La Liga / Copa Del Rey Ole

[Granny Danger]

The financial argument aside, I think Barca will struggle badly without Messi.* Even last season when he looked disinterested in some games he was able to lift himself long enough to create something special and secure a point or three.  I cannot see another player able to come in and do anything close to that and it leaves a team with some special talent and  some real mediocrity, together with some important players coming to the end of their careers.

I will certainly miss watching him in a Barca shirt.

* I appreciate this is stating the bloody obvious.

[RandomGuy.]

Barca will probably be shite for 4/5 years, before things level out and La Masia pumps out another squad.

They really should use this as a chance to just fucking gut the squad. Signing Aguero this Summer was stupid and showed nothing has been learned though.

[Lofarl]

Christ Messi greeting at the press conference.  Yer no fucking dying pal.  You still have your choice of clubs and hundreds on millions in the bank.

[RandomGuy.]

See that Barca aren't even able to register Depay or Aguero due to the wage cup rules aswell, so neither can play for the club in competitive games

[Michael W]

It's far easier to gut the squad when the players you need to let go are actually marketable. Coutinho and Dembele are classic examples here - Barca overpaid hugely, the players are on massive wages and they have not exactly delivered. No one is going to pay for them, and even if an agreeable offer is received, the player will struggle to agree terms. Both being injured is a circumstantial disaster. 

Griezmann is similar too. He's not exactly a flop like the other two are but again the classic characteristics are there: cost too much and is on too high a wage. 

The above 3 are the ones that have taken the flak, but in terms of cutting the wage bill there are others in the squad almost certainly the top earners - Pique, Busquets and Alba: 34,33,32 respectively. They have little saleable value and who, other than Barca, is going to meet their wage demands? 

They'll want to try and keep as much of their better players as they can, that's a given, but the club more than any thing needs to punt the high earners. These guys are almost without exception the best players. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Michael W

[sparky88]

On 06/08/2021 at 16:25, Granny Danger said:

The financial argument aside, I think Barca will struggle badly without Messi.* Even last season when he looked disinterested in some games he was able to lift himself long enough to create something special and secure a point or three.  I cannot see another player able to come in and do anything close to that and it leaves a team with some special talent and  some real mediocrity, together with some important players coming to the end of their careers.

I will certainly miss watching him in a Barca shirt.

* I appreciate this is stating the bloody obvious.

Pretty sure Barcelona would be able to finish 3rd in La Liga and fail to win the Champions League even without Lionel Messi

[J_Stewart]

Christ Messi greeting at the press conference.  Yer no fucking dying pal.  You still have your choice of clubs and hundreds on millions in the bank.

Imagine being emotional at having to leave the club you’ve played at all your teenage and adult life, where you’ve become the greatest legend in a litany of legends, and where you haven’t been able to say goodbye to teammates or fans properly. Imagine being sad at having to leave the city you’ve called your home for 21 years, having raised your kids there since birth and leaving behind all your teammates and friends, when it’s completely out of your control. It’s almost as if top level footballers are also human beings with emotions and not just cyborgs.

[Miguel Sanchez]

Absolutely devastated he has to leave because they can't pay him enough. I really hope he can find a club that'll pay him an 8 figure sum per year, I don't know how he'll cope otherwise.

[Moomintroll]

Here's a mad thought, given that the club have given him a 9 figure fortune over the years why doesn't he register as an amateur for 5 months while they sort their shit out.

[Carl Cort's Hamstring]

19 minutes ago, Moomintroll said:

Here's a mad thought, given that the club have given him a 9 figure fortune over the years why doesn't he register as an amateur for 5 months while they sort their shit out.

Is the problem not that they can't register anyone at all, as they thought the rules simply wouldn't apply to them?

[MrWorldwideJr]

14 minutes ago, Carl Cort's Hamstring said:

Is the problem not that they can't register anyone at all, as they thought the rules simply wouldn't apply to them?

As far as I understand it, they aren't banned from registering players, its just that registering Messi or any of their new signings would take them over the salary cap, which obviously isn't allowed. Hence the need to offload Griezemann, Coutinho, Dembele etc. as this would give them room under the salary cap to register these players. So in theory if Messi agreed to play for free, or some token figure which kept them under the cap, they would presumably be able to register him.

[J_Stewart]

Absolutely devastated he has to leave because they can't pay him enough. I really hope he can find a club that'll pay him an 8 figure sum per year, I don't know how he'll cope otherwise.

Here's a mad thought, given that the club have given him a 9 figure fortune over the years why doesn't he register as an amateur for 5 months while they sort their shit out.

The state of this Tory shite. Imagine thinking it unreasonable that the greatest player of all time, and still the best player on the planet (the worker) should do his job for a fraction of his worth because the club who have made close to a billion euros a year in turnover (the employer), which he has significantly contributed towards, have mismanaged their finances to such a pathetic degree. Now imagine that the worker had actually already agreed to accept half of his previous salary, significantly below his market worth, so that he could stay, but the shambles of an employer still couldn’t make it work. Is there any other industry in the world where people would question the worker in this instance? Of course there isn’t, because it’d be fucking mental to do so.

[Moomintroll]

17 minutes ago, Carl Cort's Hamstring said:

Is the problem not that they can't register anyone at all, as they thought the rules simply wouldn't apply to them?

Might be in fairness, you can usually circumvent that if a player is registered as an Amateur but I can't claim to know La Liga registration rules.

[Moomintroll]

2 minutes ago, J_Stewart said:

 

 

The state of this Tory shite. Imagine thinking it unreasonable that the greatest player of all time, and still the best player on the planet (the worker) should do his job for a fraction of his worth because the club who have made close to a billion euros a year in turnover (the employer), which he has significantly contributed towards, have mismanaged their finances to such a pathetic degree. Now imagine that the worker had actually already agreed to accept half of his previous salary, significantly below his market worth, so that he could stay, but the shambles of an employer still couldn’t make it work. Is there any other industry in the world where people would question the worker in this instance? Of course there isn’t, because it’d be fucking mental to do so.

 

 

Somebody got out the wrong side of bed today.

[For Your Pies Only]

I feel for Griezmann, Coutinho and Dembele (and De Jong, to a lesser degree) - seems they are collectively getting quite a kicking from some fans and elements of the Spanish media for simply honouring their contracts - maybe blame the numpties at the club for negotiating themselves into this position, aye?

 

[Robin.Hood]

It would have been legally impossible for Lionel Messi to play for free at Barcelona. Any new contract is, by Spanish law, required to be a minimum of 50 percent of previous wage (this is in place to avoid financial manipulation). https://t.co/annqTuQlCF

[Miguel Sanchez]

49 minutes ago, J_Stewart said:

 

 

The state of this Tory shite. Imagine thinking it unreasonable that the greatest player of all time, and still the best player on the planet (the worker) should do his job for a fraction of his worth because the club who have made close to a billion euros a year in turnover (the employer), which he has significantly contributed towards, have mismanaged their finances to such a pathetic degree. Now imagine that the worker had actually already agreed to accept half of his previous salary, significantly below his market worth, so that he could stay, but the shambles of an employer still couldn’t make it work. Is there any other industry in the world where people would question the worker in this instance? Of course there isn’t, because it’d be fucking mental to do so.

 

 

It's the club's fault, but I didn't hear him complaining when they were spending untold fortunes on utter shite or signing his pals or managers to keep him happy. 

[J_Stewart]

It's the club's fault, but I didn't hear him complaining when they were spending untold fortunes on utter shite or signing his pals or managers to keep him happy. 

He literally asked to leave last summer because he was so unhappy with how the previous board had run / was running the club, and was reported to be / had directly said in numerous interviews over the last 3 or 4 years that he disagreed with a variety of decisions, including big money signings and managerial appointments (Griezman and Koeman for example). So you absolutely would have “heard him complaining” if you were paying any attention, or were arguing in good faith.

[Moomintroll]

29 minutes ago, Robin.Hood said:

It would have been legally impossible for Lionel Messi to play for free at Barcelona. Any new contract is, by Spanish law, required to be a minimum of 50 percent of previous wage (this is in place to avoid financial manipulation). https://t.co/annqTuQlCF

Cheers for doing the research I couldn't be arsed to do.

[Derry Alli]

On 05/08/2021 at 19:02, Mr. Alli said:

PSG bound. 

#ITK.