Thirty years old is football’s new 25 years old.
On Saturday night, another 33-year-old striker Karim Benzema inspired Real Madrid to victory over Barcelona in El Clasico. The Frenchman is the joint second highest scorer in La Liga, alongside 34-year-old Luis Suarez.
And yesterday in London two very different veterans both played crucial roles as their sides won the two biggest Premier League clashes of the weekend.
Edinson Cavani’s arrival at Old Trafford on Deadline Day was greeted by as many raspberries as fanfares and seen by some as merely proving the club’s lack of ambition in the transfer market. What could this fossil add to a side already replete with exciting young strikers?
Quite a bit as it turns out. The 34-year-old’s seven Premier League goals from just 11 starts equals the combined total managed by Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood and doesn’t look too shabby compared to Marcus Rashford’s 10 from 29 starts either.
Against Spurs yesterday, he displayed the full extent of his repertoire. In the 33rd minute his perfectly timed run to latch on to Paul Pogba’s pass was followed by the most emphatic of first-time finishes only for the goal to be disallowed for a piddling offence by Scott McTominay in the build-up.
Eleven minutes after the break, Cavani again got the jump on the defence but was denied by a superb Hugo Lloris save which nevertheless gave Fred the chance to tap home an equaliser. Twelve minutes from time a teasing Greenwood cross saw the Uruguayan launch himself through the air to score with a spectacular diving header.
Cavani is a penalty box predator par excellence. Outside the 18-yard line his work is merely rudimentary. But few 21st century strikers have been more alert to the possibilities within the danger zone. He offers United something which none of their younger strikers can emulate.
Speculation suggests he may leave United to join Boca Juniors at the end of the season as he’s keen to return to South America. But the tour de force against Tottenham suggests Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should do everything within his power to keep Cavani.
His time with the club has not been all plain sailing but the evidence of recent weeks suggests the veteran is becoming increasingly comfortable with new club and new league. Presented with additional starting opportunities, he could well produce something like the big campaign enjoyed by the 35-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic at United four seasons ago.
Cavani has spent almost his entire career playing on a different continent to the one of his birth. Mark Noble has followed another path. Born a mile from Upton Park, the West Ham midfielder, who turns 34 next month, has enjoyed a career which almost seems more like that of a GAA player than a professional footballer.
Noble remembers walking home after making his debut for the Hammers. That was in August 2004 when Tony Blair was Prime Minister, Dry Your Eyes by The Streets had just been number one and a young Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg was working on a great new idea called The Facebook.
Less spectacularly gifted than Cavani, Noble’s trademarks have been diligence, honesty and intelligence. Yesterday he led West Ham out to mark his 400th Premier League appearance and a key moment in the 75th minute summed up what he’s been all about.
Leicester City had just pulled the score back to 3-1 when Youri Tielemans found himself free on the edge of the box. As the Belgian pulled the trigger, Noble threw himself in the path of the shot, executing a block which sent the ball out for a corner. The ability to detect danger which has served him so well as an anchorman was obvious but so was his utter disregard for anything but the needs of the team.
The incident resulted in Noble lying stretched on the ground. After receiving treatment his injured right arm dangled by his side but he played on for a couple of minutes while David Moyes decided on the necessary substitution and reshuffle. With West Ham holding on for a 3-2 win, Noble’s block may well have been a matchwinner.
His status as a one-club man isn’t the only old-school thing about Noble. He even looks retro, with a general appearance and hairstyle which call to mind the sort of heroes once immortalised on cards inside cigarette packets.
When it was repeatedly suggested that Noble declare for Ireland because of his Cork-born grandparents, he demurred for the best possible reason.
“There are young Irish kids playing well that deserve and would appreciate an Irish cap more than I would. So for me to turn up and play for Ireland without it having been a dream of mine and there’s an Irish kid who might miss out when it’s their dream to play for Ireland, I couldn’t do that.” Noble by name, Noble by nature.
His impact on the club where he’s spent the last decade and a half is illustrated by the fact that Declan Rice, whose current injury has given Noble the chance to return to the first team, has been mentored by him since his teens and credits the veteran as a huge influence on his career.
Yesterday’s win over Leicester increases the chances that next season, which Noble insists will be his last, may bring Champions League football to the Hammers faithful. It would be a great swansong at the end of a thoroughly honourable career.
Their styles may be different but the man from Uruguay and the man from East London share a determination to keep getting the job done. There’s a lot of life left in a lot of old dogs these days.
