Barcelona: Charged with corruption .... again!

Sinbad the sailor

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 4, 2021
Messages
56
Supports
Football
It sounds like any spanish supporter for almost a decade "great quality, great passes, talent etc." but eventually it just doesn't work. The problem is far deeper than just having a goal scorer, the teams lacks verticality and Xavi is aware of that, that's why he decided to go for this pretty extreme strategy at the end of the game called "give the ball to Dembele at all cost", because at one point you need player that will make differences and have more to offer than pretty passes. Of course these young players have talent, but when you play with 6-7 midfielders, it's no surprise you're going to have good possessions in this area, but that's just not how you score goals.
Pep plays a lot of midfielders. It's not about wingers it's about drilling your players and patterns of play. If xavi can teach them that he'll succeed. If not...
 

Sinbad the sailor

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 4, 2021
Messages
56
Supports
Football
I'm either cynical or in denial... but I just have a hard time believing that, in their worst crisis in ages, and after ten years of producing nothing in their youth setup, Barcelona will be saved by having like 5 'future greats' between 17-19 years of age.
5 is a bit too much. But I'll bet gavi, Ansu and pedri are special. It's their luck I guess.
 

Niemans

New Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2021
Messages
1,641
Supports
Barcelona, Celta de Vigo
Injuries to strikers will make it very difficult for Xavi. Very dubious penalty v Espanyol and got lucky at the end yesterday even if they had lots of chances first.

Surely will get battered in Munich and goal difference in La Liga is showing their level currently. Will struggle for top 4. If those two things come to pass, the financial side will continue to be very difficult. Need CL monies for a quick bounce back.
Maybe with healthy forwards Koeman would still be coaching. Who knows.

Barcelona have 2 difficult matches in the remainder of the first round, Villarreal and Sevilla ahead. The first 4 have to face each other and there they will lose points.
Fati and Braithwathe will return soon, Aguero could have been important.
Top 4 will be very tight

Finishing third and going to the Europa League may be a better option right now than finishing second and almost certainly being eliminated in the next round.
 

Oly Francis

Full Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2018
Messages
3,942
Supports
PSG
I'm either cynical or in denial... but I just have a hard time believing that, in their worst crisis in ages, and after ten years of producing nothing in their youth setup, Barcelona will be saved by having like 5 'future greats' between 17-19 years of age.
They'd be lucky if 2 of them actually reach the highest level (meaning starter in a top club). As mentionned several times here, there's a huge gap between "good talent" and top player and people tend to quickly forget the endless list of players who showed great things at 18 and ended up doing nothing. Camavinga did amazing at 17 for a couple of months and is struggling since. He might be a good player in a couple of years but these things take time. It's normal for fans to overhype homegrown youth players but they can't all be Haaland or Mbappé (i've seen people here pick Greenwood over Mbappé) and it's amplified at Barcelona because of their history.
 

Niemans

New Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2021
Messages
1,641
Supports
Barcelona, Celta de Vigo
They're really young, though.We're talking about talented midfielders who are like 17-19 years old.
Young players are often irregular, because of their immaturity and because they need to learn.
On the other hand, Gavi has 4 games with the Spanish national team and several with Barcelona being the best or in the top-3.
Nico exactly the same, making excellent matches one after another. And that's what's unusual about the 2 of them, with those ages playing as top players.
Same case as Pedri last year.
 

Niemans

New Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2021
Messages
1,641
Supports
Barcelona, Celta de Vigo
They'd be lucky if 2 of them actually reach the highest level (meaning starter in a top club). As mentionned several times here, there's a huge gap between "good talent" and top player and people tend to quickly forget the endless list of players who showed great things at 18 and ended up doing nothing. Camavinga did amazing at 17 for a couple of months and is struggling since. He might be a good player in a couple of years but these things take time. It's normal for fans to overhype homegrown youth players but they can't all be Haaland or Mbappé (i've seen people here pick Greenwood over Mbappé) and it's amplified at Barcelona because of their history.
Gavi was starter in the semifinals and final of the nations league and starter in Barcelona, that's the highest level. And Nico will soon be called up to the national team.

The case of Camavinga is different. his style of play is different, he was neither in a top club nor in a top league.
Midfielders with the technical quality of Nico and Gavi is harder to fail.
Camavinga is technically much more limited and that type of player usually loses presence.
 

cyberman

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2010
Messages
37,331
They're really young, though.We're talking about talented midfielders who are like 17-19 years old.
That’s the danger Barca now face. Youth can blind you if you focus too much on what a player can do at a young age. Progress isn’t lineal.
 

André Dominguez

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2017
Messages
6,325
Location
Lisbon
Supports
Benfica, Académica
With their current financial situation, they really have no choice but rely on homemade talent and the eventual high profile transfer in case they get rid of Coutinho or Umtiti.
 

Daysleeper

New Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Messages
4,790
Supports
Barcelona
Perhaps. But United has always had a healthy economy while Barcelona has a crippling debt that hasn't been properly addressed yet.
United’s economy and wage structure is out of whack moving forward though if you see the tweet posted before
 

Jaeger

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Nov 11, 2020
Messages
16
Supports
Real Madrid
I'm either cynical or in denial... but I just have a hard time believing that, in their worst crisis in ages, and after ten years of producing nothing in their youth setup, Barcelona will be saved by having like 5 'future greats' between 17-19 years of age.
C’mon, don’t fall into the media’s narrative that Barca are set for the future with all these youngsters. Don’t get me wrong though, (I hope not to come across as biased, btw :lol:), I do believe there is some talent there to be excited about but their future is still uncertain, independently of how good they play at such young age.

Football has taught us in the past to be patient and careful with all these young prospects before overhype/overrate them which is what the media its been doing and plenty of people are eating this all up with spoon.

I guess, this is all about perspectives, but I don’t see these “5 future greats.”

Fati definitely look class and Araujo is a nice prospect of a CB. Now in midfield Nico to me is the better player out of Pedri and Gavi. He feels like the type of player that can adapt to different styles and be more differential than the other two. In fact I think Gavi edges Pedri who to this day I don’t understand the hype around him.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862

Wow, birds of a feather something something
The size of our wage bill being on par with Barca's doesn't mean anything, because we're not near bankrupt and our wage bill/net transfer spend isn't being limited by the FA because of it.

PLAYER (27)POS.AGEANNUAL SALARYWEEKLY SALARY
Cristiano RonaldoF36£26,520,000£510,000
David De GeaGK31£19,500,000£375,000
Jadon SanchoF21£18,200,000£350,000
Raphael VaraneD28£17,680,000£340,000
Paul PogbaM28£15,080,000£290,000
Edinson CavaniF34£13,000,000£250,000
Anthony MartialF25£13,000,000£250,000
Marcus RashfordF24£10,400,000£200,000
Harry MaguireD28£9,875,000£189,904
Bruno FernandesM27£9,360,000£180,000
Juan MataM33£8,320,000£160,000
Luke ShawD26£7,800,000£150,000
Frederico de Paula SantosM28£6,240,000£120,000
Victor LindelofD27£6,240,000£120,000
Nemanja MaticM33£6,240,000£120,000
Donny van de BeekM24£6,240,000£120,000
Dean HendersonGK24£5,200,000£100,000
Alex TellesD28£4,840,000£93,077
Aaron Wan-BissakaD23£4,680,000£90,000
Eric BaillyD27£4,160,000£80,000
Mason GreenwoodF20£3,900,000£75,000
Phil JonesD29£3,900,000£75,000
Jesse LingardM28£3,900,000£75,000
Diogo DalotD22£1,300,000£25,000
Scott McTominayM24£1,040,000£20,000

Lingard, Pogba, Cavani, Mata contract will be up at the end of the season and because of the size of our squad we won't need a lot of replacements. That's a drop of 40m. We only have one gaping hole in the squad and that's DM, which means the wage bill improves next year.

DDG, Ronaldo, Jones, Matic and Dalot's contracts expire in 2023 for a combined 55m. Obviously some of those will have to replaced but it's unlikely they'll be on DDG/Ronaldo type wages.

Maguire has value because he's English and a contract 'till 2025. The only unmentioned top earner is Martial ('till 2024), who obviously doesn't justify his wages.

Player NameWeekly WageYearly SalaryAgePositionNationality
Coutinho£380,000£19,760,00029AM LCBrazil
Ousmane Dembélé£287,000£14,924,00024AM RLFrance
Samuel Umtiti£263,000£13,676,00027D CFrance
Sergio Busquets£253,000£13,156,00032DMSpain
Jordi Alba£231,000£12,012,00032D/WB/M LSpain
Sergi Roberto£164,000£8,528,00029D/WB R, DM, M RCSpain
Frenkie de Jong£164,000£8,528,00024D C, DMHolland
Memphis Depay£158,000£8,216,00027AM LC, F CHolland
Sergio Agüero£158,000£8,216,00033AM/F CArgentina
Marc-André ter Stegen£141,000£7,332,00029GKGermany
Gerard Piqué£103,000£5,356,00034D CSpain
Neto£98,000£5,096,00031GKBrazil
Martin Braithwaite£98,000£5,096,00030AM RL, STDenmark
Clément Lenglet£97,000£5,044,00026D CFrance
Ansu Fati£69,000£3,588,00018AM RL, STSpain
Sergiño Dest£64,000£3,328,00020D/WB RLU.S.A.
Riqui Puig£64,000£3,328,00021AM CSpain
Eric García£51,000£2,652,00020D CSpain
Ronald Araújo£35,000£1,820,00022D CUruguay
Pedri£32,000£1,664,00018AM RLCSpain
Luuk de Jong£25,000£1,300,00030STHolland
Óscar Mingueza£19,000£988,00022D RCSpain

Meanwhile Barca have multiple finished players on the books because they needed to extend for their pay cuts in order to to meet the FA's regulations, like Pique and Alba 'till 2024..There's overpaid shite like Coutinho 'till 2023 on 20m a year. There's deadwood like Umtiti on 13m a year 'till 2023.

The Barca squad is massively unbalanced. There's no pace on the wings because Fati and Dembele are always injured. The only good players that can stay fit are the midfielders, Ter Stegen, Araujo and Memphis. There's no money to buy top players, which means selling good players like De Jong or getting bosmans in the Memphis category.

https://salarysport.com/football/la-liga/barcelona/
https://www.spotrac.com/epl/manchester-united-fc/payroll/
https://www.transfermarkt.com/manchester-united/berateruebersicht/verein/985
https://www.transfermarkt.com/fc-barcelona/berateruebersicht/verein/131
 

Niemans

New Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2021
Messages
1,641
Supports
Barcelona, Celta de Vigo
The size of our wage bill being on par with Barca's doesn't mean anything, because we're not near bankrupt and our wage bill/net transfer spend isn't being limited by the FA because of it.

PLAYER (27)POS.AGEANNUAL SALARYWEEKLY SALARY
Cristiano RonaldoF36£26,520,000£510,000
David De GeaGK31£19,500,000£375,000
Jadon SanchoF21£18,200,000£350,000
Raphael VaraneD28£17,680,000£340,000
Paul PogbaM28£15,080,000£290,000
Edinson CavaniF34£13,000,000£250,000
Anthony MartialF25£13,000,000£250,000
Marcus RashfordF24£10,400,000£200,000
Harry MaguireD28£9,875,000£189,904
Bruno FernandesM27£9,360,000£180,000
Juan MataM33£8,320,000£160,000
Luke ShawD26£7,800,000£150,000
Frederico de Paula SantosM28£6,240,000£120,000
Victor LindelofD27£6,240,000£120,000
Nemanja MaticM33£6,240,000£120,000
Donny van de BeekM24£6,240,000£120,000
Dean HendersonGK24£5,200,000£100,000
Alex TellesD28£4,840,000£93,077
Aaron Wan-BissakaD23£4,680,000£90,000
Eric BaillyD27£4,160,000£80,000
Mason GreenwoodF20£3,900,000£75,000
Phil JonesD29£3,900,000£75,000
Jesse LingardM28£3,900,000£75,000
Diogo DalotD22£1,300,000£25,000
Scott McTominayM24£1,040,000£20,000

Lingard, Pogba, Cavani, Mata contract will be up at the end of the season and because of the size of our squad we won't need a lot of replacements. That's a drop of 40m. We only have one gaping hole in the squad and that's DM, which means the wage bill improves next year.

DDG, Ronaldo, Jones, Matic and Dalot's contracts expire in 2023 for a combined 55m. Obviously some of those will have to replaced but it's unlikely they'll be on DDG/Ronaldo type wages.

Maguire has value because he's English and a contract 'till 2025. The only unmentioned top earner is Martial ('till 2024), who obviously doesn't justify his wages.

Player NameWeekly WageYearly SalaryAgePositionNationality
Coutinho£380,000£19,760,00029AM LCBrazil
Ousmane Dembélé£287,000£14,924,00024AM RLFrance
Samuel Umtiti£263,000£13,676,00027D CFrance
Sergio Busquets£253,000£13,156,00032DMSpain
Jordi Alba£231,000£12,012,00032D/WB/M LSpain
Sergi Roberto£164,000£8,528,00029D/WB R, DM, M RCSpain
Frenkie de Jong£164,000£8,528,00024D C, DMHolland
Memphis Depay£158,000£8,216,00027AM LC, F CHolland
Sergio Agüero£158,000£8,216,00033AM/F CArgentina
Marc-André ter Stegen£141,000£7,332,00029GKGermany
Gerard Piqué£103,000£5,356,00034D CSpain
Neto£98,000£5,096,00031GKBrazil
Martin Braithwaite£98,000£5,096,00030AM RL, STDenmark
Clément Lenglet£97,000£5,044,00026D CFrance
Ansu Fati£69,000£3,588,00018AM RL, STSpain
Sergiño Dest£64,000£3,328,00020D/WB RLU.S.A.
Riqui Puig£64,000£3,328,00021AM CSpain
Eric García£51,000£2,652,00020D CSpain
Ronald Araújo£35,000£1,820,00022D CUruguay
Pedri£32,000£1,664,00018AM RLCSpain
Luuk de Jong£25,000£1,300,00030STHolland
Óscar Mingueza£19,000£988,00022D RCSpain

Meanwhile Barca have multiple finished players on the books because they needed to extend for their pay cuts in order to to meet the FA's regulations, like Pique and Alba 'till 2024..There's overpaid shite like Coutinho 'till 2023 on 20m a year. There's deadwood like Umtiti on 13m a year 'till 2023.

The Barca squad is massively unbalanced. There's no pace on the wings because Fati and Dembele are always injured. The only good players that can stay fit are the midfielders, Ter Stegen, Araujo and Memphis. There's no money to buy top players, which means selling good players like De Jong or getting bosmans in the Memphis category.

https://salarysport.com/football/la-liga/barcelona/
https://www.spotrac.com/epl/manchester-united-fc/payroll/
https://www.transfermarkt.com/manchester-united/berateruebersicht/verein/985
https://www.transfermarkt.com/fc-barcelona/berateruebersicht/verein/131
Are those salaries net?
 

Oly Francis

Full Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2018
Messages
3,942
Supports
PSG
Gavi was starter in the semifinals and final of the nations league and starter in Barcelona, that's the highest level. And Nico will soon be called up to the national team.

The case of Camavinga is different. his style of play is different, he was neither in a top club nor in a top league.
Midfielders with the technical quality of Nico and Gavi is harder to fail.
Camavinga is technically much more limited and that type of player usually loses presence.
Yeah... no. Not even close. Being a starter in nations league and in this Barcelona team is not the highest level. Unless you think players like Sarabia are top players as well (hint : he's not). I actually see more potential in Nico than Gavi. Lets see how Gavi looks if Bayern plays the next game seriously.

And calling La Liga a top league this season is a bit of a joke as well, it's the worst it's been in decades hands down, the overall quality is poor compared to the amazing displays we could see week in and week out like 5 years ago.

Always the same thing with La Liga players, especially spanish players. They play pretty, nice technical abilities sweet touch, vastly overhyped but most of them lack what it takes to be dominant. They often have the same profile, not really a winger, not really a n°8, not really a n°10, and they often have a hard time fitting in modern football long term.

Pedri looks like that real deal but it takes far more than 1 good season to establish yourself as a top player, they have to work hard for years to deserve such description.
 

Daysleeper

New Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Messages
4,790
Supports
Barcelona
C’mon, don’t fall into the media’s narrative that Barca are set for the future with all these youngsters. Don’t get me wrong though, (I hope not to come across as biased, btw :lol:), I do believe there is some talent there to be excited about but their future is still uncertain, independently of how good they play at such young age.

Football has taught us in the past to be patient and careful with all these young prospects before overhype/overrate them which is what the media its been doing and plenty of people are eating this all up with spoon.

I guess, this is all about perspectives, but I don’t see these “5 future greats.”

Fati definitely look class and Araujo is a nice prospect of a CB. Now in midfield Nico to me is the better player out of Pedri and Gavi. He feels like the type of player that can adapt to different styles and be more differential than the other two. In fact I think Gavi edges Pedri who to this day I don’t understand the hype around him.
No way, pedri is easily the best of the youngsters bar Fati…with all due respect
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
Are those salaries net?
Looks gross to me, that's typically how they're reported I think.

Yeah... no. Not even close. Being a starter in nations league and in this Barcelona team is not the highest level. Unless you think players like Sarabia are top players as well (hint : he's not). I actually see more potential in Nico than Gavi. Lets see how Gavi looks if Bayern plays the next game seriously.

And calling La Liga a top league this season is a bit of a joke as well, it's the worst it's been in decades hands down, the overall quality is poor compared to the amazing displays we could see week in and week out like 5 years ago.

Always the same thing with La Liga players, especially spanish players. They play pretty, nice technical abilities sweet touch, vastly overhyped but most of them lack what it takes to be dominant. They often have the same profile, not really a winger, not really a n°8, not really a n°10, they often have a hard time fitting in modern football long term.

Pedri looks like that real deal but it takes far more than 1 good season to establish yourself as a top player, they have to work hard for years to deserve such description.
I really don't see how people can doubt a good midfield will come out of Pedri, Nico, Gavi, Puig and De Jong in a few years? Yeah they might not all make it as top level starters, but you only 2 need of the kids to make it as a starter and Pedri arguably might have already. Busquets is still good for at least a season.

Their problems lie elsewhere. They need a first choice CB next to Araujo, fullbacks that aren't fossils and forwards that can stay fit.

Lingard on a free would be massive for them. That's the Memphis category of players they need to get. Not quite good enough for a top club, but happy to go to Barca because it's Barca.

They just need to finish top 4 for 2 or 3 seasons 'till they get their finances in order.
 

Oly Francis

Full Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2018
Messages
3,942
Supports
PSG
Looks gross to me, that's typically how they're reported I think.


I really don't see how people can doubt a good midfield will come out of Pedri, Nico, Gavi, Puig and De Jong in a few years? Yeah they might not all make it as top level starters, but you only 2 need of the kids to make it as a starter and Pedri arguably might have already. Busquets is still good for at least a season.

Their problems lie elsewhere. They need a first choice CB next to Araujo, fullbacks that aren't fossils and forwards that can stay fit.

Lingard on a free would be massive for them. That's the Memphis category of players they need to get. Not quite good enough for a top club, but happy to go to Barca because it's Barca.

They just need to finish top 4 for 2 or 3 seasons 'till they get their finances in order.
I agree with your statement, i'm just saying that people can't expect the 5 of them to end up being starters at the highest level in a couple of years. De Jong is already a great player in my book. The fact that Gavi started for a weak Barcelona and a pretty weak national team (in terms of individual qualities) indicates nothing.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
I agree with your statement, i'm just saying that people can't expect the 5 of them to end up being starters at the highest level in a couple of years. De Jong is already a great player in my book. The fact that Gavi started for a weak Barcelona and a pretty weak national team (in terms of individual qualities) indicates nothing.
Agreed. It's typical academy hype from academy clubs like Barca, Ajax, Utd. It's good for their value and it pleases the fans.
 

Niemans

New Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2021
Messages
1,641
Supports
Barcelona, Celta de Vigo
They'd be lucky if 2 of them actually reach the highest level (meaning starter in a top club.
Here you say that for you to reach the highest level is to be a starter in a top club.


Yeah... no. Not even close. Being a starter in nations league and in this Barcelona team is not the highest level. Unless you think players like Sarabia are top players as well
And here you deduce because a player who is not top and plays that type of matches and the match itself is no longer the highest level.
If we follow that reasoning as long as there is a non-top player playing that match it is not the highest level. Then there will be no matches at the highest level because not always all players are top.

Being a starter in Spain and Barcelona is the highest level. These teams have little patience and a very high demand, therefore a huge pressure.

If you say that the Spanish league is not top then there is only one that is the premier.
Also in Spain it is more difficult to play, the teams park the bus and it is difficult to find spaces.

Playing in the German or Italian league nowadays for a striker or offensive player is easier, many spaces.
Many times it is confused to play ugly or boring with not being competitive.

Always the same thing with La Liga players, especially spanish players. They play pretty, nice technical abilities sweet touch, vastly overhyped but most of them lack what it takes to be dominant. They often have the same profile, not really a winger, not really a n°8, not really a n°10, and they often have a hard time fitting in modern football long term.

In Spain there are wingers, n°8, and play modern football.
Tell me teams from Spain that don't have those players.
Anyway, players who play inside constantly exchange positions. Players from the outside come in and those from the inside come out. Players today play different roles in the same match. Positional fluidity.
 

Oly Francis

Full Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2018
Messages
3,942
Supports
PSG
Being a starter in Spain and Barcelona is the highest level. These teams have little patience and a very high demand, therefore a huge pressure.
If you think that Barcelona is currently a top club, there's not a whole lot we can agree on.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
3,896
Supports
Real Madrid
I really don't see how people can doubt a good midfield will come out of Pedri, Nico, Gavi, Puig and De Jong in a few years?
I was originally quoting someone who said Barcelona could sell De Jong to sign new players because of all the talent they have in midfield. He's the oldest of these players. The next oldest is Puig, who doesn't seem like he'll ever break through or will be good enough.

That leaves three players who are 19 (Pedri turns 19 tomorrow so I'll count him there) and 17. Needless to say, a club at the level of Barcelona can't be regularly fielding two 20 year olds in midfield and expect to win anything. The club can't afford to just not win major titles for multiple seasons, and crucially, the players might not want to stick around either.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
I was originally quoting someone who said Barcelona could sell De Jong to sign new players because of all the talent they have in midfield. He's the oldest of these players. The next oldest is Puig, who doesn't seem like he'll ever break through or will be good enough.

That leaves three players who are 19 (Pedri turns 19 tomorrow so I'll count him there) and 17. Needless to say, a club at the level of Barcelona can't be regularly fielding two 20 year olds in midfield and expect to win anything. The club can't afford to just not win major titles for multiple seasons, and crucially, the players might not want to stick around either.
Oh yeah, they definitely won't be winning anything any time soon. My definition of succes for them is consistently qualifying for the CL while they balance the books.

Can't afford to not win major trophies for multiple seasons? We must be in our 9th quite year (or is it 8th?, I've lost track) and are doing fine financially and still attracting good players. It'll depend on the contract negotiations. Barca have already extended Pedri and Fati 'till 2026-2027. If they can do the same with the Nico, Gavi, Araujo, Puig they can easily afford 2 or 3 years quite years. Ter Stegen has a contract 'till 2025, FDJ 2026 and the rest needs replacing anyway. Guys like Memphis are happy to play for "the great Barca", he'd never be a guaranteed starter for a real top club. I don't see him walking, although he might expect a raise on his next contract.
 

Niemans

New Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2021
Messages
1,641
Supports
Barcelona, Celta de Vigo
Puig I don't think he plays much with Xavi, he is a technical player with the ball but nothing more.
Also in a few years more midfielders will come from youth teams.
Lingard doesn't have the level for Barcelona, he's a mediocre player.


That leaves three players who are 19 (Pedri turns 19 tomorrow so I'll count him there) and 17. Needless to say, a club at the level of Barcelona can't be regularly fielding two 20 year olds in midfield and expect to win anything. The club can't afford to just not win major titles for multiple seasons, and crucially, the players might not want to stick around either.
It is not a matter of age, if they perform well they will play and if not then to the bench
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
3,896
Supports
Real Madrid
Can't afford to not win major trophies for multiple seasons? We must be in our 9th quite year (or is it 8th?, I've lost track) and are doing fine financially and still attracting good players.
It's different in a two-team league, and it's different when the club is led by a democratically elected president.
 

RooneyLegend

New Member
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
12,963
Obviously those young Barca players can flat out ball, we've seen enough from them to know that's the case. Their issue is the forwards and that all those kids are extremely young. Hard to expect consistency from them at the highest level. Also doesn't help when all the defenders at the club are suspect defensively.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
3,896
Supports
Real Madrid
How is it different in a two-team league?
They'll elect a new president. Then what?
Hard to do any long-term 'kids' project when the people in charge can get ousted.
In a two-team league, your loss is usually your hated rival's gain, which makes the environment more toxic.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
Hard to do any long-term 'kids' project when the people in charge can get ousted.
In a two-team league, your loss is usually your hated rival's gain, which makes the environment more toxic.
Ah I got ya. I still think that's their path as they don't have a choice.
They might kick the president and the next president is going to to say a bunch of gibberish while he's doing the same thing as his predecessor until their finances improve.
 

RoyH1

Full Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
5,888
Location
DKNY
To be honest Pedrerol is not really much of a journalist and more of an entertainer. It's ridiculous to judge Xavi either way after two games in charge.
 

Sinbad the sailor

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 4, 2021
Messages
56
Supports
Football
Getting rid of Griezmann was insane. And they're paying for it already.
Getting rid of Griezmann was insane. And they're paying for it already.
It was actually a masterstroke. Griezmann was not and is not a barcelona type of player. He just didn't fit. If he had stayed any longer, he'd be another coutinho. Instead they made the best of a bad situation. Cut your losses, get 50 mil and get a proper player next summer.
 

Pretzels81

Not Salty…
Newbie
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
1,766
It was actually a masterstroke. Griezmann was not and is not a barcelona type of player. He just didn't fit. If he had stayed any longer, he'd be another coutinho. Instead they made the best of a bad situation. Cut your losses, get 50 mil and get a proper player next summer.
Mate, Griezmann won them the Copa title last season + a decent amount of goals in LaLiga (Top3). Getting rid of Messi AND Griezmann in the same transfer window was all kinds of insane.