I’d argue someone acting stunned as to why a player would choose city over united these days as puzzling. Not directed at you, but it’s quite bizarre that it’s even an argument. Even sancho turned down United just to stay at Dortmund. This isn’t an insult to United, every club has its cycles of being up and down. The clout of United isn’t what it used to be, that isn’t trolling, United are still headed in the right direction overall. They just had one of their better seasons in years. But all I’m saying is that the shine of the club to players today isn’t what it was from the times of SAF which is understandable. I’m honestly not “trolling” which is absurd as to how anyone comes to that conclusion. Another poster was shocked as to how a player would opt for city over united. In modern football it’s not that surprising. This doesn’t mean I’m saying united are a poor club, far from it, just that city are more appealing right now for obvious reasons. Yes, this is a United forum, but I’m merely responding to the one poster who was confused as to why a player would opt for one club over another. That’s all.
Lionel Messi
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You can argue all day if you want but it's blatantly obvious that the earlier post was a ill conceived one.
I believe that the majority here clearly understand that the rational for Messi joining City is stronger than that for him joining United. That one poster didn't and anyone is free to disagree him based on facts.
That wasn't what was wrong with your post. You firstly called Manches United a "figment of the past". Anyone spouting such provocative nonsense would rightly be called out of the forum of any club. So it's important to understand your environment. Barcelona have won 4 CL of their 5 CLs during the Messi era. I'm sure your fans would totally appreciate being told on their forum (this is a Manchester United forum should you forget) that they are soon to become a figment of the past. And truth is, we definitely aren't any such thing. During these miserable years post Sir Alex, we have broken the transfer record, continued to attract excellent footballers, won a few trophies and promoted youth well as we have a tradition of doing.
The other was the comparison to Everton, which was laughable to say the least. I certainly don't see Everton breaking the world transfer record or the transfer record for a centre back or playing in the CL or negotiating for elite talents like Jadon Sancho, unless I've missed something here.
Edit :
And Sancho did not turn down United. No idea where you pulled that from.
Why would they even agree to such a clause?
I do think he should leave and they should amicably let him given how much he's given to that football club. But City, ewww.
If messi's contract is vague, no set dates etc, and " spirit of the agreement" becomes a big thing in the courts. Barca are fecked.
Don't see why Barcelona would even go to court over this. He's is your greatest, a player synonymous with your football club, it's just not worth the trouble IMO. Either clean your house or respectfully part ways.
I appreciate the response. And not looking to detail the thread. More the issue that people think I’m trolling which so strange. If someone said to me (even on a Barca forum) that Barca are losing their luster, that a player chose Atletico over Barca right now I’d totally understand. I understand fans may not want to hear that, but clubs go in cycles. The Everton remark was that they were once kings of the epl and then things change. I’m not saying united are doomed or anything stupid like that, just answering that one poster who seemed baffled. I respect united contrary to popular belief, you guys just had your best season in a awhile and are certainly headed back in the right direction. But there is nothing with saying the team’s appeal isn’t quite what it used to be as time’s are Changing. People are making it sound like I’m saying united will never be the kings of epl or something. I’m simply talking as of today a player choosing city (again in response to that one poster) isn’t so far fetched. That’s all. I appreciate your response.
Anyways, I don’t want to derail
This thread. I just take issue to being called a troll when I’ve been here for over 6 years and it would be moronic to be on a forum
That long just to troll.
I’m just hoping this messi saga ends soon so my own club who are going to have their worst period on decades can get on with the rebuild we so desperately need.
I think the letter he sent last week was him breaking free of the contract. In his eyes, he is a free agent right now and cant be forced to do anything Barcelona related.
RE Bale, Zidane probably didnt want someone with a “negative” vibe around the squad. No point forcing him so he can come and kill the mood.
Messi wanted to keep Barcelona accountable with this clause, and Barcelona's got 16+ years with Messi and made the classic mistake of being comfortable in a relationship, they agreed to it probably because they thought they'd be savvy enough to keep him home, but like most relationships that get too comfortable, it leads to break ups and this clause could seriously be a historical mistake and one ugly end to what was a pretty amazing story all in all.
He technically needed to notify the club by June 10, it’s in the contract and why both sides want to avoid court as Spanish law will lean towards exact wording. What may favor Messi is that his lawyers can argue that the contract stipulates him needing to notify the club at the end of the season (and prior to the new one starting) and that the June 10 date is meaningless because of covid.
Our board is awful and an absolute circus. Just let the man go with dignity and move on.
It will affect his legacy if he forces out a move with legal battle, court decision etc. and leave Barcelona in shambles and at a weakest point like a coward and selfish person.
All his life he said he wants to finish at Barcelona and now he wants tooth and nail to leave will definitely affect and if he leaves to an oil club it's all the more apparent.
Ronaldo did stay with us for a season, won a tile and got world record fee, though whatever they paid is peanuts for one of all time greats and he went for a bigger challenge.
Messi is leaving after Barca had their worst defeat, with barely any contribution from himself.
If he has any love for the club he played all his life, he should leave graciously leaving the club in a good state, either financially or with stability / grooming next players. He will not achieve anything new by moving to a new club, may a few more league or Europe titles when he already has plenty, another Ballon dor which he already leads by 1 and will at the max be tied. But what Barcelona looses is identity, they are already financially shot with all the shambles of signings which I'm sure Messi must also have had a role, so he has to take responsibility for his club.
So PSG took Neymar from them and now City take Messi
Feeder club
Feeder club
I bet the pl will love this.
Messi isn’t fighting to leave for free though, if anything he’s trying to get city to pay us a fair fee. Barto is the one who is the idiot for trying to drag this out. Messi just had a record breaking season, without his 25
Goals and 20+ assists (tying an all time top 5 league record) is him doing more than any other player has done for his squad the past season outside of maybe Lewandowski. The difference is even in an 8-2 debacle, Lewa just scoring once is fine as his teammates can score the other 6-7 goals. Messi doesn’t have that luxury. The board has failed him time and time again. There’s a reason no one in Barcelona is upset at Messi. Why Puyol who bleeds for the club is applauding Messi. Think about how bad things must be for it to come to
This. This toxic board is on the verge of being ousted but the damage has been done.
As for Ronaldo, he’s a mercenary, left Madrid because he felt he wasn’t getting the wages he deserved. Wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves Juventus within a year or two. Why? Because like Messi these two players are desperate for another CL. Both teams have woeful
Management (us more so than Juventus) and neither player wants to waste time with a rebuild project if they only have 2-3 years of being top 5 players. So bashing Messi during this is strange. He’s simply trying to get this over with, he’s trying to get city to pay a fee For his transfer to Barca which the court maybe even decide isn’t necessary. Barto is the one making this painful moment a million time’s worse. He needs to go ASAP
Psg paid a release clause, nothing Barca or any other club in the world could do. Foolish take.
Whoosh.
I’m quoting you here in regards to sancho as our initial post was a long one.
Sancho agreed to a new contract with Dortmund which killed united’s pursuit of him which many felt was where he was headed. Him re-upping with Dortmund was what I meant by him essentially turning down united for clarification.
A few self-proclaimed experts keep repeating ad nauseam that Messi has never done anything substantial outside the comfort of Barcelona. I want the man to come to England and show what he's capable of in a cold, wet day at Stoke, like people keep pointing out.
He's 33, so I will adjust my expectations accordingly.
He's 33, so I will adjust my expectations accordingly.
Sadly, most won’t
His contract extension of 1 year was done a year ago. It has nothing to do with our current negotiations and from all reports he wants to joing the club. The pursuit hasnt been killed but deferred which in a dynamic market chases uncertainty (other buyers etc ), but we clearly are still trying to sign a player who is interested in joining.
Don't know here you got this information
Thanks for clearing that up
Problem is Barca won't get the fee the they want, think of this, Ronaldo went to Juve for 100 million at 34, how much should Barca get for Messi and add the state of the team when Messi leaves, Barca was also paying I think highest wages in the world, comfortably more than Ronaldo, so it's not like Barca were not paying what he deserved, they were paying whatever they can, so Messi should be easily worth 200 million, which I don't think Barca would get and 200 million will not replace Messi at Barca.
Every team and player has spells or periods of less success or no success, at club level Messi this is the first instance for Messi and he is trying to leave.
Even if Messi doesn't get the blame if he leaves, will he definitely have a serious effect on Barcelona and all their supporters deep down will wish he could have left the club in a better position.
What puzzles me a bit about all this are the times and the forms.
Perhaps the 8-2 was the straw that broke the camel's back but surely, if he thought his cycle was over, and if he distrusted the board so much, he should have made the decision much earlier.
If so, why did he wait so long?
The burofax is for emergencies, when you need to stick a lot to a date, then maybe he was not so determined to go until his talk with Koeman and see Suárez blacklisted, or maybe he just uses them as excuses.
Questions we'll find out if he speaks. Maybe he'll do it when he really needs it to go. It is difficult that he does not convince everyone and puts even more pressure on Bartomeu.
The most conspiratorial say that Font, the candidate for presidency is Messi's favorite, who would arrive with Xavi.
At this point it seems impossible to look for his resignation. Even the majority of culés understand that a president should not resign for a player
Perhaps the 8-2 was the straw that broke the camel's back but surely, if he thought his cycle was over, and if he distrusted the board so much, he should have made the decision much earlier.
If so, why did he wait so long?
The burofax is for emergencies, when you need to stick a lot to a date, then maybe he was not so determined to go until his talk with Koeman and see Suárez blacklisted, or maybe he just uses them as excuses.
Questions we'll find out if he speaks. Maybe he'll do it when he really needs it to go. It is difficult that he does not convince everyone and puts even more pressure on Bartomeu.
The most conspiratorial say that Font, the candidate for presidency is Messi's favorite, who would arrive with Xavi.
At this point it seems impossible to look for his resignation. Even the majority of culés understand that a president should not resign for a player
With Ronaldo rumored to be unhappy at Juventus, this is finally the chance where we can sign both Messi AND Ronaldo. With those two, plus Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Bruno, and Pogba... 
Who wouldn't want this?
Who wouldn't want this?If that president is Barto he absolutely should resign. One of the worst presidents in sports history. I agree, a player is never bigger than the club, but Messi have this club chance after chance and they pissed it all away after screwing up nearly every single move Since Neymar left. Barto 1000% should resign ASAP, it’s an insult to humanity that he hasn’t already
Messi on the RW would be greatWith Ronaldo rumored to be unhappy at Juventus, this is finally the chance where we can sign both Messi AND Ronaldo. With those two, plus Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Bruno, and Pogba...
Seeing Manchester City fans posting pictures of Messi in their shirt is so disrespectful if you ask me.
As exciting as it is bringing him to England I feel this could really tarnish the end of his career for people who look up to him.
Guardiola also left the club he loved only to eventually end up down the line as a lapdog for a corrupt Arab dictator who desperately wants his City brand to bask in the reflected glory of peak Barcelona.
It will be a sad if that same thing happens to Messi. He’s just a tool for a dark force in the game then.
As exciting as it is bringing him to England I feel this could really tarnish the end of his career for people who look up to him.
Guardiola also left the club he loved only to eventually end up down the line as a lapdog for a corrupt Arab dictator who desperately wants his City brand to bask in the reflected glory of peak Barcelona.
It will be a sad if that same thing happens to Messi. He’s just a tool for a dark force in the game then.
Barca would be happy with 100 or 150M. The reason both sides are weary to go to court is that if Messi wins, he walks for free, if Barto wins, then retroactively (as in the meantime the free transfer to city would be allowed to go through until a court ruling) city would have to pay the full 700 million release clause.
Can't get my head round how Messi signing for City tarnishes his career.
You guys are being irrational.
You guys are being irrational.
It's the best thing to happen in Cities history so its understandable they'd post pictures of Messi, as the GOAT also it's worth gloating about.
Messi isn't the same player he was, he's still the worlds best, but he was supernatural up to the age of around 31-32.
He'll drop deeper still be one of the best passers, finishers and dribblers but he will drop in stature to one of the worlds best still in the next few years, I think he'll still get another Balon d'Or before he retires.
It's not as frightening as them getting a 2010-2015 Messi, I'd love him at United obviously, if he was somehow able to be convinced.
For City though, their fans now this is the peak of the club in the last 40+ years, it's easy to forget they were a club nobody had heard of 10 years ago.
I suppose some of us see the likes of City and PSG as that bad a stain on the game.
You know, the owners stuff. Human rights abuses, torture, Yemen, that craic. You know what I mean like. Messi will be having his photo taken next to those lads on signing. I'm not suggesting that this makes him complicit, but for sure it tarnishes his character. It's not ideal, is it?
Obviously the point of where the money comes from, but it's now common place in football.
Messi going there to me shows how far United are off in terms of the greats choices of a football team.
United have equal or greater resources than City and the last 7 years have been a string of terrible decisions, City are a well run club.
The innovators approach is that often the giants of the world even companies (IBM vs start-ups Microsoft and Apple) get stuck in operating in 'old ways' which means that they fail when a newer club/business comes in with equal ambitions, it happens in all industries, football is not exempt.
Pixar pretty much destroyed Disney in the 90s with the same approach, Disney were stagnating but stuck with creating old-school animation. Pixar wanted to do feature length CGI, toy-story happened and Disney were spiralling under Pixar came to the rescue and later partnered with them.
United rebuilt heavily under SAF modernising, changing the culture, the youth-set up which dethroned a Liverpool team still stuck in the 1990s.
Leipzig, City are two prime examples of that, they can build from a clean slate taking from the best, where-as giants like Barca, United stick to older approaches that get them caught and eventually need to play catch-up.
United obviously post Fergie had a lot of modernising to do, City could bring in the best coaches, look at the latest approaches, spend big on infrastructure then invest money until it starts to become sustainable.
Chelsea did the same, investing big early on, working on infrastructure, City went to the youth set-up early too for sustainability, Chelsea did a little later.
Issue for United is there was an attitude of 'we're Manchester United' for a long time, the same as Liverpool did at the end of the 80s, by the time you know you are overtaken it can take 7-8 years to come back from that.
United have the resources of City because building a brand takes a long time, but sadly they are not as attractive as they once were (luckily human lifespans are so long that it'd take a long time to lose fans) and United are turning it around now.
It's just really sad Messi would pick City, but it's more a sign of the times.
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Hasn't tarnished David Silva's character in the eyes of most.
Only very very few will talk about these things at the end of his career.
I think the biggest obstruction to us moving for Less would be his wages.
You simply can't make a case for spending that kind of money from out POV.
All of their players are tarnished, but nobody will give a shit about the likes of Silva after his career ends. It's like Maradona's character is tarnished from the drug taking, but nobody gives a shit about Mutu.
We will see but I think you're in for a shock.
Looks like he's gone on strike.
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Disagreed. He makes up a lot of stuff to belittle us. Saw a post where he said Sancho has 'turned us down' to stay at Dortmund while ignoring the part that Dortmund would sell at 120m and personal terms are already agreed. He takes in a part of information that suits his agenda and ignores everything else.
A Barcelona fan posting on a United forum praising how good City is meanwhile shitting on United in every way possible and that's probably because of Pep and in future more likely because of Messi. Then goes on to label that as 'healthy' discussion. If this is not called winding up then what is?
Ederson over Ter Stegan?
Ake over Pique?
Mendy over Alba?
Rodri over Busquets?
Gundogan over De Jong?
Very few will even talk about David Silva to be honest.
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