Barcelona: Charged with corruption .... again!

Suedesi

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Yeah fair enough, I'll swap it out for a pic of him high fiving his mate the First Lady instead, in non MLS capacity ;)

Or I could have a pic with him and his mate the biggest movie star on the planet, etc. As you say, anyone questioning that doesn't know what they're talking about.


She's a United fan, she can't help it ;)

 

Suedesi

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Wage issues aside, I find it ridiculous that they signed Aguerro and Depay even now. One is a 'has been' the other will never be.

Should have sold Messi last year when he absolutely wanted to go, and framed in the context of COVID-19, economic sacrifices, without fans in the stands they could have afforded to to start a rebuilding process without pressure. Instead, they postponed the inevitable to get fecked even more.
 

Mindhunter

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Wage issues aside, I find it ridiculous that they signed Aguerro and Depay even now. One is a 'has been' the other will never be.

Should have sold Messi last year when he absolutely wanted to go, and framed in the context of COVID-19, economic sacrifices, without fans in the stands they could have afforded to to start a rebuilding process without pressure. Instead, they postponed the inevitable to get fecked even more.
It is not as simple as that. They had sponsorship agreements tied to Messi being part of the team that's why they are trying to get him onboard even now. Without Messi, their revenues fall further.

They have run the club unsustainably for a long time with complete disregard to long-term financial prudence which is coming back to bite them now. Basically they were walking on a tight ledge and Covid 19 came and kicked them over.
 

Dansk

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It can take surprisingly little to topple a football club. Look at United. The manager retires and we're plunged into what's starting to become a decade of constant failure, setbacks and repeated rebuilding. And we haven't even been in financial difficulties. For a club that is, things can go a lot worse. I think that Messi's inevitable departure will be almost as big of an upheaval for Barcelona as SAF's was for us, and they can't attempt to stay afloat by throwing money after the problem. On the contrary, they're having to scrimp and scrape to survive.
 

VanDeBank

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Or I could have a pic with him and his mate the biggest movie star on the planet, etc.
You have a pic of Becks and Jackie Chan!? :)

Wage issues aside, I find it ridiculous that they signed Aguerro and Depay even now. One is a 'has been' the other will never be.
You can't really put the wage issue aside. It's their most pressing matter.

Depay and Aguero were brought on a free as a Griezmann replacement and as a Braithwaiht upgrade.

Yeah neither is good enough, but Depay can play 2 roles and Koeman got results with him at the NT. Aguero will come in handy in the box vs weaker teams.

You can't expect them to field their entire youth team. It has to be a mix and the bosmans are financially the most responsible way to do it.

Utd having had a few technical midgets over the years must've given some on here a wrong impression of La Liga. Barca can't play some 17 year old against Varane, in the same way we can't play Hugill against Tyrone Mings.
 

Daysleeper

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[
You have a pic of Becks and Jackie Chan!? :)



You can't really put the wage issue aside. It's their most pressing matter.

Depay and Aguero were brought on a free as a Griezmann replacement and as a Braithwaiht upgrade.

Yeah neither is good enough, but Depay can play 2 roles and Koeman got results with him at the NT. Aguero will come in handy in the box vs weaker teams.

You can't expect them to field their entire youth team. It has to be a mix and the bosmans are financially the most responsible way to do it.

Utd having had a few technical midgets over the years must've given some on here a wrong impression of La Liga. Barca can't play some 17 year old against Varane, in the same way we can't play Hugill against Tyrone Mings.
preach
 

Isotope

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His promise to sign more than one player. Is this supposed to be controversial? All clubs sign players, including Barcelona. Bartomeu did not invent a new model for Barcelona.

Signings aren't really Barcelona's problem. The problem is their wage bill.
Find it hard to understand this. So wage bill isn't highly related to their signings?
 
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caid

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Their signings have been pretty terrible for years too. I guess its not their immediate, most pressing problem but its definitely a problem.
 

tjb

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It can take surprisingly little to topple a football club. Look at United. The manager retires and we're plunged into what's starting to become a decade of constant failure, setbacks and repeated rebuilding. And we haven't even been in financial difficulties. For a club that is, things can go a lot worse. I think that Messi's inevitable departure will be almost as big of an upheaval for Barcelona as SAF's was for us, and they can't attempt to stay afloat by throwing money after the problem. On the contrary, they're having to scrimp and scrape to survive.
It happens to every team at some point. However with the spanish and german teams in particular, the gap in revenues and size between the dominant clubs and the rest is too big for even drastic drops in quality to mean much. Their failures are highlighted more in Europe during those periods. Which is completely different from the Premier league and what Serie A used to be. What happened to us and Liverpool have happened to Juventus in the late 80s and early 90s, Milan in the late 90's to 2002, Inter from 1990 to Calciopoli etc. If they had a bad run, the Roma's, Lazio's, Parma's, Napoli's and Sampdoria's were always there to punish them for it.
Real Madrid were literally in this position in 2000, with Perez using his connections and selling the training ground to pay off debts and sign galacticos. Only difference now is that the type of money we are talking about and the fixed costs are past any form of connections. The money in football and the inflation of transfers and wages is so big now that something has to give.
 

Iker Quesadillas

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Find it hard to understand this. So wage bill isn't highly related to their signings?
Their wage bill is just too high in general. They pay too much money to transfers, to older players in the squad, to free transfers, to anyone.
For example, I'm pretty sure Umtiti has higher wages than Varane did at Real Madrid. Just because he had two solid seasons so they gave him a wild contract. Or people like Sergi Roberto get paid way too much given their role in the squad.

Depay and Aguero were brought on a free as a Griezmann replacement
Right. The issue is signing a 'replacement' for a player that hasn't actually gone anywhere.
 

fps

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Their signings have been pretty terrible for years too. I guess its not their immediate, most pressing problem but its definitely a problem.
Staggering wastes of money. Although I will say in terms of what is needed in a Barcelona forward and wages given, Griezmann is the worst. Never a Barca forward, they need to be able to destroy defences on their own, always have.

In general though there’s been little rhyme or reason to the signings for sure. Imagine signing Coutinho for a club that plays a system with no room for him.
 

VanDeBank

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Right. The issue is signing a 'replacement' for a player that hasn't actually gone anywhere.
Wait too long and they'll do a Wijnaldum.
They went for the best bosmans on the market, precisely because they have no money.

Griezmann is a class player. Finding a club for him is the easiest thing in the world.
Its just a matter of how much money Barca is forced to give him to feck off.

The fact that he's still there is just part of negotiation tactics.
 

Kentonio

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It is not as simple as that. They had sponsorship agreements tied to Messi being part of the team that's why they are trying to get him onboard even now. Without Messi, their revenues fall further.
They could have offset those sponsorship losses with the 100m+ transfer fee and the massive wage saving. Now instead they will lose that asset anyway in a few years but without any transfer fee and with wage obligations that overrun his playing contract.
 

sun_tzu

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So what happens if they cant get their wage bill down enough to register Aguero, Depay and Messi?

Are the contracts with the players still valid (i.e they have to pay the players anyway) if so presumably they scramble around trying to send them on loan with people picking up as much of their wages as possible?

Or do the contracts not come into force and they are free agents scrambling round for a new club on transfer deadline day?

Or something else?

Does anybody know because I'm genuinely not sure how that will play out
 

stefan92

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So what happens if they cant get their wage bill down enough to register Aguero, Depay and Messi?

Are the contracts with the players still valid (i.e they have to pay the players anyway) if so presumably they scramble around trying to send them on loan with people picking up as much of their wages as possible?

Or do the contracts not come into force and they are free agents scrambling round for a new club on transfer deadline day?

Or something else?

Does anybody know because I'm genuinely not sure how that will play out
There surely are some clauses about that in the contracts, but I doubt that such details will be made public.
 

Sparky_Hughes

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Absolutely agree with Pedri.

We should go and pull Barca’s pants down with an offer they can’t refuse for Pedri. This kid is going to go right to the top. If Pogba left, Pedri and Bruno would be an amazing solution.
No thanks, we are hopefully about to get rid of one player who bends over and flashes his arse at spain every season, I dont want another. He is Barca through and through.
 

stefan92

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Probably - but as I say the two options I can envisage (if they cant register them) both involve some late transfer day scrambling for some very good players
Would be fun if that does not happen and some players would have to stay but are not allowed to play.
 

VanDeBank

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It’s really not. He has to agree first off. And if you start agreeing to pay his wages to get him to feck off, along with Agueros big wage and a decent wage for Depay, you’ve done some seriously shitty business.
Him agreeing to leaving is a given if Barca subsidize his salary.

A starting French international isn't gonna want to train with Barca B for a full year when he could earn the same and start elsewhere.

The shitty business with regards to Griezman was giving him that contract in the first place. Selling the only mega earner other clubs are interested in is the best choice available right now.

Aguero and Memphis are good business on a free. They have to get rid of Griezman and Braithwaith is shit.

Not getting them would be like United going into next season with Bruno as a false 9 and Hugill as our only options up top.
 
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Him agreeing to leaving is a given if Barca subsidize his salary.

A starting French international isn't gonna want to train with Barca B for a full year when he could earn the same and start elsewhere.

The shitty business with regards to Griezman was giving him that contract in the first place. Selling the only mega earner other clubs are interested in is the best choice available right now.

Aguero and Memphis are good business on a free. They have to get rid of Griezman and Braithwaith is shit.
Some strange economics you’ve got going on there. If they are paying part of his salary and also paying a salary for Depay and Aguero, how are they saving money?
 
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stefan92

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Some strange economics you’ve got going on there. If they are paying part of his salary and also paying a salary for Depay and Aguero, how are they saving money?
They don't, but the point is they have to reduce their wage bill to be allowed to register newly signed players (including Messi). Getting rid of Griezmann would be transfer cost, not wages.
 

VanDeBank

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Some strange economic‘s you’ve got going on there. If they are paying part of his salary and also paying a salary for Depay and Aguero, how are they saving money?
You need to look at it from their perspective.

There's a million easy ways to make the FA's wage requirements. Sell De Jong, Pedri, Fati, Ter Stegen, Araujo, Garcia. Loan Busquets, Alba, etc.

They'd fail miserable in the CL, struggle to qualify and lose more money and succes that way.

Theyre not desperate for money in this regard. They could pull a billion € out of their behinds if they wanted to.

What Barca is looking to do is make the requirements in a way that does the least amount of damage.

If they're only striker is Braitwait they wouldn't win games and lose a lot more money that way.

Aguero doesnt have a big wage and Memphis doesn't have a decent one either, as you previously claimed.

Memphis £82k/w,
Aguero's £130k/w
Griezmann £345k/w

So to answer your question, even with good subsidizing going on there it's a net negative spent on wages and a net extra player.

Also they're very different players. Aguero is a fox in the box, Memphis is a false 9/LW. Griezman often played on the right where Ansu Fati and the unsellable Dembele can play as well.

They need to do business to make the requirements and maintain a squad.

If it was easy for Barca to get rid of Griezmann, they would already have done so.
It's not easy, just an inevitability.
They're negotiating: Griezmann wants his top picks for destinations and Barca want the least amount of subsidizing with the highest fee.
 

RU Devil

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You need to look at it from their perspective.

There's a million easy ways to make the FA's wage requirements. Sell De Jong, Pedri, Fati, Ter Stegen, Araujo, Garcia. Loan Busquets, Alba, etc.

They'd fail miserable in the CL, struggle to qualify and lose more money and succes that way.

Theyre not desperate for money in this regard. They could pull a billion € out of their behinds if they wanted to.

What Barca is looking to do is make the requirements in a way that does the least amount of damage.

If they're only striker is Braitwait they wouldn't win games and lose a lot more money that way.

Aguero doesnt have a big wage and Memphis doesn't have a decent one either, as you previously claimed.

Memphis £82k/w,
Aguero's £130k/w
Griezmann £345k/w

So to answer your question, even with good subsidizing going on there it's a net negative spent on wages and a net extra player.

Also they're very different players. Aguero is a fox in the box, Memphis is a false 9/LW. Griezman often played on the right where Ansu Fati and the unsellable Dembele can play as well.

They need to do business to make the requirements and maintain a squad.



It's not easy, just an inevitability.
They're negotiating: Griezmann wants his top picks for destinations and Barca want the least amount of subsidizing with the highest fee.
Interesting numbers. So the buying club would still be on the hook for about 500k per week? Does AM have cap space for that (since they are the only club currently on the yes list)? That also amounts to about 15M saved on salary cap space, not even 10% of what they need. They 'might' get a fee, but why would most of the clubs with the wherewithal actually stump up much of a fee knowing Barca's issues, let alone the huge salary incurred? It will be interesting to see how much rival clubs are willing to help vs turn the screw. Not only La Liga but CL rivals. The big unknown is what exactly are the consequences if Barca can't get the needed reductions. Points deduction? Contracts voided? As it is, Messi can't be registered.
 

pratyush_utd

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Also it's BBB-. That's not a rating you should be shouting from rooftops. They have really taken the club to gutters.
 

Red Royal

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Sounds like we should be raiding the cnuts same way we did RM for Varane. Not sure if there is anyone we'd be interested in though.