Leicester win community shield. Long may city's losing run continue. Tbh they picked 2 kids and are as well. We'd struggle with that level of weakening too. Leicester had their best team out
I think they panicked at the first fan reaction and almost didn't but simply didn't have anyone else who wasn't a no mark like ferguson. I think personally they waited until there was a bit of other stuff going on and the did the deed. Rafa signing Townsend and gray and begovic won't help either. They are boiling
They only have themselves to blame. Rafa will get them organised if he gets a chance but I doubt he will. Nice little payday for him if not.
True. But anchelotti had them organised. The squad wasn't up to it. They've a gaping wide hole in their team all the way up the right flank it seems and midfield is problematic. Who knows.
Anyone else already sick of reading about Messi leaving Barca? He's crying saying he never wanted to leave, never wanted to move his family, etc. Two things; 1. Wasn't he pushing for a move for the lost two summers? If not then he was just after more money which as helped create this situation. 2. If he truly doesn't want to leave then don't leave. You've got enough money to last several lifetimes, play for free and "live off" your income from outside the club!
Totally agree. I’d even add that he was pulling the strings off field, responsible for demanding some signings and equally responsible for demanding how the team play and who plays in it……watching PSG will be interesting to see who does his running under poch’s energetic system!
Don't agree with 2. Play for free? Would anyone here work for free? Irrespective how much any of us has earned, asking someone to play for free is just ridiculous. Why shouldn't the best player in the world be paid mega bucks? He also agreed to take a 50% payout.
he could have taken a nominal 100k per week just to play and had a massive defferal of wages based on cups won. he could do a lot of things. The reality is however that barca are bankrupt. The world knows it but they think they can bluff out of it. This is a real sign that they are papering over chasms rather than cracks as the blow to their ego here is MASSIVE. If they could get some players to move they would but they are all on massive money. However I have zero sympathy. their antics with coutinho were disgraceful. absolutely the pits but then they followed that up by paying release clause on Brathwaite to cover an injury (nothing more) and it all but sealed the relegation of legantes. they paid him 100k per week just to be some form of utility player.
Barca Reported wages (as in who knows, i think some are wide of the mark personally) you can see why certain players are constantly in the news as being available. Player Name Weekly Wage Yearly Salary Age Position Nationality Lionel Messi £1,000,000 £52,000,000 33 AM (RC), ST (C) Argentina Antoine Griezmann £594,000 £30,888,000 29 AM (RLC), ST (C) France Coutinho (Philippe Coutinho) £406,000 £21,112,000 28 M/AM (LC) Brazil Miralem Pjanic £271,000 £14,092,000 30 DM, M/AM (C) Bosnia & Herzegovina Sergio Busquets £271,000 £14,092,000 32 DM, M (C) Spain Jordi Alba £212,000 £11,024,000 31 D/WB/M/AM (L) Spain Samuel Umtiti £212,000 £11,024,000 26 D (C) France Ousmane Dembélé £212,000 £11,024,000 23 M/AM (RL) France Sergi Roberto £176,000 £9,152,000 28 D/WB (R), DM, M (RC) Spain Frenkie de Jong £176,000 £9,152,000 23 D (C), DM, M (C) Holland Marc-André ter Stegen £151,000 £7,852,000 28 GK Germany Francisco Trincão £140,000 £7,280,000 20 AM (RL) Portugal Gerard Piqué £110,000 £5,720,000 33 D (C) Spain Júnior Firpo (Héctor Júnior Firpo) £105,000 £5,460,000 23 D/WB (L) Spain Martin Braithwaite £105,000 £5,460,000 29 AM (RL), ST (C) Denmark Neto (Norberto Murara Neto) £105,000 £5,460,000 31 GK Brazil Clément Lenglet £101,000 £5,252,000 25 D (C) France Ansu Fati £73,000 £3,796,000 17 AM (RL), ST (C) Spain Sergiño Dest £68,000 £3,536,000 19 D/WB (RL), M (R) U.S.A. Ronald Araújo £37,000 £1,924,000 21 D (C) Uruguay Pedri (Pedro González López) £34,000 £1,768,000 17 M (C), AM (RLC) Spain Matheus Fernandes (Matheus Fernandes Siqueira) £10,000 £520,000 22 DM, M (C) Brazil Moussa Wagué £9,000 £468,000 21 D/WB (R) Senegal Riqui Puig £5,700 £296,400 20 M/AM (C) Spain Iñaki Peña £3,100 £161,200 21 GK Spain
Barca's spending is completely reckless and they deserve the sh*t they're going through. As someone already mentioned, even if La Liga sanctioned this 50% pay cut, Barca still couldn't register him. Their wage to revenue is current at 115% I think. Without Messi's wages, it would be down to 95%. La Liga has a rule which states clubs should be at 70% . They can't even register Aguero or Depay!
I'm with @Zanjinho here - lots of people work for free for a cause they believe in. If you're already staggeringly wealthy, why not? Of course he can earn more by moving, and he has the right to - but whining about how much he loves the club and the place and how heart-breaking it is to move his family is just a little cringey. He can do whatever he wants.
A Telegraph report on Friday stated in the accounts made public last June Barca owed £284m to other clubs in transfer fees £280m of bank borrowing £200m bonds £200m unpaid wages £84m debts to suppliers £55m Public Administrators The clubs £146m state backed credit line was eaten up by last summers 6 monthly wage bill .In total debts exceed £1billion . Two years ago their Liga set wage cap was £600m and is now just over £200m yet the ****ers still went out and gave contracts to Depay , Aguero and Garcia They deserve to be bankrupted but i assume some fix will be put in place at the behest of the Catalan govt .
It is crystal clear they need to be "protected" form themselves for the leagues goo. Uefa and fifa should slap a 2 year transfer ban on them. the Spanish government can only forgive 55mil on debt right? the bonds are no such an issue i suppose, the suppliers can be defaulted on, the wages are hold overs from covid i guess? It would seem to be they are due a massive fall and it should happen rather than being propped up.
No idea what the "rules" are for either the National or Regional Govts but Barca are so interlinked with the Catalan identity i'm fairly sure all that is possible , and quite probably some stuff that shouldn't be done , will be done instead of allowing them to go to the wall .However their problems are so huge it is going to be tricky to help particularly as their management seems unwilling to face up to reality .
It's why they needed the ESL. Speaking of which, have we heard any more about the consequences for Real and Barcelona?
