We'll take one of Pedri or Frenkie off their wage bill. It's the honourable thing to do.
Barcelona: Charged with corruption .... again!
- Thread starter The Boy
- Start date
By the way love the war of words in Twitter between Tebas and Pep that the article tangentially mentions. Can't stand either, so it's popcorn moment
Yes we absolutely should do that. I'm sure other clubs are thinking the same. Next big thing this kid. He's a fantastic player. On Barca, they are truly, truly fecked and will go bankrupt.
I mean, how is this even possible. There's a rule that sets a salary cap based on the previous season's income? Ok, fair enough, but how in god's name does the League not make an exception for the post-Covid season? Revenue breaks down completely, what, they're supposed to release all their players? You've built a squad with players who are all on certain contracts, then there's a pandemic and suddenly your squad is only allowed to cost a third of the wages?
That would be absolute madness if true and somehow I can't actually believe it is. Makes no sense whatsoever. How are clubs supposed to deal with this, it's impossible.
This whole episode raises a wider discussion of how clubs should be run. Barcelona are a 100% fan owned club and imo, that mentality has contributed to this debacle. There is a balance between Arsenal on one end and Barcelona on the other and I think us fans should be wary of falling into the trap Barcelona has. Imo, a club is first and foremost a going concern business. Barca's ownership model has led to politics which inevitably leads to bad decisions. Fans should be careful what they wish for. Any sound businessman would have sold Messi a couple of years ago.
Has selling Ronaldo had a huge impact on Madrid's revenues?
Don't think so.
Neither it has had a very great impact on Juventus revenue.
Don't think so.
Neither it has had a very great impact on Juventus revenue.
Why don't we go for Messi? 
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I think Barcelona's early investment in Messi - I assume you're referring to moving him and his family from Argentina and paying for his growth hormone treatments - has paid massive dividends. They profited from it as much as the player so it shouldn't be relevant at this point.
Instinctively, I sort of agree with you. It does feel wrong, somehow, that a megarich footballer still wants to squeeze every single penny out of his supposedly beloved club even though with the sort of money he's already earned in his career his descendants down to three or four generations should be able to live comfortable, pampered lives.
On the other hand, he can't force Barcelona to agree to his demands, even if he has considerable leverage. They can still say no. And if I'm allowed to get a little political: if you look at it from the perspective of a valuable employee demanding the full value of his labour from the employer - well I have more sympathy for Messi from this angle even though he's not exactly your ordinary office worker.
We should definitely be trying to make the most of the situation that Barca find themselves in.
Pedri, Coutinho, De Jong, Dembele and Fati should all be on our radar if we can get a good deal.
Pedri, Coutinho, De Jong, Dembele and Fati should all be on our radar if we can get a good deal.
I think they are factoring in their debts too. But it's stupid still.
Another mistake people are making is saying the reason why Baca are in this mess is spending on bad players. Even if Griezmann, Coutinho and Dembele turned out alright, Barcelona would still be in the shit.
So Pique has already agreed to defer, and they're hoping Alba and Busquets do the same - so that Messi can have a bumper new contract?
How is this being seen as acceptable by everyone within the club? Messi is essentially taking money off his own teammates as a condition to stay.
We should be all over this like a closing down sale though. It seems all but Messi are up for sale, and with players like De Jong, Pedri, Fati, Ter Stegen possibly being an avenue they can generate some cash from, we should be looking at them as options.
How is this being seen as acceptable by everyone within the club? Messi is essentially taking money off his own teammates as a condition to stay.
We should be all over this like a closing down sale though. It seems all but Messi are up for sale, and with players like De Jong, Pedri, Fati, Ter Stegen possibly being an avenue they can generate some cash from, we should be looking at them as options.
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If he dies, he dies
This kind of volatility can't possbily be enforcable or legal. Also surely it would affect other La Liga clubs badly, too, no?
I mean, the Athletic is a good source but I would like some further information how exactly this is supposed to work, I have a hard time believing this to be the full story.
It's a cautionary tale of a financially irresponsible board trying to keep pace with the oil clubs and stay on top of world football. There will probably be a few others to come.
It’s calculated against the debt they have which I think is now sitting at 1.4bil. They borrowed something like 600mil a few seasons ago from a private New York Finacier or something to stay a float then so honestly if they some how get bailed out it’ll be a joke.
As much as I don’t want to see a club such as Barca go under they’ve done this to themselves. However I doubt Uefa, Spanish government, La Liga or the Spanish tax man will want them to go under so some miracle will happen meaning they can stay in buisness.
As for assets, they’ve tried to sell Countinho, Umtiti and Dembélé for a while with no buyers and personally their only good assets are Fati, PedrI, DeJong and that other young midfielder that I can’t recall. But if they sell those then they are done as those players are their future and the ones most likely to help them through this mess.
Aguero was supposedly so Messi would stay and Depay was agreed under the previous regime as was Garcia or so I read.
Maybe someone would be tempted by Griezman if it’s a knock down price.
True, Barcelona is a big brand on its own, they will do fine.
The biggest issue is replacing these players on the pitch, not off it.
RM has been mediocre in attack after he left, Barca will definitely take a hit in goal scoring too, once Messi leaves.
Last post by me on this topic - this Deloitte report seems to contradict your thinking:
https://www2.deloitte.com/mt/en/pag...ll-money-league-sees-fc-barcelona-on-top.html
- With FC Barcelona reaching the top of the Money League for the first time ever and at the same time becoming the first club to break the €800m barrier, this year’s ranking sees a Spanish one-two for the second consecutive year. However, the positions have swapped, with Real Madrid dropping to second place; the gap between first and second place is now the highest in the publication’s history (€83.5m)
- Juventus, the only Italian club in the top 10, rose one place from 11th with a growth in turnover to 524.5 million dollars, largely attributable to the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, which had positive effects in terms of brand visibility and merchandising sales;
- Juventus regains 10th place in this year’s Money League as revenue increased 17% to €459.7m. The arrival of talismanic forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who alone has more Instagram followers than Real Madrid and FC Barcelona combined, increased Juventus’ commercial appeal. As a result, Juve saw an uplift in commercial revenue in part due to an increase in brand visibility in 2018/19. The club also increased revenue from merchandise sales as a result of signing the marquee player.
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.
Aye, I was being slightly glib with my first point.
In the same way a club can reject the demands of an agent. The thing I find morally reprehensible is Messi knows he's in a position of enormous power, and he's taking advantage of that, despite the obvious effect it's having on others around him. I'm all for players recognizing and pursuing their true value, but not at the cost of everyone else associated with the club. That's greed.
Correct.
It's one thing to know your 'value'. It's quite another thing to demand it at the detriment to the club and your own team-mates when they're already on the brink.
Possibly something to do with overpaying "stars"?
Or fixing them onto long contracts at high wages?
Glad that mismanagement is catching up with them though.
Barcelona have been getting away with it for too long. Anyway, thankfully we seem to be better run than them.
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Messi isn't worth 2m a week and I don't know why people are pretending he is.
Covid is only a part of it, the bigger problem is the ridiculous transfers and contracts they've been handing out over the last few years. Dembele, Coutinho, Griezmann they are paying at least 20M euros a year on all of these transfers still. No other Spanish club is in this situation despite Covid and the salary cap, this is their own mess.
I don't see how people think Messi comes out of this smelling of roses; yes Barca are idiots for getting themselves in this situation, but they are also a football club that seemingly operates solely to invest their profits back in the squad, they aren't some soul sucking business like Amazon or something, where you wouldn't care about taking as much from them as possible. Messi is bending them over a barrel, while his teammates that helped him win every trophy he ever won at Barca are taking pay cuts and deferrals, that is proper arsehole behaviour, in my opinion.
He's 34 and already worth 500m or something insane, how much more money does he need? Barca looked after him as a kid, yet it seems like he doesn't give a shit about the club, at least not over making an extra 20m a year in his twilight years. Jut because you can do something, doesn't make it right to do it.
He's 34 and already worth 500m or something insane, how much more money does he need? Barca looked after him as a kid, yet it seems like he doesn't give a shit about the club, at least not over making an extra 20m a year in his twilight years. Jut because you can do something, doesn't make it right to do it.
People saying we should get Pedri from Barca don’t realize that it’s not the wages Pedri is on that’s a problem.
Bigger wage blocks like Griezman on 800k, de Jong at 400k, Coutinho, Dembele, Busquets all between 250-300k are a problem. I highly doubt they’d worry about Pedri’s wages enough to get him off their books.
Bigger wage blocks like Griezman on 800k, de Jong at 400k, Coutinho, Dembele, Busquets all between 250-300k are a problem. I highly doubt they’d worry about Pedri’s wages enough to get him off their books.
Source: https://fcbarcelonalatestnews.com/fc-barcelona-players-wages/
RANK
PLAYER ANNUAL SALARY WEEKLY WAGES POS. AGE
1 Lionel Messi € 70,758,000 € 1,360,731 RW 32
2 Antoine Griezmann € 45,834,000 € 881,423 CF 28
3 Miralem Pjanic € 8,400,000 € 180,000 CM 30
4 Frenkie de Jong € 20,834,000 € 400,654 CM 22
5 Sergio Busquets € 14,949,000 € 287,481 DM 31
6 Sergino Dest € 5,354,000 € 126,808 RB 19
7 Gerard Piqué € 12,740,000 € 245,000 CB 32
8 Ousmane Dembélé € 12,000,000 € 230,769 LW 22
9 Samuel Umtiti € 12,000,000 € 230,769 CB 25
10 Sergi Roberto € 9,966,
RANK
PLAYER ANNUAL SALARY WEEKLY WAGES POS. AGE
1 Lionel Messi € 70,758,000 € 1,360,731 RW 32
2 Antoine Griezmann € 45,834,000 € 881,423 CF 28
3 Miralem Pjanic € 8,400,000 € 180,000 CM 30
4 Frenkie de Jong € 20,834,000 € 400,654 CM 22
5 Sergio Busquets € 14,949,000 € 287,481 DM 31
6 Sergino Dest € 5,354,000 € 126,808 RB 19
7 Gerard Piqué € 12,740,000 € 245,000 CB 32
8 Ousmane Dembélé € 12,000,000 € 230,769 LW 22
9 Samuel Umtiti € 12,000,000 € 230,769 CB 25
10 Sergi Roberto € 9,966,
If they are stupid enough to extend Messi's contract and completely wreck the club in doing so then so be it. Utterly Mental!
Haha thank you. Ridiculous.
But they are more than a club, so they should get a higher cap 
You do know there’s a happy medium between 100 gbp and 1 million. One where he can still be top paid player in the club without holding them to ransom. Footballers are greedy, agents will say if we move him to PSG or City he will earn much more so you need to pay up. It becomes political then, you can’t be the Barcelona board that oversaw the sale of Neymar and Messi so you have to pay up.
There’s no chance that the board came up with the last contract by plucking numbers out of the air, it’s one based on player/agent demands knowing his worth in the game and maximising his contract based on the money he could get from the sugar daddy clubs.
Not to absolve the Barcelona board either, they’re clearly idiots based on the fees and wages paid on duds but if Messi wanted to he could have negotiated a great deal and still saved the club money compared to where they are now.
Totally agree. I doubt anyone outside of Barca really know what's going on. And I'm will to bet that at the end of the day they will be bailed out in some way (and keep Messi )
Maybe read up on the developments. Messi is currently not signed and Barca still breaches the salary cap by a lot. Therefore Messi’s next contract is not the issue. It is the ones currently on their wage bill.
So what are La Liga’s economic controls? La Liga set up an economic control department in 2013, staffed by analysts who review the finances of each Primera and Segunda club and establish its strict squad cost limit for each season. This squad cost limit is the total amount that clubs can spend on their first-team players, first-team coach, assistant coach and head physio, as well as their reserve teams, academy and any non-registered squad players. Clubs may choose how the money is split between transfers or wages, provided the overall limit is not exceeded. The squad cost limit is based on financial data which the clubs must submit to La Liga in the months before each summer transfer window opens. Factors which are considered include expected revenues for the coming season, but also profits and losses from previous years, overhead costs, non-player contracts, current savings, any existing debt repayments, investments and sources of external financing. For accounting purposes, transfer fees are usually split or “amortised” over the term of a player’s contract, so a part of the amount still due for players signed in previous seasons is counted within this squad cost limit each year. Whenever a club looks to register a new player, using La Liga’s proprietary “LaLiga Manager” software system, the transfer is automatically checked by its economic control team. Only when they are satisfied that the club has sufficient space in their budget to cover the transfer fee and salary can any new player be registered to play (in any competition).
It's the athletic trying to justify their pay wall, with all the Messi news lately. It seem very much a clickbait type article. Most of the information in the Op is freely available on the internet.
De Jong is on 400k a week.
They need to take a hit for a few years, sell some stars, let Messi go and re-build.
They'll just have to settle for top 4 and cup competitions for a few seasons.
Barcelona are an excellent club, incredible location, they'll always be attractive. They need to focus on out of contract players for a few seasons to build up quality, whilst getting rid of the ones on osbsene wages. Like Juve for example.
They'll just have to settle for top 4 and cup competitions for a few seasons.
Barcelona are an excellent club, incredible location, they'll always be attractive. They need to focus on out of contract players for a few seasons to build up quality, whilst getting rid of the ones on osbsene wages. Like Juve for example.
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?
