力， 但是現在7個月的錯誤評判讓他的眼睛發木， 他的表情也陷入一種長久的焦慮。

There's an atmosphere around Pogba. Hatred is too strong a word, but there's certainly an appetite for his failure. The usual jealousies that are focused on young, wealthy players are as apparent as ever, but to see him purely as a victim of envy is probably to miss the wider context; there's something else at work.

在博格巴周圍有種氛圍。 恨是一個太強烈的詞，但是他的失敗確實滿足了某些人的胃口。 對於年輕有錢的球員的嫉妒比以往更明顯，但是僅僅把他看做一個嫉妒的受害者的話，我們可能沒有看到更大的背景， 似乎還有一些其他的東西在裡面。

Pogba rejoined United at a strange time in their history. They remain on an unprecedented hiatus from the Champions League and are no longer a season-to-season contender domestically, yet they retain all the trappings of decadent success. While not necessarily progressive on the field they are, for the second time in three decades, at the vanguard of professional football's financial evolution.

博格巴在一個歷史上非常奇特的時刻重新加入曼聯。 他們在歐洲足球冠軍聯賽的間隙，不再是一個賽季上的無人可敵的球隊， 但是還是在球場上保持了一些勝利的戰績。 雖然在球場上他們不再能取得進步， 但是他們站在專業球隊金融進化的前沿。

Every aspect of Old Trafford life seems now to have a cash value and the club's football performance has had no discernible impact on their commercial appeal.

老特拉福德球場生活的方方面面都有著現金價值，球隊的表現不再對他們的商業吸引力有著巨大的影響。

That's been a great disappointment to rival supporters. Call it petty, but it's true. Those whose earliest footballing memories date back to the early 1990s have never known United to be anything other than a colossus and were forced to console themselves with the assumption that, eventually, the cycle of Alex Ferguson's success would come to an end and the club would fall back into the chasing pack.

對於對手球隊的支持者來說真是失望，或者說可悲， 但卻是真的。 想想那些從90年代初就開始喜歡足球的人來說， 曼聯一直就是一個巨人，他們不得不安慰自己，當弗格森的成功結束以後，球隊會被其他球隊圍堵。

That hasn't happened. Ferguson retired, but United were large enough to survive the infrastructural and personnel fractures created by his departure. On the field, the may look like a pale imitation of what they once where, but away from it they remain Manchester United, the biggest club in the world.

那並沒有發生，弗格森退休了，但是曼聯隊強大到能夠從他離開的傷害中生存下來。球場上看，他們似乎在蒼白的模仿這他們的過去，但是他們仍舊是曼聯， 世界上最大的足球俱樂部。

That has created a great deal of resentment and Pogba's transfer, through no fault of his own, has stirred that beligerance.

那造成了很多的怨恨，博格巴的轉會（雖然不是他的錯）讓戰爭一觸即發。

An uneven game

不公平的比賽

One of the great fallacies of modern football is that elite, expensive players are a reward for steady progress. Players of Pogba's class and vape are supposed to be a perk which comes with winning league titles or qualifying for major European competitions. But that's no longer true. Those players are in fact reserved for certain teams; they are the luxury items sold in appointment-only boutiques.

西安賽足球最大的謬論就是精英，昂貴的球員是球隊穩定發展的嘉獎。博格巴這類球員應該標誌著獲得聯賽冠軍，或者是在歐洲主要賽事上獲勝。但是情況不再是那樣，這樣的球員只是一些球隊的專屬， 他們像是需要預定的奢侈品店陳列的商品、

That's a grandiose way of saying that football is no longer fair. Pogba, essentially, is the emblem of United's never-ending, never-diminishing advantage and he now serves as a reminder that the meritocracy, if it ever existed, is long gone. For years, lesser clubs have been losing players on the basis that they couldn't offer Champions League football or regular title challenges.

我們可以誇大的多，足球比賽不再公平。 博格巴象徵了曼聯隊永不結束永不消失的優勢，但是他現在卻是提醒著那個精英體系不再存在（如果存在過的話）。 現在越來越少的球隊因為沒有獲得聯賽冠軍而失去球員。

Yet, now that United find themselves in that position – albeit probably briefly – the rules have changed.

但是曼聯隊發現自己正在這樣的位置—規則改變了。

Instead of losing their best players, they're able to sign the finest young midfielder on the planet for the biggest fee in football's history.

他們不再失去球員， 相反他們能夠以足球史上最高的價格簽約最好的年輕中場球員。

Around that galling reality also exists the contemporary game's grating imperatives. Marketing is important, an essential part of the arms race, and no club understands that better than United. While the world laughs at its Middle-Eastern beef partnerships and Central American potato snack hook-ups, those inside the club are too busy cashing cheques and implementing activation strategies to care.

讓人難堪的現實與球隊的不協調的信念並存。 市場宣傳是重要的， 是軍備競賽的關鍵，沒有俱樂部比曼聯更懂這個道理 也沒有俱樂部比曼聯更在行。當世界在嘲笑曼聯的中東部牛肉和中美洲的土豆點心合作商時， 曼聯已經忙著數錢了， 並且不遺餘力的想出各種銷售方案。

The more the revenue grows, the more hollow that mirth becomes; social media can have all the fun it wants with those cringeworthy, adapted film trailers, but the club's profit margin always guarantees it the last laugh.

收入越來越多，歡樂就變得越來越空洞。 他可以玩轉社交媒體， 比如那些讓人尷尬的電影預告片， 但是俱樂部的利潤總是讓它笑到最後。

Pogba, as a magnetic athlete of unquantifiable commercial worth, has been a natural asset. However, through no fault of his own he has effectively become a symbol of football's focus on finance. It may not amount to a legitimate reason for resenting a player, but it provides an excuse – and, sadly, in most cases that's enough to dictate the mood. In that sense, he's a victim of his times. A thoroughly modern midfielder perfectly equipped to excel within this generation, certainly, but also – curiously – in the wrong place at the wrong time.

博格巴， 作為一個磁鐵一般的球員， 有著難以估量的商業價值， 是一塊璞玉。 但是， 他無可救藥的變成了俱樂部專注於金錢的標誌，雖然這不是他的錯。 可能沒有合理的理由去憎恨一位球員， 但是這提供了一個藉口---可悲的是這足以主導人們的情緒， 一個絕對現代的中場球員， 超越了他的同齡人， 但是可悲的是他站在了錯誤的地點， 在錯誤的時間。

The game is shifting its shape and has long since been prioritising factors beyond the pitch, but that has never been more obvious than it is now.

足球正在改變面貌， 最重要的因素遠遠在球場之外， 但是在今天這樣的情況求其明顯。

Consequently, it has never been more difficult to be a big-budget United signing. When his move from Juventus was completed, it was celebrated with a Hollywood vulgarity which some will have found antagonistic. The money that changed hands may have made that essential, but the average fan doesn't necessarily process the game in that way. Although reductive and facile, they likely saw Pogba's re-entry into English football as a form of corporate boasting.

So of course they were going to celebrate even his mildest failures.

結果對於曼聯來說沒有什麼預算是太過於龐大的。 當他從尤文圖斯的轉會完成有， 好萊塢一般的慶祝甚至讓有的人覺得太過於誇張而不舒服， 交易的金錢變得格外關鍵， 但是普通的球迷並不會從這個角度來看足球。 他們把博格巴重新進入英國聯賽看做是俱樂部炫耀的資本。

所以當然他們也會慶祝他的輕微失敗。

Regrettably, there are also more sinister energies involved in the anti-Pogba movement, too. As was shown by the ethically egregious reporting aimed at Raheem Sterling in the aftermath of Euro 2016, to be young, black and successful is to be held to a different standard. It's a difficult allegation to prove and not one which should either be made lightly or broadly, but there is undeniably an unpleasant edge to the British public's relationship with Pogba.

遺憾的是這個股反博格巴的運動中有著更邪惡的力量。 那些 在16年歐冠以後針對拉西姆斯特林， 年輕而成功的黑人球員， 的報道有著不同的標準。 很難去證實這樣的說法， 但是不能否認英國大眾和博格巴的關係確實不讓人愉快。

To claim that as the sole or strongest factor would be wrong, but then, on the basis of recent events in this country over the past 18 months, to deny it entirely would be equally so. The social media echo chambers, in which almost every user paints him or herself in a perfect liberal light, make it tempting to believe that those attitudes are gone. But, alas, that superficial purity is reflective of nothing significant.

說這個是唯一的因素似乎不正確， 但是過去18個月的發生在這個國家的時間我們很難否認這個因素。 社交媒體的宣傳， 幾乎每個人都說自己的自由派， 讓我們以為這樣帶有偏見的態度已經消失了， 但是這件事的膚淺反應出偏見確實存在。

The online world may be full of virtue signalling and unimpeachable attitudes, but outside – where it actually matters – many prejudices are alive and well.

網絡世界可能充滿了道德， 表達著人們的堅定態度， 但是外面—現實生活中—偏見還是繼續存在的。

But that's a factor, rather than a full explanation. A more rounded perspective combines all the issues above with what has been known for decades: tribalism is largely characterised by infantile oneupmanship. As has been the case for many years, 2017 finds the football world divided between the haves and have nots. It's natural, therefore, for supporters of clubs who don't regularly benefit from eight or nine-figure transfers to appease themselves by any means necessary.

但是那只是一個因素， 不能完整解釋這個現象。 更全面的結合過去十年發生的事情來看，高人一等的態度標誌著部落主義。就像是2017年足球世界被分為有錢人和窮人。 那麼在八九個轉會並沒有給俱樂部帶來利益的時候， 我們也能理解俱樂部的粉絲會找到一切渠道來洩憤了。

OLD HABITS

舊習慣

Where there is a big deal, there is criticism. There is always a queue of people waiting to mock either the financial structure of a transfer or what it leads to on the pitch. In fact, rarely does a famous player move to anything other than the sound of forced laughter.

有重大利益的地方就有批評。 總是有著那麼一群人等著嘲笑一個轉會的經濟結構， 或者是這個轉會會為比賽帶來什麼。 事實上， 大多球員還是有所建樹。