FC Barcelona Discussion

[SirBalon]

15 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

It's not about that though. Almost every club has foreign ownership now, but what sets PSG and Man City apart is the source of their money being directly linked to highly corrupt ruling regimes in countries which don't acknowledge basic human rights. They are major PR machines for those ruling families saying "look at our football clubs so that you aren't looking at what we're doing in our country".

It's no coincidence that the clubs linked to these regimes, who are used to doing whatever the fuck they want because they own the police, legal institutions and basically anything that would hold a government or ruling family to account in a "normal" country, are the same clubs who stand accused of trying to skirt the financial fair play regulations through various loopholes and possible bribery, at least in City's case. They just dont know how to be told "no you can't do that" because to them it means "stick some more zeros on that number please". It's what they know.

Man Utd fans probably don't get a lot of shit over the foreign ownership because of all of the clubs who have sold out to overseas tycoons, their fanbase (at least the actual Manchester fans) made a much bigger fuss about trying to fuck the Glazers off than any other club has done since, so they do have that going for them.

Most clubs in Europe have sold out to overseas money men. I’m in agreement with you in that with PSG and Man City there is something even more sinister to it all. @Dr. Gonzo alluded to “Arab ownership” being the issue with many and that’s just not the case. The issue here isn’t “Arabs”, it’s the regimes, the BLATANT human rights issues, it’s the Wahhabis... Nobody in their right mind can see any issues with the criticism there. This isn’t a Muslim thing at all, not in the slightest although I can get why people may get defensive over it but you have to listen to or read the person’s content with this particular and singular argument... They are the scourge of the earth! They are anti any God, anti THE God... They judge, they prejudice and decide punishments. If you believe in THE God, then you KNOW that only GOD can judge.

Aside from dogma and doctrine... I digress with all of this. There is a difference.

I get where Teso is coming from and to a large extent he is correct and you wanna know why? FC Barcelona aren’t owned by any singular person in the world. They are owned by their fans and have a constitution of its own with democratic elections for every tenure. He’s right but he has an agenda and that’s why it’s tiresome and just typical trolling of the regular kind.

There are people in the background waiting for the elections to try and bring things back to order but they’re gonna have a hell of a task after this lot are finished. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

3 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

Most clubs in Europe have sold out to overseas money men. I’m in agreement with you in that with PSG and Man City there is something even more sinister to it all. @Dr. Gonzo alluded to “Arab ownership” being the issue with many and that’s just not the case. The issue here isn’t “Arabs”, it’s the regimes, the BLATANT human rights issues, it’s the Wahhabis... Nobody in their right mind can see any issues with the criticism there. This isn’t a Muslim thing at all, not in the slightest although I can get why people may get defensive over it but you have to listen to or read the person’s content with this particular and singular argument... They are the scourge of the earth! They are anti any God, anti THE God... They judge, they prejudice and decide punishments. If you believe in THE God, then you KNOW that only GOD can judge.

Aside from dogma and doctrine... I digress with all of this. There is a difference.

I get where Teso is coming from and to a large extent he is correct and you wanna know why? FC Barcelona aren’t owned by any singular person in the world. They are owned by their fans and have a constitution of its own with democratic elections for every tenure. He’s right but he has an agenda and that’s why it’s tiresome and just typical trolling of the regular kind.

There are people in the background waiting for the elections to try and bring things back to order but they’re gonna have a hell of a task after this lot are finished. 

The weird thing about PSG/Qatar is that Qatar and Saudi Arabia have their own foreign policy issues... but they're also the only two nations where the state sponsored "brand" of Islam is Salafist Islam (and Wahhabis are a form of Salafi Islam). The UAE (which Abu Dhabi/City are part of) has been accused of being a Saudi puppet... but none of the UAE kingdoms are officially Salafi/Wahhabi (as far as I know) and the UAE has advocated a descalation of the Yemeni civil war and has asked the Saudis to stop backing the Hadi there.

So I don't think it's as simple as "these two clubs are owned by Wahhabis" - only one of them might be (but I don't think the "official" Qatari brand of Salafism is Wahhabism... although, yes they're Salafists - so they're religious extremists). I think @RandoEFC is more on the money that these are incredibly rich ruling families in an area of the world where corruption is rife and where all problems they face are solved by paying the problem away.

Both nations own their respective clubs primarily as a PR exercise for their respective countries. I also wouldn't be surprised if there was money laundering going on, but I'm not basing that on any evidence... I'm just basing it on the fact that they're from a part of the world where corruption is rampant and they're the people who are actively involved in the corruption. And when you've got wealthy Salafists, you're likely dealing with people that fund terror groups - which are obviously illegal in most countries, so having a money laundering operation running out of Europe could be handy for that. Granted, that is entirely speculative based on the fact that they're religious extremists from a part of the world where wealthy religious extremists usually means backing like minded extremists who will do extreme things and I can prove none of it. But I think the ownership of these clubs is generally to improve the perception of these Middle Eastern nations in the eyes of westerners... and even in the eyes of those in the non-Middle East part of Asia (particularly China).

[Carnivore Chris]

14 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

It's not about that though. Almost every club has foreign ownership now, but what sets PSG and Man City apart is the source of their money being directly linked to highly corrupt ruling regimes in countries which don't acknowledge basic human rights. They are major PR machines for those ruling families saying "look at our football clubs so that you aren't looking at what we're doing in our country".

It's no coincidence that the clubs linked to these regimes, who are used to doing whatever the fuck they want because they own the police, legal institutions and basically anything that would hold a government or ruling family to account in a "normal" country, are the same clubs who stand accused of trying to skirt the financial fair play regulations through various loopholes and possible bribery, at least in City's case. They just dont know how to be told "no you can't do that" because to them it means "stick some more zeros on that number please". It's what they know.

Man Utd fans probably don't get a lot of shit over the foreign ownership because of all of the clubs who have sold out to overseas tycoons, their fanbase (at least the actual Manchester fans) made a much bigger fuss about trying to fuck the Glazers off than any other club has done since, so they do have that going for them.

Not really. It's only the case in England, then a handful of clubs from everywhere else. Sponsors and jumping into bed with these parasites is bad enough, but actually being owned by them is the worst thing a club can do and Man United, nor Liverpool should be except from this at all. They are in exactly the same category as City and PSG, however you look at it. Their fans are only against them because they aren't spending the money that City do also. If they had City's owners, they wouldn't give a fuck and would just lap it up.

Everyone's corrupt in football, you;d be very naive to think otherwise and very few big clubs are any different in this regard. It's probably the worst sport for it, but it's not about that, it's about selling clubs to 'outsiders' who have utterly fuck all to do with football and have contributed nothing to it whatsoever. Worst is when you have Liverpool or ManUnited fans comparing Jack Walker buying Rovers to Man City. It's fuck all like being the same at all. Jack Walker, when he was a kid was going to watch Rovers' games, the Glazers and those Baseball loving yank cunts who own Liverpool won't have even known who United and Liverpool even were until they reached adulthood. Yet what they do is somehow more acceptable. Nonsense. We are speaking a fairytale vs foreign companies buying into a sport they have no place in and both Man United and Liverpool fall into the second category.

I probably prefer City if I'm honest. They are far less arrogant and annoying, they also play much better football to anything I've seen from the boring as fuck Man United. I'm actually glad they are now dominating English football. A big fuck off to Man United and Liverpool, the 2 clubs with the by far and wide most arrogant, hypocritical and biggest knobhead fans in the country.

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by The Rebel CRS

[RandoEFC+]

5 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

Worst is when you have Liverpool or ManUnited fans comparing Jack Walker buying Rovers to Man City. It's fuck all like being the same at all. Jack Walker, when he was a kid was going to watch Rovers' games, the Glazers and those Baseball loving yank cunts who own Liverpool won't have even known who United and Liverpool even were until they reached adulthood. 

I feel like you're contradicting yourself here. I agree that Blackburn Rovers wasnt the same/as bad as American ownership, but that doesn't change the fact that being associated with the ruling families of those middle eastern countries who use football as a PR distraction is a lot worse than being owned by Glazers or FSG who at least only see their clubs as marketing enterprises for the sake of their own greed.

It all goes under the same umbrella of the local community losing ownership over their own local football teams, but the City/PSG scenario is a whole lot further down the badness scale than United or Liverpool due to who they're involved with.

[SirBalon]

12 minutes ago, Teso dos Bichos said:

Choosing man citeh over man utd or liverpool from a Blackburn fan is still questionable but has the benefit of the doubt of not knowing any better but from a dying to be a true cule it makes no sense. Like rando said, psg and man citeh are in a different category, the true cules forced the Qatar folks out, you support them  I would act surprised but flaws are expected out of plastic fans like you and Antonio. Cules like you ought to have a made in china fine print label somewhere, popular everywhere but as fake as they get. 

 

 

He’s not choosing City over United... He’s saying that Man Utd have shown the same instincts as City since the retirement of SAF. You criticise Barça but yet Man Utd built their brand originally on local identity. The names of the stands tell us this with United for example. At Arsenal they tried as hard as possible to hide the old stand names and there was even a plan to bring down the clock that was taken from the Old Highbury to The Emirates because older fans associate the “south bank” as the Clock End. 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

[SirBalon]

So with the imminent departure of Malcom we see the sense coming through. We can actually kill two birds (stories) with one stone here. 

Carles Pérez (pictured above) joined the expedition to Japan in the final hour at the request of Ernesto Valverde. Carles has just been promoted from the ‘B’ team and leaving another slot open for a cadet to be promoted which would’ve meant Xavi Simons having his chance although he was upset at not being in amongst the original 3.

Carles has been hitting the headlines in Japan and gone viral! His performance in the last game was sublime and he even got bigger headlines than Griezmann who had two marvellous games.

Carles plays on the right wing although is two-footed and can play on the left too. Hence Malcom’s imminent departure.

[Carnivore Chris]

On 27/07/2019 at 11:38, Teso dos Bichos said:

Choosing man citeh over man utd or liverpool from a Blackburn fan is still questionable but has the benefit of the doubt of not knowing any better but from a dying to be a true cule it makes no sense. Like rando said, psg and man citeh are in a different category, the true cules forced the Qatar folks out, you support them  I would act surprised but flaws are expected out of plastic fans like you and Antonio. Cules like you ought to have a made in china fine print label somewhere, popular everywhere but as fake as they get. 

 

 

That will be Barcelona's (elected) president in 10 years time, while by then United will probably be OWNED by Arabs themselves after the Americans finally sell the club on at some-point .

 

 

[Panna King]

On 25/07/2019 at 21:18, SirBalon said:

Jesus Christ Teso! Give it a rest... It’s ridiculous now.

Further news with Barça. Patrick Kluivert has been officially appointed director general of Barcelona’s youth system (La Masia +)

It seems a lot of clubs now are opting back to the Dutch way of youth due to Ajax,   Kluivert should be good at this role due to his experience and also having watched the youth in great detail because of his son is part of it.    Interesting to see what happens in the years to come. 

[Carnivore Chris]

Puyol: "Dije no al Real Madrid en dos ocasiones"

@SirBalon

[SirBalon]

8 hours ago, The Rebel CRS said:

Puyol: "Dije no al Real Madrid en dos ocasiones"

@SirBalon

Yes mate, I found out about it yesterday when I read it. I don't think anyone ever knew Real Madrid had tapped Puyol on two seperate occasions. Can anyone imagine Puyol in the all white of Real Madrid? 

[Danny]

On 26/07/2019 at 20:28, RandoEFC said:

It's not about that though. Almost every club has foreign ownership now, but what sets PSG and Man City apart is the source of their money being directly linked to highly corrupt ruling regimes in countries which don't acknowledge basic human rights. They are major PR machines for those ruling families saying "look at our football clubs so that you aren't looking at what we're doing in our country".

It's no coincidence that the clubs linked to these regimes, who are used to doing whatever the fuck they want because they own the police, legal institutions and basically anything that would hold a government or ruling family to account in a "normal" country, are the same clubs who stand accused of trying to skirt the financial fair play regulations through various loopholes and possible bribery, at least in City's case. They just dont know how to be told "no you can't do that" because to them it means "stick some more zeros on that number please". It's what they know.

Man Utd fans probably don't get a lot of shit over the foreign ownership because of all of the clubs who have sold out to overseas tycoons, their fanbase (at least the actual Manchester fans) made a much bigger fuss about trying to fuck the Glazers off than any other club has done since, so they do have that going for them.

You’ve made valid points but the main problem with your City’s, PSG’s or Chelsea’s has never been the source of their income. It’s been foreign ownership and a new found level of income that leapfrogs them ahead of the rest

[CaaC (John)+]

Barcelona are preparing to begin talks with Paris St-Germain over bringing Brazil forward Neymar, 27, back to La Liga. (Goal.com)

They have also reached an agreement with Real Betis to sign 22-year-old Spain Under-21 defender Junior Firpo for £22m. (ESPN)

[CaaC (John)+]

Barcelona sign Junior Firpo from Real Betis

Barcelona has completed the signing of Spain Under-21 left-back Junior Firpo on a five-year contract from Real Betis for a fee which could rise to £27.5m.

The Spanish champions have included a £183m buy-out clause in the Dominican-born 22-year-old's contract.

Firpo featured in 29 games last season and was part of Spain's U21 European Championship-winning side in June.

Barcelona previously signed France forward Antoine Griezmann from rivals Atletico Madrid  for £107m in July.

Ernesto Valverde's side has also been bolstered by the additions of Frenkie de Jong from Ajax for £65m, goalkeeper Neto from Valencia and defender Emerson from Brazilian side Atletico-MG.

On Tuesday, the club sold Brazilian winger Malcom to Zenit St Petersburg for £36.5m after one season at the club.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49226799

Edited August 4, 2019 by CaaC (John)

[SirBalon]

Excellent signing and I’m surprised Betis let it happen in the end. The now ex-Betis coach Quique Setién has said Barça have made a killing on that signing and that Firpo is perfect for Barcelona.

[CaaC (John)+]

Ernesto Valverde has hinted at a number of potential exits at Barcelona this summer, particularly in midfield.

"There are quite a few players in midfield," Valverde said after Sunday's win against Arsenal.

"We'll see if something happens. I don't know if any sales or signings will be completed."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/49232568

[SirBalon]

Breaking: First day at training and Lionel Messi has injured his left calf-muscle and has dropped out of the US Tour Barcelona are embarking on today. He will stay in Barcelona to be treated and the extent of the injury will be made public later on. 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

[SirBalon]

57 minutes ago, Teso dos Bichos said:

This team truly lacks members that are not afraid to point out the mistakes of the club besides a side comment about barto every once in a blue moon. Only real cules will question why Barcelona turned down Jovic back in April "he lacks mobility outside the area even though he excels inside of it"  wasnt he celebrating the goal he was about to score versus chelsea outside the box before he even touched the ball.  now that he is a RM player, the cule criticism is coming but it's about his po performance with his NT full of u-21 teammates.... 10 goals right foot 10 goals left foot and 9 header goals last season. Now that's a relevant point but salty ass cules never fail to surprise me. 

Jović is a fantastic striker but anyone that knows enough about Barcelona knows full well he doesn't fit into how the team play traditionally. It's a given and back when they were interested in him the sports pages comments were full of negative posts regarding the interest without anyone ever saying he was crap.

Real Madrid play a completely different brand of football and infact Real Madrid have never had a brand or style.

Read this:

This is the excerpt from the original interview in the Argentinian newspaper, La Nación

https://www.efe.com/efe/america/deportes/barcelona-y-atletico-tienen-su-escuela-real-madrid-no-simeone/20000010-4037209

If you like and don't trust the Spanish papers taking comments out of an original piece (although EFE is the commanding union of Spanish papers and completely neutral), I'll leave you the link to the original;

https://www.lanacion.com.ar/deportes/diego-simeone-nid2274332

 

Back to the argument... Real Madrid can do these things and succeed, Barcelona can't which is why signing players that eventually don't fit in hurts Barça a lot more than it could ever do at Real Madrid because at Barcelona (as many coaches have found out), moving away from how the academy works eventually puts the the club in a football crisis as Terry Venables found out after his successful initial period. It took Barça over a decade to recover and it wasn't the first time it occurred either.

[Carnivore Chris]

On 10/08/2019 at 01:52, Teso dos Bichos said:

This team truly lacks members that are not afraid to point out the mistakes of the club besides a side comment about barto every once in a blue moon. Only real cules will question why Barcelona turned down Jovic back in April "he lacks mobility outside the area even though he excels inside of it"  wasnt he celebrating the goal he was about to score versus chelsea outside the box before he even touched the ball.  now that he is a RM player, the cule criticism is coming but it's about his po performance with his NT full of u-21 teammates.... 10 goals right foot 10 goals left foot and 9 header goals last season. Now that's a relevant point but salty ass cules never fail to surprise me. 

It's funny how you mention a 'blue moon' considering how there is 1 shining so brightly above Manchester these days..

Edited August 12, 2019 by The Rebel CRS

[Carnivore Chris]

Busquets, Rakitic, de Jong, Arthur, Vidal, Aleñà

Too many midfielders there for me and one has to go really, especially when you consider how Sergi Roberto can fill in there if ever necessary and due to the attacking options now, Messi himself would also be an option playing deeper, behind the front 3 with de Jong and Busquets behind him.

The problem is, who?

Busquets - Well, that's never happening. Indispensable.

Arthur - Showed loads last season, he's the future and needs to continue playing.

de Jong - He's the future but also the present, has to be playing.

Aleñà - It would be sad to see him take a back seat when you consider how he was getting more minutes as the season progressed last year and did well.

It would have to come out of Rakitic or Vidal, although both have done very well for the club and been unsung heroes, especially Rakitic. But with younger players now at the club, maybe it's time for Rakitic to move on, which would be sad to see but maybe necessary.

There are also Rafinha and Riqui Puig, but I could see Rafinha being sold to Valencia while Riqui Puig will likely go out on loan, possibly to a side such as Getafe, which would actually do him well considering how they are in European competitions next season.

Edited August 12, 2019 by The Rebel CRS

[SirBalon]

@The Rebel CRS

[Panna King]

Barcelona have signed Dutch super talent Xavier Mbuyamba from MVV Maastricht,  he is a defender 6ft 5 and labelled the next Van Dijk.

 

 

@The Rebel CRS

@SirBalon

Edited August 27, 2019 by Panna King

[SirBalon]

3 minutes ago, Panna King said:

Barcelona have signed Dutch super talent Xavier Mbuyamba from MVV Maastricht,  he is a defender 6ft 5 and labelled the next Van Dijk.

 

 

@The Rebel CRS

@SirBalon

Obviously it seems Patrick Kluivert had something to do in this when we see the picture. How good is this kid mate?