FC Barcelona Discussion

[El Profesor]

Juventus confirmed the signing of Matuidi today for 20 million euros. In style, he´s a very similar player to Paulinho, and is better and has more accomplished career than the brazilian. I think this tells it all about how bad is Barcelona´s board. 

Baloncito, if you culé guys need a scout, I think even I can do a better job. And since I´m a third world guy, cheaper as well. 

Why not Puyol for Barcelona president?

Edited August 16, 2017 by El_Loco

[SirBalon]

8 minutes ago, El_Loco said:

Juventus confirmed the signing of Matuidi today for 20 million euros. In style, he´s a very similar player to Paulinho, and is better and has more accomplished career than the brazilian. I think this tells it all about how bad is Barcelona´s board. 

Baloncito, if you culé guys need a scout, I think even I can do a better job. And since I´m a third world guy, cheaper as well. 

Why not Puyol for Barcelona president?

hahaha...  I think most people could've said that.  Infact what you've said has made both SPORT and MUNDO DEPORTIVO today questioning the board.  I don't know what's going on but every Culé is asking the same questions.

[El Profesor]

Barcelona needs at least one more winger, a centre-back and right-back, not to mention one more midfielder, who in a ideal world to culés is Seri. It is ironic that 3 players in Paris Saint-Germain would fit well in that squad. Draxler, Kimpembe and Aurier would´ve made a lot of sense. 

[Cicero]

Busquets has been shit

[El Profesor]

2 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Busquets has been shit

Very. But in the long run, I think he´ll be just fine. Rakitic and Iniesta, on the other hand, I don´t think you can count on them to perform every week. Real Madrid has at least 16 players who could start, meanwhile Barça has 7 true starters, tops. 

Their attack masked the problems of that team, their midfield has been suspect for at least 2 seasons now. In that aspect, I kinda feel for Paulinho, he´ll get a lot of blame for everything that goes wrong, but Barcelona´s problems are way deeper and more serious.

[Philippe Coutinho]

Not even the 4-0 and 3-0 losses to Bayern engendered the same "End of an Era" fears as recent developments and results.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Savvy Xavi

[SirBalon]

2 hours ago, Savvy Xavi said:

Not even the 4-0 and 3-0 losses to Bayern engendered the same "End of an Era" fears as recent developments and results.

You're right...  When those results occurred I was rather entertained by all the comments and opinions all over the place via the media and football fans.  For me it actually gave of a sense of even more superiority because you felt that there were people WISHING for Barcelona's time to end and that their dominance was almost perverse.  But from inside Barcelona fandom, they knew they were shock results, freak moments.  But now you can plainly see and even the most innocent fan new to this will observe that something serious has to be put in place.  A new plan that hopefully isn't based on throwing money at it in terms of looking for the answer in the overly expensive transfer market.

Too many mistakes have been made over the past 5 to 6 years with the youth setups (La Masia) with a lack of care and attention being paid to the heart and soul of the club.  I've said it before, but more money and more time has been put into the women's football team over the past two years than the football structure at the club.  More time and effort has been put into expanding Barcelona's brandname all over the world by employing marketing gurus and even gong so far as to buy one of the biggest business spaces in the world right in the heart of New York's Manhattan.  There's the arrogance!  Not anything else in the use of that word over the years because that was just envy from others at what the club had always mollycoddled which was their eternal belief on how the game should be played and how the heart and soul of every successful or nearly successful Barça side was always populated by players from La Masia.

I've got a long day ahead of me today which is why I didn't watch the whole of the game last night (Supercopa de España), but the writing was on the wall.  Hopefully part of what has been observed over these past two games has a lot to do with confidence although that's just scraping for hope.  The pre-season looked great and it was actually Real Madrid who looked to have a lack of ideas and various cohesion problems.  But enter competition because in Spain the Supercopa isn't England's Community Shield... The Supercopa de España actually means something!  Even though it is right at the start of the season and three years ago Athletic Bilbao wiped the floor with Barça both home and away which hasn't been seen to the same extent in this particular tie...  The club must remember that before anything resembling a panic mode enters into the system and money is thrown all over the place.

None of this is Ernesto Valverde's fault though!  He is a fantastic coach and actually...  He's the best man I can think of for a moment like this if he's permitted to work no matter what happens results wise this coming season if it's negative in that aspect.  If given time, he will work to re-establish what's needed...  The problem is that he's working for a board of directors that have no confidence from the socios, the fans, the owners of the club.  FC Barcelona is fundamentally a Republic and not a football feudal system...  The board work for the fans and as soon as that particular issue is resolved and the right people manage to acquire everything that the club constitution asks from them so as to be able to stand for election.  This board SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED to use the club's resources to take FCB into a new era!  Infact, this board should do the right thing by standing aside and calling elections for a new refreshing beginning to occur...  They should do this is if they really DO love the club.

Edited August 17, 2017 by SirBalon

[bozziovai]

the biggest problem with the Barca board is their over reliance on Messi.   they gave him a super salary bump of 500k per week, yes, he deserves it.   But they should have focused more on the supporting cast for Messi.    the MSN trident was very very deadly, but the old-guys at the board decided to sell Neymar.  Maybe they've thought that with that money and with their reputation, they can always find a replacement, but we're on august 17 now and yet, there's no signing.  and for crying out loud, where are the youth-products of Barca ???

 

We only have seen two competitive games from Barca, on the first leg, they're completely undone by Madrid.   On the first half of the 2nd leg, i don't know but barca players just seems to just stand around.    on the second half, it would have been 2-2 if not for the crossbar( messi ) and the post ( suarez ).   But all in all, it's not the same barca.   it's not the same feeling as any other Classico before it.    

[Philippe Coutinho]

@SirBalon, mate, I know that you HATE Neymar with a passion (lol) but consider this: The Gamper Trophy aside, Neymar was responsible for 4 of the 6 goals scored in the International Champions Cup in the US (3 goals and an assist in pre-season friendlies). I happened to watch all of them and he was the one dependable attacking threat in all those games. Always looked dangerous when he went forward with the ball, though he does misplace passes as he always does. 

Also consider the fact that Neymar was #1 in assists during last season's Champions League, even though we got eliminated in the Quarterfinals. There's a reason why nearly all attacks originate from his side of the pitch: he (was) the one DEPENDABLY DANGEROUS attacking threat.

I'm not so sure if he can be replaced. Think about this: Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi ARE the two best club football players of ALL TIME. (I'm a club football man through and through. I do love the World Cup but club football is my real passion). That says quite a lot about Neymar when he's considered the current third best player in the world by some distance! HOW do you fill those shoes?

I said a season or two ago that Neymar would win a couple or several Balon d'Ors with Barcelona. Little did I know that he would move to PSG when I said that. If dangerous Brazil wins the 2018 World Cup (a real likelihood with Germany seemingly on the decline) AND PSG makes the CL semis (at least) this season and/or the next, then it's hard to see him NOT in the convo for that most prized of personal honors. That's a real possibility now.

Luis Suarez seems to have lost a bit of his touch and is now a bit injured. So again we are back to Messi being the sole dependable goalscorer? Back to the good ole overreliance on Messi?

I'm not a fan of Neymar as a person but I realize what an attacking threat he brings to the team. Without him, Barca looks toothless. 

It's a good thing you didn't watch the 2-0 defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu, @SirBalon It was embarrassing. Real Madrid was literally TOYING with Barca at times. Like a lion toying with its prey, playing with its food. A matador with the bull chasing shadows.

Barca did have a few chances but you always had the feeling they weren't a real attacking threat. Like I said, toothless.

I have the first leg 3-1 loss at the Camp Nou in the Supercopa on my DVR. Watched bits and pieces of it. Gon watch it in its entirety. To see how we performed. It can't POSSIBLY be as bad as the 2-0 loss today.

At least, that's what I'm hoping. (from what I saw, that shouldn't have been a penalty. So that means Real Madrid should have won 5-0 on aggregate??)

Folks, we can dislike Neymar all we want, but you can't argue with his football and what he brings to the table from an attacking football standpoint. 

2016-2017 Champions League Top Assists

Source:^[44]

Top assists[edit]

Rank	Player	Team	Assists	Minutes played
1	Neymar	Barcelona	8	797
2	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	6	1200
3	Ousmane Dembélé	Borussia Dortmund	5	769
	Dani Carvajal	Real Madrid		975
5	Benjamin Mendy	Monaco	4	525
	Raheem Sterling	Manchester City		577
	Eduardo Salvio	Benfica		628
	Thomas Lemar	Monaco		895

Edited August 17, 2017 by Savvy Xavi

[Philippe Coutinho]

Currently watching the live Paulinho presentation. On https://www.fcbarcelona.com/videos/live if anyone's interested. lol

[SirBalon]

Nah. I'll give that one a miss I think. 

[SirBalon]

Just now, Teso dos Bichos said:

it amazes me that people call it pep's team ("the greatest team of all time") and dont give Frank Rijkaard the credit he deserves! he built that team and when pep took over it wasnt in bad shape like RM when zidane took over. Pep has to be one of the most overrated coaches. unlike zidane and Mourinho  (inter) pep has proven that he cant built a team up to greatness. he was only successful with the established team that frank left him 

Frank Rijkaard went the final two years without being close to winning anything and the team was in a massive depression. The first thing Pep done when taking the job was to sell insignia names like Ronaldinho and Deco. The team by the end of his first season was over 70% different to that of Rijkaard and the style of play was also different.

Nobody has ever taken any merit from Rijakaard's successful years. But that fallacy about his team and Pep's is just a tool used by those that want to take merit away from what turned into possibly the greatest club side ever. Definitely in its height, the best football ever seen. 

[bozziovai]

52 minutes ago, Teso dos Bichos said:

it amazes me that people call it pep's team ("the greatest team of all time") and dont give Frank Rijkaard the credit he deserves! he built that team and when pep took over it wasnt in bad shape like RM when zidane took over. Pep has to be one of the most overrated coaches. unlike zidane and Mourinho  (inter) pep has proven that he cant built a team up to greatness. he was only successful with the established team that frank left him 

i totally agree with you Pep being overrated.    let's just say during pep's reign, Uefalona was born.

[SirBalon]

12 minutes ago, Teso dos Bichos said:

even messi said it, FRANK R. its the most important/influential coach he has had and yet pep gets all credit. 

......

What does whatever personal influence on the man who made him debut have on what you said about the comparisons between Rijkaard's Barcelona and Pep's?

[Carnivore Chris]

8 hours ago, bozziovai said:

the biggest problem with the Barca board is their over reliance on Messi.   they gave him a super salary bump of 500k per week, yes, he deserves it.   But they should have focused more on the supporting cast for Messi.    the MSN trident was very very deadly, but the old-guys at the board decided to sell Neymar.  Maybe they've thought that with that money and with their reputation, they can always find a replacement, but we're on august 17 now and yet, there's no signing.  and for crying out loud, where are the youth-products of Barca ???

 

We only have seen two competitive games from Barca, on the first leg, they're completely undone by Madrid.   On the first half of the 2nd leg, i don't know but barca players just seems to just stand around.    on the second half, it would have been 2-2 if not for the crossbar( messi ) and the post ( suarez ).   But all in all, it's not the same barca.   it's not the same feeling as any other Classico before it.    

They didn't decide to sell Neymar, he had a clause in his contract which was bought out. The club were powerless to prevent that sale from happening.

 

What they should have done though, is put a far higher clause in his contract so that nobody could realistically buy out. The clause rule in Spain is utterly pathetic as fuck, although since it exists, it's down to the club to place ridiculous clauses in the player's contracts in order to prevent them from ever leaving without the club being able to dictate the fee.

 

 

[bozziovai]

45 minutes ago, Teso dos Bichos said:

even messi said it, FRANK R. its the most important/influential coach he has had and yet pep gets all credit. 

......

i'm a madrid fan all my life, but honestly, when i saw Messi's face and demeanor on those two legs, i feel pity for him.    HIs eyes were that of a lost person.   He can't reach out to any of his team mates coz they're not worthy of his presence.   it's like his expression was - DAMN.  I'M ALONE.   and now Suarez is injured.   poor messi.

[bozziovai]

4 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

They didn't decide to sell Neymar, he had a clause in his contract which was bought out. The club were powerless to prevent that sale from happening.

 

What they should have done though, is put a far higher clause in his contract so that nobody could realistically buy out. The clause rule in Spain is utterly pathetic as fuck, although since it exists, it's down to the club to place ridiculous clauses in the player's contracts in order to prevent them from ever leaving without the club being able to dictate the fee.

 

 

i know there's no point in this, but if Barca showed some "love" to Neymar like what they did to Messi, maybe, just maybe Neymar wouldn't be tempted to leave, but yeah, Neymar is in PSG now, so this statement of mine is worthless, but just saying though.

but really now, how can PSG meet the FFF Rules ??    As for release clause, Madrid is one shrewd customer, Ronaldo and Benzema are on 1 billion while Bale is on half a billion. 

[SirBalon]

6 hours ago, The Rebel CRS said:

They didn't decide to sell Neymar, he had a clause in his contract which was bought out. The club were powerless to prevent that sale from happening.

 

What they should have done though, is put a far higher clause in his contract so that nobody could realistically buy out. The clause rule in Spain is utterly pathetic as fuck, although since it exists, it's down to the club to place ridiculous clauses in the player's contracts in order to prevent them from ever leaving without the club being able to dictate the fee.

 

 

They actually thought that buy-out clause was already unreachable mate.  Remember the taxes involved which aren't in the actually pay-out clause fee!  PSG have actually paid almost €400m for Neymar!

They've broken FFP laws and everyone knows this but by law UEFA can't do anything about it right now because they have to wait until this year's figures are out at the end of the new campaign.  Keep an eye on this...  They've broken the FFP rules un one two ways...  One, PSG paid it themselves which would be breaking the FFP rules as you can't go over €30m on your takings and PSG aren't anywhere near the €300m range and never have been.  The second one which is the one they've used...  The state of Qatar via QSI (Qatar Sports Investments) have paid for it by putting make-up on the deal where they say they've paid him a three year lump sum wage for being an ambassador for the Qatar World Cup.  It is illegal for a sponsor or a foreign entity to buy a player for a club.

For sure...  Barça didn't sell Neymar!  Neymar negotiated behind the club's back to have his buy-out clause met.  He's history and the club must move on because no player is bigger than any club and less Neymar.

[SirBalon]

Yerry Mina signed according to Mundo Deportivo and Sport

 

The speculation surrounding the Colombian centre-back Yerry Mina has been an ongoing situation for a number of months now and according to both Barcelona based sports dailies, Mundo Deportivo and Sport, the Palmeiras defender looks to have been signed by FC Barcelona.  They came to an agreement with Palmeiras three months ago when they purchased a preferential option to sign the defender.

According to both sports dailies Mina wouldn't be arriving until at least January and could even be left out on loan at Palmeiras or have a European club take the player on loan until next summer so as to bed into European football.

Yerry Mina is a signing totally from the technical team in the boardroom because if a centre-back was to be an option to sign Ernesto Valverde wanted Real Sociedad's Iñigo Martínez as he's been after him for a number of years now and has also been connected as a possible signing for Barça for a while.  But the Barça board seem to have a curious attraction to anything occurring in the Brazilian league these days...  Very iffy indeed.

[Carnivore Chris]

To be honest, Yerry Mina is actually a very talented lad(Ricardinho would be able to tell you more though as he's a Palmeiras fan) and could potentially be a shrewd piece of business at 8 million. He's already broke into the Colombian national team and his talents have been known for quite some time now. From what I've seen of him, he potentially has the talent to make the grade in Europe. If given the choice though, then you'd always go for Martinez, given that he's about to reach his prime, has been class for years for Real Soiedad and is proven in Spain. Barcelona need to focus more on bringing in talented Spaniards before anything as far as I'm concerned. Too many quality Spanish players have been passed up on(or sold in the case of Thiago) in recent years. I mean there was a chance to sign both Isco and Asensio and look how that would have turned out now. Instead they opt for players like Douglas and Andre Gomes.

I agree with there being something fishy going on with these signings from Brazil, but Yerry Mina could be an interesting one and may actually work.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2017 by The Rebel CRS

[Carnivore Chris]

According to Marca, Coutinho is far away but Dembele is "closer". There has also been recent links popping up about Seri again, who apparently has a 40 million euro clause. I think both players would be moves in the right direction and definitely improve the starting 11. I certainly wouldn't hold my breath when it came to the Seri deal though as it looked like the Martinez deal was as good as done the other week but all that never panned out.

 

The problem with Dembele is that he has a clause of 150 million euros, which is the amount Dortmund want. Is he worth that when you consider that he's only potential and still has a lot of work to be done on him? The market is ridiculous at the moment.

[SirBalon]

24 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

According to Marca, Coutinho is far away but Dembele is "closer". There has also been recent links popping up about Seri again, who apparently has a 40 million euro clause. I think both players would be moves in the right direction and definitely improve the starting 11. I certainly wouldn't hold my breath when it came to the Seri deal though as it looked like the Martinez deal was as good as done the other week but all that never panned out.

 

The problem with Dembele is that he has a clause of 150 million euros, which is the amount Dortmund want. Is he worth that when you consider that he's only potential and still has a lot of work to be done on him? The market is ridiculous at the moment.

The Coutinho thing is a farce.

They've been following him for nearly three years and every summer there's been speculation on whether or not Barça were going to go in for him.  Even in the last winter transfer window there were a couple of weeks where some of the Spanish sports dailies were reporting that they may have made a bid for the player...  Then it all died down and before this summer transfer window opened (way before the Neymar rumours leaving to PSG started) the speculation surrounding Philippe Coutinho went into motion.  All of this fallacy surrounding Neymar leaving and Barça being desperate to sign Coutinho because of it shows how ridiculous some fans' heads seem to work.

In all honesty I don't expect Liverpool fans to follow all the ins and outs of the rumourology surrounding FC Barcelona.  They like every football fan have enough following what's going on at their own club without concerning themselves with every minuscule detail somewhere else.  So enter the big situations that make the world's media being the most noticeable and people try and put 2+2 together and get 444.  This is why I've been going on about this situation on the relevant thread concerning the news on Coutinho possibly moving to Barcelona.  I've been there on my own defending certain situations where I feel lies have been formulated from normal transfer business where the buying club and the selling club haggle over worth and hesitance to sell.

THE ONLY part on the Coutinho saga where anyone connected to Barcelona have made public and has actually come from the club and not newspaper speculation was the Pep Segura quotes!  They were wrong and he's been reprimanded twice in a question of days surrounding that and an outspoken criticism surrounding Gerard Piqué's performance in the first leg of the Supercopa de España against Real Madrid. That came three days before Segura's comment on both Coutinho and Dembélé. Nothing else has come from inside the club and yet the club have been accused of using dirty tactics in the signing of both players.  Like they've been coaxing the players so as to show dissent toward their present clubs.

Coutinho is needed, but he's only needed as a rotation partner for Iniesta because everyone knows Iniesta is now at the stage of his career where his games need to be hand picked.  He has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Neymar departure...  That would be Ousmane Dembélé.

The problem Barça have obviously had is the receipt of €222m on top of whatever they had to spend before they got that money.  Any club that owns a player where FC Barcelona are interested in buying are no justifiably looking to get as much as possible financially from a club they know has a burning hole in their pocket with a substantial sum of cash to sign players with.  This isn't the first time this has happened to Barça as it also happened when Real Madrid activated Luis Figo's buy-out clause many years ago for what was then a record breaking transfer fee and the then Barcelona president Joan Gaspart went and spent all the money stupidly on players that didn't fit in or were substandard and expensive because the selling club knew Barça had money to burn.

Gaspart himself came out last week on a football television show saying that he hoped that the present board didn't make the same mistake he made and that if the players that aren't needed aren't on the market or very difficult to sign if they are, then it's best to keep the money and ride out the season by observing what occurs.  The market had already gone crazy before Neymar went for €222m and after that it's just perverse which is why even Florentino Pérez hasn't dipped into the market recently by his own admission on a radio show last weekend.

Coutinho isn't worth that amount of money, but Liverpool have a situation on their hands that's personal in terms of it being late on in the transfer window and the fact Klopp doesn't want to lose him and never planned on a situation where this could occur.

The Jean Seri rumour is a serious one and it was all born on when Xavi in an interview for the New York Times a month back mentioned him and said he was surprised nobody in Europe was talking about him as a potential target for big clubs. I don't follow the French league so I don't know how good he really is and I'd be lying there.  I knew of him because they'd had a decent season last campaign, but nothing more than that.

[El Profesor]

I´ve just read that Manchester City is ready to play the 300 million euros Messi release clause. If City really wants Messi this is the time to pounce, Barcelona is a mess right now and players are probably very frustrated with the direction of the club. Balon and Chris, don´t kill me, but I can see him leaving for City. 

[SirBalon]

14 minutes ago, El_Loco said:

I´ve just read that Manchester City is ready to play the 300 million euros Messi release clause. If City really wants Messi this is the time to pounce, Barcelona is a mess right now and players are probably very frustrated with the direction of the club. Balon and Chris, don´t kill me, but I can see him leaving for City. 

Manchester City have also gone onto officially state that it's all rubbish and that they're not about to break FFP rules for something that in their opinion they don't need.

But then again they are another of the Arab clubs in Europe so maybe ISIS or Alqaeda can help them out so as to promote something untoward for the next 4 or 5 years?

Or then again... Seeing as Messi's dad is "allegedly" involved in various dodgy circles and has the same "godly" fascination with cash, maybe he can make the same moves Neymar's daddy did. 

[El Profesor]

2 hours ago, SirBalon said:

Manchester City have also gone onto officially state that it's all rubbish and that they're not about to break FFP rules for something that in their opinion they don't need.

But then again they are another of the Arab clubs in Europe so maybe ISIS or Alqaeda can help them out so as to promote something untoward for the next 4 or 5 years?

Or then again... Seeing as Messi's dad is "allegedly" involved in various dodgy circles and has the same "godly" fascination with cash, maybe he can make the same moves Neymar's daddy did. 

Oye, cálmate, El Cid! Ni todos los moros son terroristas.  Seriously though, I think it makes a lot of sense to gulf investors to put their money in european football, they know that this is an industry on the growth and when the oil inevitably ends, they´ll own teams with an established fan base and worldwide reach. They´re smart. 

Have you read this Duncan Castles article? https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/manchester-city-meet-lionel-messi-11021687 He brings some very good points, especially the fact that Messi has not oficially signed his new contract and that he could move for free next year. I think it can happen, Balon, and I understand why he´d want to leave Barcelona, this board hasn´t shown they´re capable to build a team good enough to fight for titles.