Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap

Frenkie to United?


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Glorio

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Arnold & Murtough are looking like they have gone on a wild goose chase and certainly wouldn't live this one down ever
Perhaps it's more "let's talk about this face to face like grownups and see if we can come to a resolution one way or the other as this drawn out drama isn't helping anyone".

If they've left with a definite yay or nay that clarifies next steps, still a worthwhile journey for me.
 

Ragnar123

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Barca are only allowed to spend 20/30m from the sale of DeJong. Taking that off the fee kinda makes it not worth there while.
With the second lever barca will have a positive equity, so LaLiga's 1:3 rule for barca will disappear.
 

Brophs

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@Brophs Now we know!


So from that I assume he has no right to claim his deferred wage if he leaves and breaks his contact which is why he needs to negotiate a settlement that suits both him and Barca.
If that’s correct - and I have my doubts - then it means that:

a. His ‘argument’ is that he extended the deal in good faith to allow Barca wiggle room. Them selling him before the expiry of that term means he will suffer a shortfall of sorts. If the agreement is as simple as laid out above then, strictly speaking, he’s asking them to honour the spirit of the arrangement rather than the precise legal mechanism that’s in place and pay him to leave. If that’s the case then either he or the people representing him are as dumb as a bag of rocks for allowing this to happen.
b. Barcelona’s incentive to move him on early is even more logical than it first seemed
c. Assuming that he, like most top players, has loyalty bonuses built into his deal, he likely can’t do anything other than refuse to state that he wants or is willing to move, as he might end up losing those on top of the €16m in deferred wages.
 

Plant0x84

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If that’s correct - and I have my doubts - then it means that:

a. His ‘argument’ is that he extended the deal in good faith to allow Barca wiggle room. Them selling him before the expiry of that term means he will suffer a shortfall of sorts. If the agreement is as simple as laid out above then, strictly speaking, he’s asking them to honour the spirit of the arrangement rather than the precise legal mechanism that’s in place and pay him to leave. If that’s the case then either he or the people representing him are as dumb as a bag of rocks for allowing this to happen.
b. Barcelona’s incentive to move him on early is even more logical than it first seemed
c. Assuming that he, like most top players, has loyalty bonuses built into his deal, he likely can’t do anything other than refuse to state that he wants or is willing to move, as he might end up losing those on top of the €16m in deferred wages.
Yep, that’s pretty much the way I read the sitch. It explains why he’s posturing the way he is, but seems to have assured United he will move.
 

Suedesi

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€17.5 - 20M gross a year is a big contract, even for a stupid team like Barca, and they are trying to sign new players on salaries at maximum of €10M - €15M, while also trying to either get rid of their big earners (done for Messi, Griezmann & Coutinho) or convince/force them into lower salaries (De Jong & Dembele) and the numbers you mentioned earlier about De Jong's contract which was mentioned is in gross/pretax pay, not net.
Continental European press reports figures as net/post tax not gross/pretax, so if you read a report out of Italy, Spain or France it's most likely a net figure.

The whole issue with the wage structure is that Laporta want to implement a €10M net max wages and FDJ currently earns ~ twice that number.

Again, if he was on €20M gross or €10M net, Barca wouldn't be trying so hard to get rid of a world class player. Barca didn't accumulate €1.4 billion in debt by being smart - they don't have outside investors like Glazers leveraging the club, they don't go that crazy with transfer fees (Dembele + Coutinho were paid for by Ney) - what's driving the debt are the insane salaries they've been offering to their players starting with Messi and going down the line.

Believe what you will though, sounds like that you've made up your mind
 

Red Company

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Look muppets….

This whole saga is a pre-meditated orchestration by LaPorta and the Barca executives. They are playing the long game here. Throw as much chaos into the marketplace as possible by agreeing to deals with the players and player agents, who are dying to play with Xavi at a legendary club in a great city. They see this as destabilizing their rivals and waiting until the last possible moment fecks up rival club planning.

At some point, however, they will have to deal with the selling clubs, and those clubs want cold, hard cash. No club in their right mind would accept significant deferred payments from Barca. Furthermore, the selling clubs have even more leverage because it is a World Cup year, and if players threaten to sit because they are getting their move, they risk being dropped from their national teams.

Barca has a mountain of debt to balance — 440m — before they can even register new players. On top of that, the incoming free signings will be on high wages as well. Although they have raised cash through the pre-sale of TV revenues, that comes in as a one-time cash injection on the balance sheet, but remember they have sold those revenues, so they will not appear on their operating income. According to LaLiga rules, wages can only be 60% of club revenues, so your operating income base just went down…

Basically, it’s like those convenience stores that give cash in advance for borrowers with stable jobs — the paycheck advance model. The borrower gets an advance of funds, the repayment is promised as a lien on wages, plus 15%. Therefore the cycle continues…

‘The only way Barca is going to get out of this is to sell assets and reduce payroll. They know it and everyone else does too.

My prediction is that all of these new signings will not be registered (a la Messi last year), they’ll sell as many assets as they can and the smart clubs with cash will be waiting on this til the end of the window or the registration deadline, whichever comes first.
You were mostly on point except at the end when you mentioned the new signings not being registered.
 

Hansi Fick

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I mean, I am a true master of procrastination who honed the skill to read through pages upon pages of random internet content over many years of dedicated time wasting, and my will to browse is very hard to break, but it's fecking impossible to keep up with this thread. Less posting, people, for crying out loud. We need less posts.
 

cyberman

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If that’s correct - and I have my doubts - then it means that:

a. His ‘argument’ is that he extended the deal in good faith to allow Barca wiggle room. Them selling him before the expiry of that term means he will suffer a shortfall of sorts. If the agreement is as simple as laid out above then, strictly speaking, he’s asking them to honour the spirit of the arrangement rather than the precise legal mechanism that’s in place and pay him to leave. If that’s the case then either he or the people representing him are as dumb as a bag of rocks for allowing this to happen.
b. Barcelona’s incentive to move him on early is even more logical than it first seemed
c. Assuming that he, like most top players, has loyalty bonuses built into his deal, he likely can’t do anything other than refuse to state that he wants or is willing to move, as he might end up losing those on top of the €16m in deferred wages.
But Barca are telling him to move? Surely he should still get his loyalty bonus since he’s being forced out of the club. The man hasn’t asked for any of this.
 

GreatDane

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Feels like Chinese water torture at this point. I'm close to declaring Fred and McTominay the new age Iniesta and Busquets if it means I don't have to see the momentum of this transfer go back and forth again.
You do you, I'm with our new midfield duo Savage/Zidane. It has a better ring to it.
 

RedDevil@84

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The whole issue with the wage structure is that Laporta want to implement a €10M net max wages
I am a bit confused here. Why will an employer be worried about net wages? Shouldn't he be worried about gross wages?
 

phelans shorts

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I mean, I am a true master of procrastination who honed the skill to read through pages upon pages of random internet content over many years of dedicated time wasting, and my will to browse is very hard to break, but it's fecking impossible to keep up with this thread. Less posting, people, for crying out loud. We need less posts.
I log on every few hours, skip to the last page and see that absolutely nothing has changed and we’re still just getting endless “he doesn’t want to join, what a waste of time, sign *insert crap player a la Tielemans or Never* instead!” Vs “it’s done!”

I’m actually finding it quite soothing at the moment. A nice source of consistency.
 

skc_18

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He and his team are insisting that they have no desire to leave Barcelona. I really hope it is only because of the deferred wages and not because of the love of FDJ towards Barcelona.
If it is latter, in a few years when Barcelona is back on its feet and need a CM, it will start showing fake love and FDJ will run to them.
 

Donaldo

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I mean, I am a true master of procrastination who honed the skill to read through pages upon pages of random internet content over many years of dedicated time wasting, and my will to browse is very hard to break, but it's fecking impossible to keep up with this thread. Less posting, people, for crying out loud. We need less posts.
:lol:

I'd luv it if they sign him after all this and he becomes VDB Mk 2, luv it.
 

Gandalf

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But Barca are telling him to move? Surely he should still get his loyalty bonus since he’s being forced out of the club. The man hasn’t asked for any of this.
Publicly all Barca have said is that they want him to stay but he has to take a pay cut, they have been very careful not to say they want him to leave.
It is all about appearances, they have literally stated he is not for sale on several occasions and yet the very best sources at United and Barca confirmed weeks ago that the transfer fee is agreed. You don't agree a fee if he is not for sale. Frenkie and Barca are locked in a staring match over who is going to say they want to break up first with 17M on the line.
 

SirAnderson

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He and his team are insisting that they have no desire to leave Barcelona. I really hope it is only because of the deferred wages and not because of the love of FDJ towards Barcelona.
If it is latter, in a few years when Barcelona is back on its feet and need a CM, it will start showing fake love and FDJ will run to them.
@GreatDane

So, this is the 400 pages of nothingness to behold then. :lol: FFS.
 

McGrathsipan

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Its on
He says he doesnt want to leave
Barca dont want to pay him
United are Comfortable
Its off
Tweets
Its on
He says he doesnt want to leave
Barca dont want to pay him
United are Comfortable
Its off
Tweets
Its on
He says he doesnt want to leave
Barca dont want to pay him
United are Comfortable
Its off
Tweets......
 

RacingClub

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It's all well and good playing the "Long game" with Barcelona but I can't help to think that it's detrimental to the player/ manager and the squad to bring players into the squad with little to no preseason.

I'd prefer if my manager got his targets early with time to get them up to speed with their teammates/ his new environment / fitness/ tactics or whatever because I think people underestimate the impact it can have on a player / team (especially someone who will walk into your midfield).
 

nickm

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I can’t be arsed to look for the rule but I don’t think that once you leave a club the player has to be paid every £/€ thats due under the contract. Put simply you can’t have any contractual obligations due to you from more than one club.

Barca could well be banned from bringing in any players if they haven’t honoured financial obligations to existing players and more interesting the player after a period of time walk for free.

The player and his reps are playing a blinder here because he has a valid contract and it’s Barca that want to break it and nothing the player has said or done puts him in breech of that contract
Agreed he's in a very strong position, although I am sure there would be ways to make a payment structure like that work, which wasn't in breach of any regulations., if the two clubs were minded to make it work.
 

nickm

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United seem to think he does want to join, so either the player is messing us about or someone is feeding journalists incorrect info
Or the player's agent and club are stating their maximum positions in public to strength their negotiations in private. It's as much what they aren't saying that's revealing. When I see De Jong directly quoted as saying he has no intention of playing for us, then I will believe it because that collapses the deal. Until that happens, while all these leaks about wanting to stay are probably true, I mean who wouldn't, ultimately they are just a desire, a position that can be altered if the deal is right.

He can stay at Barca, who don't want him, keep all his money and never be forgiven by the Club for screwing the Lewandowski deal, or he can leave on good terms to a club who wants him and strike some kind of a deal for the money they owe him. He's coming.
 
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Matriac

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They want him to take another deferred deal.

https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2022/07/10/62cb26b446163f62648b45df.html

If he stays he'll still likely earn more there than at United on top of the fact he loves the club and wants to stay there. I've no reason not to believe its his dream club as he's stated it time and time again from the day he signed and throughout this saga.

I've no doubt there are personal reasons also, like the fact he's invested €5m into a new home as recent as April and recently got engaged and I doubt his partner would opt for rainy Manchester over sunny Spain.
This article doesn't mention anything about deferring more payments. It says they want him to take an outright pay-cut because as it currently stands with his contract now he will earn €21M next year and then €28M the year after, plus additional bonuses (playing 60% of matches, loyalty etc).

For their part, the Catalan giants are very clear about their position and do not intend to back out of it. The first proposal will be to ask for a significant salary reduction as the player will be paid 21 million euros next season and almost 28 million euros the following year, in addition to the variables that he can get for games played and titles won.
This sounds a little too much tbh, as his base salary was 14M, but took 3M and 9M for two years. Leaving 16M to be spread out over 4 years, so 18M per year plus bonuses.
 

Tweek

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@Brophs Now we know!


So from that I assume he has no right to claim his deferred wage if he leaves and breaks his contact which is why he needs to negotiate a settlement that suits both him and Barca.
This is now what I am starting to believe. It looks like 'deferred wages' means that he restructured his pay with tiered increases over the course of the contract. There may not be any claim to those additional payments if they are essentially his base wages for the next few years. If that is how his contract works, and there is no favourable clause that lays out what happens if he leaves Barca before the contract expires, he should sack the people representing his interests. There might be some kind of (in my opinion, flimsy) civil case about loss of earnings to be made given that FDJ will have reduced his salary in good faith that he would receive that money in future but contractually, it's starting to look like he might not have much of a bargaining position beyond "if you want me to go, pay me the money".

I think Barca want him gone for all the financial reasons touted over the last few weeks but are playing hardball over the severance package which is likely being demanded by FDJ. I think FDJ knows Barca want to sell him and he wants to come here but has been told that the best way to get the money owed is to politely threaten to stay at Barca and see out the contract. I think United are 100% interested and know all of this but are adamant that Barca will fold eventually.

Who blinks first? Any one of the three parties pulling out seemingly ruins all of Barca's plans so they appear to be in the weakest position. It is just a matter of how stubborn they want to be, potentially to the point of keeping the player and his massive wages on the books. They might come to the conclusion that paying the €Xm he is due over the course of next season is a better financial decision than getting a transfer fee in but paying the €Ym he wants immediately.
 

Gupz

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Of course he is saying he does not has the intention to leave. The lad must have some kind of loyalty bonus and terms on how the deffered wages will be paid out. So unless Barca is telling him to leave and also giving him his money, he will sit tight and enjoy the weather in Spain.
 

nickm

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This is now what I am starting to believe. It looks like 'deferred wages' means that he restructured his pay with tiered increases over the course of the contract. There may not be any claim to those additional payments if they are essentially his base wages for the next few years. If that is how his contract works, and there is no favourable clause that lays out what happens if he leaves Barca before the contract expires, he should sack the people representing his interests. There might be some kind of (in my opinion, flimsy) civil case about loss of earnings to be made given that FDJ will have reduced his salary in good faith that he would receive that money in future but contractually, it's starting to look like he might not have much of a bargaining position beyond "if you want me to go, pay me the money".

I think Barca want him gone for all the financial reasons touted over the last few weeks but are playing hardball over the severance package which is likely being demanded by FDJ. I think FDJ knows Barca want to sell him and he wants to come here but has been told that the best way to get the money owed is to politely threaten to stay at Barca and see out the contract. I think United are 100% interested and know all of this but are adamant that Barca will fold eventually.

Who blinks first? Any one of the three parties pulling out seemingly ruins all of Barca's plans so they appear to be in the weakest position. It is just a matter of how stubborn they want to be, potentially to the point of keeping the player and his massive wages on the books. They might come to the conclusion that paying the €Xm he is due over the course of next season is a better financial decision than getting a transfer fee in but paying the €Ym he wants immediately.
Yeah that make a lot of sense to me. Interesting thought on the bold bit.
 

Nytram Shakes

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Perhaps it's more "let's talk about this face to face like grownups and see if we can come to a resolution one way or the other as this drawn out drama isn't helping anyone".

If they've left with a definite yay or nay that clarifies next steps, still a worthwhile journey for me.
But that doesn’t at least seem to be a case, we definitely haven’t got a yay, and no word that we are just walking away ….. so it seems like they went there and then left in the same situation.
 

DickDastardly

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Its on
He says he doesnt want to leave
Barca dont want to pay him
United are Comfortable
Its off
Tweets
Its on
He says he doesnt want to leave
Barca dont want to pay him
United are Comfortable
Its off
Tweets
Its on
He says he doesnt want to leave
Barca dont want to pay him
United are Comfortable
Its off
Tweets......

On what tune are we singing this?
 

Plant0x84

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But that doesn’t at least seem to be a case, we definitely haven’t got a yay, and no word that we are just walking away ….. so it seems like they went there and then left in the same situation.
From the articles posted yesterday I understood that rather than a ’broad agreement’ that actual terms for the deal had been finalised between the clubs and agreed and the transfer going ahead rests o Barca and deJong finding an agreement on the deferred wages. That’s definitely a step forwards compared to before yesterday.
 
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