Barcelona: Charged with corruption .... again!

largelyworried

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I didn’t say he didn’t have a positive impact. But this is Barcelona - they will sell shirts, sponsorship, and generate significant revenues with or with out him.

Barca have had great players before, and will again - this is not some tinpot club that relies on one player.

your reference to Ronaldo is moot. How much of that revenue are Juventus seeing from his Instagram?

how did Man Utd and Real Madrid survive when he left?

the problem with these threads is that some believe Messi is everything, and some believe he’s nothing. Obviously Messi is marketable, but Barca is the club that made him, they will be here long after him, and their ‘commercial success’ over the past 16 years has clearly not been just because of one player.
I'm not saying Juve get money from Ronaldo's Insta feed. I'm merely pointing out the scale of income from marketing sources.

For Barca, the most likely impact of having Messi as the face of the club is that the income through sponsors and partnerships all grow. If you're a noodle company or whatever and want to get some good publicity through a sponsorship deal, the fact a deal with Barca will put Messi's face on all your noodle packets is a pretty massive draw. He is after all just about the most marketable sportsman in the world. And while, yes, Barca are also marketable and make their players famous to a degree, no-one can seriously suggest that Depay, Griezeman or Aguero have anything like the same attraction.
 
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Oh right so they just rocked up and offered Messi 2m a week, did they?

He had nothing at all to do with increasing his own wages? :lol:
I swear some of these lot believe in the tooth fairy.

Crystal clear Messi and his agent used the Summer of 2017 to absolutely pull the pants down on Barcelona, they knew their position and the position of the board with PSG already in advanced talks to rob them of Neymar. Everything that Summer was the Barca board and club attempting to show a sign of strength to the outside World, Dortmund saw their opportunity to pull their desperate pants down with Dembele, and Messi and his agent saw his opportunity too, make no mistake about that.
 

Ali Dia

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Surely the Spanish government will bail them out? It's really not expensive for them, and given Barca's cultural and political importance it's a no brainer.
This. It’ll happen in the end but Barca will surely have to go through the ringer first, ie a fire sale and a few seasons sorting themselves out. The government can’t just step in now and start paying for Messi or changing the rules to keep Barca going. It’s going to be a bloodbath for a while. We should go to them with £100 million for two or three of their best youngsters. They would still be way off but I’m assuming they would be pretty much compelled to sell.
 
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Rakuten alone said they would only pay half, if Messi leaves.
You see, if a club is that fecking stupid yeah that can happen. But United even during a pandemic and without Lionel Messi got a better sponsorship deal than Barca's with Messi, so Barca could clearly match their current sponsorship deal without agreeing to some stupid as feck "Messi clause". It gives a false impression of "Messi's worth" though, which is likely something they want to show in order to get gullible people to believe Messi is making them more money than he earns on that absolutely ridiculous contract.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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This thread has made me think, maybe Utd should start negotiating an Instagram fee into the contract where they take some of the proceeds. Seems like an untapped revenue stream to me when you see the amount players like Ronaldo are making.
 

MDFC Manager

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How is Messi culpable? He didn’t offer the contract to himself.
He's culpable because he's used the fact the no elected Barca board could dare to sell him, to earn himself unrealistic contracts.
 

MDFC Manager

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I swear some of these lot believe in the tooth fairy.

Crystal clear Messi and his agent used the Summer of 2017 to absolutely pull the pants down on Barcelona, they knew their position and the position of the board with PSG already in advanced talks to rob them of Neymar. Everything that Summer was the Barca board and club attempting to show a sign of strength to the outside World, Dortmund saw their opportunity to pull their desperate pants down with Dembele, and Messi and his agent saw his opportunity too, make no mistake about that.
Its strange how Messi has this saintly facade. I wonder if that's at least in part due to Ronaldo hate.
 
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He's culpable because he's used the fact the no elected Barca board could dare to sell him, to earn himself unrealistic contracts.
And he also has the opportunity at this point, as a half billionaire, to say to Barca "times are hard during the pandemic, I'll sign for 2 more seasons on 250k /week". Like feck he will though, just like last time, he'll take them to the cleaners, because if they don't, he'll be getting 1m /week from City or PsG, they know it and he knows it.
 

Kingantti1874

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Barca are a clear example of a team who believe they are entitled to success, entitled to the best players.

They aren’t entitled to anything, they shouldn’t be signing aguero’s and depays and Messi if they can’t afford it.
 

Josep Dowling

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Barcelona have been irresponsible but La Liga has royally fecked them. They would know what Barcelona’s wages would be going into the new season and then force them to halve it seems a bit harsh to me. Must be punishment for the Super League. Are Real in a similar situation as I assume their wages must be as insane?
 

Womp

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As much as its the fault of the previous board, Messi is also culpable. €700mil over 4 years for Messi alone is utterly insane.

Maybe its time to say goodbye to Messi and put the good of the club before the player.
He tried leaving, they didn't let him. So that's very clearly not an option. By most reports, they will live or die by him. Just think losing him would be too big a commercial hit for a club that's already extremely fecked financially
 

El Zoido

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How about watching your colleagues having to take pay cuts or lose their jobs just so you can make more money? I'd personally feel like a humongous twat in that situation.
I’d rather have the money and be a twat. Dog eat dog world out there. This is why most nice people are poor as shit, wish it hadn’t taken me until near 40 years old to figure it out though.

PS. All of your colleagues would feck you over in a heartbeat if they were offered the same deal.
 

reddyornot

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When we beat Barcelona in the Cup Winners Cup final in 1991, they had only won two league titles in the previous 30 years.
Never won the European Cup/Champions League.
I think it's safe to say we inspired them and therefore it's all our fault!
 

Josep Dowling

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Before Messi was Ronaldinho. He was the face of their commercial activities in the mid 2000s. Before Ronaldinho they had no figurehead and their revenue was significantly less, in fact it was declining until the season he joined. They needed a figurehead to continue that and Messi was that guy, without him (or some other figurehead player) they would not be where they are now.

People forget Barcelona was not an absolute top tier club through the 80s and 90s.
This isn’t true. Soriano wrote a book about Barcelona’s success on and off the pitch. They actually followed the model that the Glazers created at United to increase the club’s revenue. That has nothing to do with the players they signed.
 

sullydnl

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He's culpable because he's used the fact the no elected Barca board could dare to sell him, to earn himself unrealistic contracts.
It's not his responsibility to determine what is/isn't realistic. He's rightly looking to his own best interests in a negotiation with Barca, just as Barca should be looking to their best interests in negotiations with him. Bizarre to expect Messi to be more conscious of Barcelona's financial health than the Barca officials themselves and deliberately ask for less than they were obviously willing to give him in case they ultimately can't afford it. He ain't their accountant.

If they don't like his demands they can sell him, just like any other club and just like any other player. "They dare not sell him" just means they didn't want to sell him, which is tough shit. A lot of clubs don't want to sell their best player but end up having to, the Barca board don't operate in a separate reality to the rest of football.
 
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redshaw

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Griezmann's salary is crazy, especially so after what had gone before with other players. Griezmann wanted to play for them to get trophies, I can't see him not joining if Barca say we'll pay you 200-300k.

Also I think Barca had to make new a loan to pay the fee to Atletico and to top it all off they have this 100 million player they struggle to fit in after the debacle of spending ~140m on Coutinho and then loaning him out to Bayern. Spending that kind of money and then loaning him out soon after is farcical in itself but then Coutinho playing for Bayern helps sink Barca by scoring two and setting up another in a 8-2 thrashing.

Can you imagine the hysteria alone if United spent 100-140m on a player and loaned him out a year later to a European rival.
 

André Dominguez

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how fecking much? :lol: :lol: :lol:
You could expect those wages if they were hiring a top market center midfielder, not for a player coming from Ajax. This is clearly a case where those 400k/month are being redistributed by some other people besides the player, like happens in many of these absurd priced contracts.
 

prateik

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Sid Lowe says the Griezmann wages in that image going around is completely wrong. he is on a lot less.. And that he is paid less than what he was getting at Atletico...

and , people blaming Messi are being silly.. He can ask for a billion euros a week.. its up to the people running the club to know where to draw the line. The board/ceo are the ones to blame.. no player is responsible for this.
 

tomaldinho1

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They basically need to re-start the club over like Rangers but without the need to dissolve themselves into the lowest league. The short term solution should be to offload some high profile players like Pique, Lenglet, Coutinho, Griezman, Pjanic, & Dembele. Easier said than be done of course but Barca also have some advantages that (1) theyre the pride of Catalan & globally famous club, (2) playing in La Liga, a less competitive league than PL hence why yearly income from CL is almost guarranted, (3) can always go PLC to gain more money.
This. They have a great academy and they have a manager waiting in the wings who is unproven (and cheap) but understands how they want to play in Xavi. La Liga isn’t hugely strong outside of a few elite teams so would it be that bad for them to reset? Their big name signings have been average to poor - sell them, recoup and regroup. They haven't really been seriously competitive in the CL for a while now & given Sociedad finished 5th (and we saw how poor they were) in La Liga it's not unfeasible they could have a clear-out and remain a CL club by immediately being top 4 again. Pedri, Fati, Garcia, Dest, Royal, Araujo, Puig, Alena are all super young - then you have some guys like De Jong, Lenglet, Depay who are experienced enough and good enough for that short term aim of being a CL club whilst they recover financially.
 

cyberman

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Sid Lowe says the Griezmann wages in that image going around is completely wrong. he is on a lot less.. And that he is paid less than what he was getting at Atletico...

and , people blaming Messi are being silly.. He can ask for a billion euros a week.. its up to the people running the club to know where to draw the line. The board/ceo are the ones to blame.. no player is responsible for this.
The player is to blame when he knows the fans will revolt against any board who denies Messi his contract. Messi threatened to leave last year and it was a massacre
 

Sarni

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Rakuten alone said they would only pay half, if Messi leaves. Not to mention all other sponsors. Messis impact on the sponsoring contracts is massive. Barcelona have to pay penaltys, if Messi doesnt play in friendly games. Also Barcelona is depending on tourism more than any other football club on earth. People from all over the world travel to barcelona and pay 200 € to see Messi live in the Camp Nou, they also pay 30 € to see his Ballon D'Ors and golden shoes in the museum and visit the megastore afterwards to buy the little son a messi shirt. You just have to go downstairs and see the shirt printing queue. Every second shirt has the 10 on its back.
If you consider the massive positive impact Messi has on the club, his salary is not a problem. Wages of Coutinho, Dembele, Griezmann, Sergi Roberto, Busquets, Pique and a lot more are way too high for their actual performance.
Well, you would have found companies to pay more than that if they refuse to. Their current deal is about $70m a year, no way you can't get over $35m for being on Barcelona's shirt.

Barcelona were a huge club before Messi and will remain a huge club after Messi.
 

prateik

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The player is to blame when he knows the fans will revolt against any board who denies Messi his contract. Messi threatened to leave last year and it was a massacre
Nonsense. Its just excuses for weak leadership.
The finances arent that secretive.. come out and mention (without giving exact figures) about what the club needs and why they cant afford 100m/year in wages for 1 player.. If the fans still want to cry. let them..

If Messi can get that money at some other club, there is nothing wrong with him wanting that to stay.. It isnt a fecking charity. No one should expect a player to take a pay cut to stay if he knows he can make much much more at another club.
If Barca cant afford it, let him go so he makes what he can elsewhere.
 

cyberman

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Nonsense. Its just excuses for weak leadership.
The finances arent that secretive.. come out and mention (without giving exact figures) about what the club needs and why they cant afford 100m/year in wages for 1 player.. If the fans still want to cry. let them..

If Messi can get that money at some other club, there is nothing wrong with him wanting that to stay.. It isnt a fecking charity. No one should expect a player to take a pay cut to stay if he knows he can make much much more at another club.
If Barca cant afford it, let him go so he makes what he can elsewhere.
They tried that last summer and it was bedlam and thats with Messi wanting to leave and the board getting him to stay!
Even now you have their fans vindicating his demands even though Barcas troubles arent a secret
 

sullydnl

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Nonsense. Its just excuses for weak leadership.
The finances arent that secretive.. come out and mention (without giving exact figures) about what the club needs and why they cant afford 100m/year in wages for 1 player.. If the fans still want to cry. let them..

If Messi can get that money at some other club, there is nothing wrong with him wanting that to stay.. It isnt a fecking charity. No one should expect a player to take a pay cut to stay if he knows he can make much much more at another club.
If Barca cant afford it, let him go so he makes what he can elsewhere.
Exactly. Fans being angered by the sale of a player who can make more money at another club than theirs can afford to match is a regular reality for football clubs across the world at all levels. Different rules don't apply to Barcelona for some magic reason.

If "but the fans will be angry" was a valid reason for crippling your club with deals it can't afford then football would have collapsed long ago. Part of the job of those running the club is not to tank it financially in a craven attempt to appease the fans. Sometimes you have to suck up being unpopular.