Lionel Messi \ Signs for PSG

[Zen]

By all accounts he wasn’t prepared to take any pay-cut at all, he was in fact going to stay on the Barca payroll after he’d left for the MLS and would ultimately by paid the same absurd wages. Busquets in contrast took a 50% pay-cut as did many other players. Of course this is Messi’s prerogative but despite his shy and humble character I don’t think it’s unreasonable to accuse him and his team of being more interested in money than the fate of Barcelona FC.

The Busquets thing is the same - " In effect, he would be earning the same money, but spread across four years instead of two."

Not sure he actually agreed to it mind, nor did many others? Because what if they just, want to continue at Barca? And they are massively over the hill.. the clubs a bit mental

 

[RedPed]

Money plays a part but today in the case of Messi it doesn't matter, Barcelona can't register him whether he plays for free or for 1m a day.

People getting duped by this bullshit. Can you explain then why Barca have not released a statement saying they will definitely not be signing Depay and Aguero as originally planned? Why is Messi the only casualty at the moment?

 

[FrankDrebin]

Starting to look like it might be PSG.

I wouldn't rule out Weymouth FC.

 

[duffer]

Reportedly on 400k a week.

Then offer him as a free transfer to get him off the wage bill. There would be a lot of clubs interested in him on a free, even at £400K a week.

 

[DickDastardly]

I want Frenkie at United. Never a better chance to bully them financially.

Gotta love the "hit them while they're down" propositions.

 

[Okey]

Messy stuff all round. Should have never come to this. It will be documented that he left Barca for financial reasons. After his well known story, it smacks of a tainted legacy.

 

[RedPed]

Have you read the replies to your posts?

Um yes, and none of them make sense. It's quite simple really.

 

[duffer]

they’re all on huge wages, they have to actually choose to leave too. If another club isn’t willing to meet their salaries why should they leave

Because Barca is a sinking ship. If Man City, Juventus, Man United or Bayern offered the same wages, they'd go.

They signed up to play with Messi and Suarez, now they have Memphis and Braithwaite. I bet they want out.

 

[Adisa]

Saying someone should not feel sad because they have money has to be one of the most stupid things I keep seeing on the caf.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

The Busquets thing is the same - " In effect, he would be earning the same money, but spread across four years instead of two."

Not sure he actually agreed to it mind, nor did many others? Because what if they just, want to continue at Barca? And they are massively over the hill.. the clubs a bit mental

Fair enough. Their error was to think that the Super League was a goer and to plan their finances around that.

 

[mav_9me]

People getting duped by this bullshit. Can you explain then why Barca have not released a statement saying they will definitely not be signing Depay and Aguero as originally planned? Why is Messi the only casualty at the moment?

Because they are trying to figure a way out of this mess and register them.

So why do you think Messi is leaving?

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Then offer him as a free transfer to get him off the wage bill. There would be a lot of clubs interested in him on a free, even at £400K a week.

If they sold all their best players except for Messi they’d do worse than just getting rid of Messi.

 

[Lay]

Saying someone should not feel sad because they have money has to be one of the most stupid things I keep seeing on the caf.

It's bizarre isn't it.

 

[duffer]

If they sold all their best players except for Messi they’d do worse than just getting rid of Messi.

They don't need to sell them all. Just some of them.

 

[Zen86]

Money plays a part but today in the case of Messi it doesn't matter, Barcelona can't register him whether he plays for free or for 1m a day.

And yet even if that wasn’t the case and there were no problems with registration, it came down to the same thing; pay him the astronomical wages he demanded or he’s off. So again, he can save the tears.

 

[Brwned]

Don't get all the tears from him, surely if he loved the club that much he could take a pay cut to say £200,000 per week. Its still a massive amount of money. He's already set for life anyway. It's just pure greed.

No one loves a club “that much”. He loves the club the way Giggs loved the club. If they couldn’t pay him what he deserved or they couldn’t compete at the highest level, he would have left. That’s the limit of love for all players. It is just flowery language. It’s disingenuous to pretend it’s any different in Messi’s case and imply he’s somehow violating that commitment.

 

[mav_9me]

Saying someone should not feel sad because they have money has to be one of the most stupid things I keep seeing on the caf.

I know right? Ducking clubs making millions, but the players should play for free. Nonsense

 

[golden_blunder]

I agree with Anka's sentiment, but surely if a "normal" company were spending a high percentage of their revenue on wages, paying their workers such high salaries... this wouldn't be considered hyper-capitalism - they'd be considered quite an ethical company wouldn't they?

Although ofcourse in football situation the players are assets/products aren't they.

But a normal business wouldn’t be leaving itself open to such risk.

 

[JPRouve]

Am I missing something here?

They were formed like 50 years ago by a group of businessmen and have been owned by QIA for like a 5th of their existence.

Yes you are missing something the PSG weren't formed out of nothing 50 years ago, the current club is effectively the Stade Saint Germanois. 50 years ago they merged with the newly created Paris FC but it didn't last. The Stade Saint Germanois kept the name PSG.

 

[spiriticon]

I wonder how many of us 'love' our companies so much we would work for them for free.

Nonsense idea.

 

[red4ever 79]

Don't get all the tears from him, surely if he loved the club that much he could take a pay cut to say £200,000 per week. Its still a massive amount of money. He's already set for life anyway. It's just pure greed.

Don't really get people like you. Messi is head and shoulders the greatest player to have lived in the last 40 years quite possibly ever. Stands to reason he would be the best player by a margin in world football. He offered a 50%cut to help the club. Is it his fault that the club have spunked so much money in fees and wages on other dross. Why the feck should Messi earn less than De Gea or Lukaku

 

[mu4c_20le]

Saying someone should not feel sad because they have money has to be one of the most stupid things I keep seeing on the caf.

Who said this?

 

[JPRouve]

And yet even if that wasn’t the case and there were no problems with registration, it came down to the same thing; pay him the astronomical wages he demanded or he’s off. So again, he can save the tears.

He was off anyway unless Barcelona somehow managed to offload a handful of their highest earners.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Because Barca is a sinking ship. If Man City, Juventus, Man United or Bayern offered the same wages, they'd go.

They signed up to play with Messi and Suarez, now they have Memphis and Braithwaite. I bet they want out.

the offers need to come though. Juve are skint too, City have other targets. Only 2/3 clubs in the world can match their wages.

People getting duped by this bullshit. Can you explain then why Barca have not released a statement saying they will definitely not be signing Depay and Aguero as originally planned? Why is Messi the only casualty at the moment?

do some research instead of thinking it’s some mad cover up to let messi leave

 

[duffer]

I wonder how many of us 'love' our companies so much we would work for them for free.

I doubt any of us pretend to love the companies we work for.

I'm not suggesting Messi should play for free (seems like that is not even an option at the moment) but the vast majority of employees don't bang on about "love" for their employers the way footballers do.

 

[redshaw]

The question now is what happens with the remaining squad that is supposedly still taking up 95% of the revenue in wages.

Also how much do some existing sponsorships drop and when with Messi not there as now the projected revenue will go down making the wages exceed revenues? Please note I'm not pushing the now meme of Messi adding 300m so it's correct he earns 200m and the mental gymnastics some of the fans have used but there has to a drop in added value with some sponsors.

 

[philipos]

It's not as though he needs the money. If he really loves the club so much, why doesn't he offer to stay for a wage of 1 Euro per week?

 

[Judas]

Barca binning off their future to keep hold of Messi is a silly idea to me. They've got to think beyond him, they've got some quality in that squad, to sell it all off just to keep Messi happy and fed would be even more idiotic than how they've been run recently.

 

[stu_1992]

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right... I'm going to have an interesting season listening to him then. Brest play PSG in a couple of weeks, so keep an eye on the touchline.

 

[sullydnl]

By all accounts he wasn’t prepared to take any pay-cut at all, he was in fact going to stay on the Barca payroll after he’d left for the MLS and would ultimately by paid the same absurd wages. Busquets in contrast took a 50% pay-cut as did many other players. Of course this is Messi’s prerogative but despite his shy and humble character I don’t think it’s unreasonable to accuse him and his team of being more interested in money than the fate of Barcelona FC.

It's only "all accounts" saying he didn't take a pay-cut if you selectively ignore all the ones that do.

For example, here's the Athletic reporting it:

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The AP via Bloomberg:

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Forbes (citing Marca):

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The Times:

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Leo Messi himself:

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Barcelona's President:

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And so on. Even the ones that mention possible deals for jobs on the back-end still involve his total income from Barca being slashed from what it was.

 

[fergies coat]

Don't really get people like you. Messi is head and shoulders the greatest player to have lived in the last 40 years quite possibly ever. Stands to reason he would be the best player by a margin in world football. He offered a 50%cut to help the club. Is it his fault that the club have spunked so much money in fees and wages on other dross. Why the feck should Messi earn less than De Gea or Lukaku

So if you played for United and had all the money you ever dreamed of and more. You don't think you could get by on 200k a week for the next 4 years? Save the fake tears about loving the club. He just loves the money.

 

[Jim Beam]

Saying someone should not feel sad because they have money has to be one of the most stupid things I keep seeing on the caf.

He has every right to to feel sad, same as some people having every right to show zero sympathy about it considering all the circumstances.

Watch him turning his emotions in about 24 hours for PSG presentation.

Anyway, couldn't care less (as the great man would say).

 

[Eyepopper]

Yes you are missing something the PSG weren't formed out of nothing 50 years ago, the current club is effectively the Stade Saint Germanois. 50 years ago they merged with the newly created Paris FC but it didn't last. The Stade Saint Germanois kept the name PSG.

Quick Google, their best season saw them reach the quarter final of the cup?

I think it's fair to say the modern PSG is far more the result of what businessmen did in 1970 (and QIA in 2011) than anything that went before.

 

[Eyepopper]

I wonder how many of us 'love' our companies so much we would work for them for free.

Nonsense idea.

I wonder how many of us are worth half a billion quid.

 

[mu4c_20le]

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And so on. Even the ones that mention possible deals for jobs on the back-end still involve his total income from Barca being slashed from what it was.

So either Laporta lied, or they are one of the most incompetent clubs in the world that don't understand the rules

 

[Withnail]

Judging by his reaction he never wanted to leave and uproot his and his family's lives.

It reinforces my view that Barca could and should have called his bluff a bit more over the years and not paid him the insane amount they did and obviously by extension not paid the likes of Griezmann such crazy wages.

 

[JG3001]

I get that it’s a job and you’re wanting to be paid as such, but when you’re worth about £400m I’m sure you could just play for free if the club meant that much to you.

That’s the reason for the cynicism on here, he hasn’t actually done “everything” in his power to stay.

 

[Mickeza]

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There is absolute no chance Messi was staying and only found out he couldn’t stay merely 4 days ago. A deal involving this much money being done in this short space of time with not even a hint of another club enquiring? I call bollocks.

 

[Cloud7]

Ronaldo worship and those two CL finals against Barcelona have really done a number on a significant part of our fanbase.

 

[spiriticon]

I wonder how many of us are worth half a billion quid.

Even then I wouldn't work for free, unless it's a charity.