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moore_94

World Football Thread 2021/22

By moore_94, in General Football and Sport

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Wymsey

Wymsey

Posted
Posted (edited)

Messi should've just agreed a two-year deal, at most, and then either retire or move to a lesser league like the MLS.

Surely he knows it's likely he won't be playing regular La Liga games when over time in this new contract.

 

But fair play to him for agreeing to substantially reduce his wages.

Edited by Wymsey
Bert

Bert

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Messi agrees a new 5 year deal at Barca, will be 39 when it expires.

Imagine taking a 50% pay cut for the first year of it and still coming out with €17m euros 😩😂

The Bear

The Bear

Posted
Posted
53 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Messi should've just agreed a two-year deal, at most, and then either retire or move to a lesser league like the MLS.

Surely he knows it's likely he won't be playing regular La Liga games when over time in this new contract.

 

But fair play to him for agreeing to substantially reduce his wages.

Probably works out at the same. Another 2 year deal at his current wage or a 5 year deal at a reduced wage. 

 

I can imagine him leaving for the MLS after 2 years and getting the difference as a payout from Barca. 

KingsX

KingsX

Posted
Posted

Looks more and more like Barca are not only in denial ... but in ruins.  They simply do not have the wherewithal to pay Messi and put a competitive squad around him … yet they gave him a contract not only including his age 36, 37 and 38 seasons … but increasing his pay in them.

 

Either they are

   - still scheming with other clubs and expecting the Super League to happen?

   - expecting La Liga to release them from its salary cap?

   - or planning release from their player contracts via bankruptcy (surely they’d not be kicked out of the league?)

   - or maybe they are just insane.

 

Long article from espn.com follows -- fascinating to me, because it details how the biggest of the big clubs is auguring in.  But the main fact is: if the players Barca have acquired this summer (Messi, Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Emerson Royal) are going to cost €50M for next season, €200M must first be cut either in salary cuts or in terms of transfers -- or they cannot be registered to play.  And so far they have only been able to dump €15M, including Trincao.

 

 

 

Barcelona still have a gross debt of €1.2 billion, and if La Liga started tomorrow, Messi would not be able to play because they are over their salary cap. Getting him to commit to a "significant pay cut" was one thing, but the club's biggest hurdle is making enough room on their wage bill to register him.

 

La Liga president Javier Tebas has warned Barca they must reduce their expenditure markedly to register not just Messi's new contract but their other new signings too. Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia and Memphis Depay arrived on free transfers, but if Barca cannot cut enough, they will not be able to inscribe them for the new campaign. And they will have to let other stars go as well, including Antoine Griezmann.

 

Every club in the Spanish league is given a spending limit at the start of the season, updated again for the January transfer window. It is calculated by taking a club's revenue and subtracting the structural costs and debt repayments planned for the season.

 

Before the pandemic, Barca had the league's highest limit at €671m, thanks to revenue approaching €1bn. By January of this year, their cap had dropped to €347m. Neither Barca nor La Liga would confirm this season’s limit, but some reports suggest it will be around €200m.

 

Sources at Barca said that revenue has been affected more than at other clubs during the pandemic because they generated so much money on matchdays and from tourism. Tebas insists that Barca are struggling more than other clubs, such as rivals Real Madrid, because they have maximised their spending limit.

 

"The big difference is that Barca have always been at the limit in terms of wages," Tebas said last week. "When the pandemic came along, they didn't have that buffer. No other clubs have pushed it to the absolute limit like them. They have lost €350m in revenue during the pandemic. It is not normal, especially in our league, to push right to that last euro. Madrid had limits and they have been less affected by the pandemic."

 

Indeed, Messi's last contract was the biggest ever signed by a professional athlete. Over the course of four years, including signing-on fees, potential bonuses and his salary, it was worth over €500m.

 

Last year, Messi's €72m a year was 20% of Barca's €347m spending cap. It would still represent around 18% if his agreed pay reduction is half his old salary. Sources said his new deal is staggered so he is paid less in the first year than the fifth, but it still leaves over €100m in the wage bill to reduce before you even take into account what the club will give Aguero, Depay and Garcia.

 

Laporta's board secured a loan from Goldman Sachs worth €525m to restructure some of the club's debt. Short-term payments will be replaced by longer-term payments which won't knock as much off the club's spending limit. The loan has also been used to pay players their wages backdated since November.

 

The main area where Barca can make room to register Messi and the new signings is through the transfer market. The club have already moved on a handful of fringe players for around €35m. Francisco Trincao's wage has also been saved with his loan move to Wolves. Matheus Fernandes, meanwhile, had his contract terminated via email this summer and has returned to his old team. Sources said the Brazilian midfielder is considering suing the club for the manner of his dismissal.

 

Even with an estimated saving of €15m in wages from these players, that's nowhere near enough. Tebas insists that for every €4 Barca save, they will be allowed to invest €1. That will remain the case until they adhere to their new spending limit.

 

"For example, if the players Barca have at the moment, Aguero and others, are going to cost €50m for next season, it means €200m has to be cut either in salary cuts or in terms of transfers," Tebas said.

 

The quickest way to save money is to let Griezmann depart. Sources admitted that it's "almost impossible" to keep Griezmann and Messi and comply with the league's cap. One source even said it's "one or the other." With Messi staying, that means Barca are working hard to move on Griezmann, who could return to Atletico Madrid.

 

Sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that Barca and Atletico have held talks over a swap deal that would see Griezmann return to Madrid and midfielder Saul Niguez move to Barca.

 

That deal would have to be similar to the accounting trick performed by Barca when they signed Miralem Pjanic for €60m from Juventus, with Arthur Melo moving in the other direction for €72m. Griezmann's transfer fee would have to bring in around €72m to avoid losses on the amortisation payments; Barca believe Saul's value should be much lower than that.

 

The problem is Atletico don't have loads of money, either. Other players have also been discussed, including left-back Renan Lodi, but getting rid of Griezmann only to sign two players from Atletico doesn't help lower Barca's wage bill significantly. And even if Barca can shift Griezmann's estimated €30m gross salary, with Saul earning much less, there is still more work to be done.

 

Meanwhile, Barca are struggling when it comes to offloading the other bigger earners. Sources said it's proving tough to find clubs willing to take on the salaries paid to the likes of Samuel Umtiti and Philippe Coutinho. One agent told ESPN that every club in Europe knows how "desperate" Barca are. Umtiti earns around €12m gross, and Barca hope to find a loan move for the French defender. A source close to Coutinho, who earns around €20m gross, said he is willing to move if the right offer comes along, confirming interest from AC Milan, but the Brazilian hasn't played since December because of a knee injury.

 

Despite being signed only last summer, Pjanic has also been told he's surplus to requirements. He is open to moving, having hardly featured. Backup goalkeeper Neto and striker Martin Braithwaite could also leave.

 

Winger Ousmane Dembele is set to stay for now after getting injured with France at Euro 2020, and a source close to defender Clement Lenglet said he, like left-back Jordi Alba, has no intention of leaving.

 

Barca are also pleading with players to take wage cuts. Lenglet, De Jong, Gerard Pique and Marc-Andre ter Stegen all signed new adjustable deals to help the club deal with its financial crisis. Barca hope academy graduates Alba, Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto (the latter of whom has a deal that expires in 2022) will agree to similar terms.

 

Also on the table is the chance to sell a stake in Barca Corporate, a subsidiary business that houses the Barca Licensing and Merchandising. But sources admitted there are doubts about pursuing that option because selling merchandising rights could be a case of getting short-term wins but struggling in the future.

SkidsFox

SkidsFox

Posted
Posted

All those EPL fans who campaigned against the new Super League, should take a good look at themselves. They've effectively forced Barcelona to give Messi a 50% wage cut. 

Monsters.

  • Haha 3
Guest Electric Yetis

Guest Electric Yetis

Posted
Posted

Phil Neville doing well with Inter Miami 🤣

KingsX

KingsX

Posted
Posted

For the second consecutive season, Cleveland SC win the NPSL Midwest Region playoffs and make the top four in a nearly 100-team league.  :thumbup:

 

 

  • Like 2
StanSP

StanSP

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Considering the calibre of player they've signed you'd expect them to be dominating these games 

They were missing some big players. But they still did have some first-teamers.

 

Ramos, Donnarumma, Marquinhos, Verratti, Neymar, Mbappe, Di Maria all missing/unavailable.

UniFox21

UniFox21

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, StanSP said:

They were missing some big players. But they still did have some first-teamers.

 

Ramos, Donnarumma, Marquinhos, Verratti, Neymar, Mbappe, Di Maria all missing/unavailable.

But still had the likes of navas, kimpembe, Hakimi, Herrera, icardi etc playing. 

Adster

Adster

Posted
Posted
On 14/07/2021 at 18:24, Leicester_Loyal said:

Messi agrees a new 5 year deal at Barca, will be 39 when it expires.

Nope

 

 

StanSP

StanSP

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Unabomber said:

Couldn’t he have taken a pay cut what’s the situation? I hope he doesn’t go to PSG but where else is possible?

:brendan:

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