"Thank you for lying, sulking and putting the coming season of the club you're contracted to in jeopardy" They're hopelessly self-centred.
So like, we didn't knock Barca back they knocked us back. "Liverpool were asking for 200m and logically we didn't accept that," said Barcelona director Albert Soler."
If they are that desperate for Coutinho the should have paid up £200m the amount they had for Neymar.
Probably trying to appease the fans as well. If I was a Barce fan I'd want a good signing to replace Neymar, that's got to have stunned them.
Later in the article he goes onto say how Barca are used to paying the best prices for players they want but the wealth of other clubs these days means they no longer wield the power.
Which may well be true. Tough though it is to feel sorry for Barca it is hard to see that this development is good for the game as a whole.
As saint alluded to earlier it hasn't been about the money or just about the money. John Henry is an - old school, worked his way up type - very smart and wont be bullied. He not only knows the worth of each of his dollars, he has a principled approach to business, in this case the football business. I don't personally like the fact that football has become a business but it has and it seems that businessmen are buying and running our clubs now. We are lucky to have a good one but the down side of that is he could also be risk averse which is the aspect we all complain about with FSG.
So, don't you think it's good for the game that Barca can't just come calling, make an offer for a player they want and ride off into the Catalan sunset? Them and Real have had it their own way for far to long, nobody can doubt their appeal on and off the pitch but now that more club's have financial clout and can tend them off it doesn't sit well with the likes of Barca.
Barca lost and, like BarSkylona, BBC Salford and the Daily Mail (and the ****ing Catalan 'press'), they are now trying to change the narrative. There is one simple lesson in all this - if JH gets involved and gives his word then there's no club in the world, however big, that are bigger than FSG. My only fear is what will happen when that's at odds with what Klopp wants, but that doesn't appear the case in this instance.
The so called news outlets you've mentioned never added in their articles that they'd ask FSG if what Barca said was above board and factual, but as all the bullshit they've spouted about the saga was non factual and based on "sources" why am I not surprised.
Very good way of putting it, you can also think of it like a trial almost with defence and prosecution each having their own narrative, as you correctly put it, and chain of events. We're the interested observers left to decide which has the most accuracy and truth I'd imagine Klopp obviously would want to have kept Coutinho until he put in the transfer request, after that maybe he still wanted him around, maybe not. I don't see our people being at odds as such a big issue, I think JH allows Klopp and the management directly involved with the club to make the decisions and he backs them. It's players being manipulative, changing their minds, or having their minds changed that create the issues and conflicts here, not necessarily our ownership/management structure
There may well be some good coming from that; they have had a too much influence for some time now and some of their dealings aren't exactly transparent. What is hard to know is where the power will lie next. PSG?
Can't see it tbh MB, Uefa are gonna hang PSG out to dry over FFP, the French no longer have Platini in the big chair at Uefa headquarters.
Btw: Don't know if this has already been done, but: Chelsea bought Drinkwater: Everton bought Drinkdriver... I'll get my coat.
Interesting point. I mean, is Ligue 1 enough of a mega-league for PSG to build a dynasty like City are trying in the PL and Barca and Real have in La Liga. It's certainly below both of those and probably Germany in terms of quality and big name, historical or currently dominating clubs. Barca and Real benefit from their presence in one of the biggest, highest quality leagues in world football, as do Premier League clubs
