Pre-season's pretty much started up (Newcastle had a friendly today! Gayle got injured).
More importantly, Messi has told Barcelona he wants to leave. His deal apparently allows him to terminate his contract.
I'm sad he might not spend his entire career at Barca but they've been so badly mismanaged these past few years that I can't blame him for seeking greener, competent pastures.
I went with "Mexit", but I think yours is a little better.
Pre-season's pretty much started up (Newcastle had a friendly today! Gayle got injured).
More importantly, Messi has told Barcelona he wants to leave. His deal apparently allows him to terminate his contract.
I'm sad he might not spend his entire career at Barca but they've been so badly mismanaged these past few years that I can't blame him for seeking greener, competent pastures.
It's the Charity Shield on Sunday.........
Messi's transfer request is more designed to make Barcelona's president resign I think. A lot of Politics going on there now, they've already released Saurez from his contract.
I'm sad he might not spend his entire career at Barca but they've been so badly mismanaged these past few years that I can't blame him for seeking greener, competent pastures.
This is me, exactly.
I think players (any sport) playing their entire careers with one team is becoming more legend and fairytale stuff in this modern age.
Which is good. It means that players actually have more power and if players are actually staying it's because they want to.
#freemessi
So it looks like City's in the catbird seat to sign him. We'll see how this goes, but I am totally with Messi on this one. He's 33, the club's situation is probably going to get worse before it gets better, I'd get gone too. He's certainly given them everything already.
I hate that City is just flaunting FFP, exposing the Court for Arbitration of Sport as a sham, and buying the best players to hit the market. Apart from that, and not wanting to lose to him, I'm cool with Messi doing what he wants.
It's an instantly fascinating story, with the legal release clause dispute, an iconic franchise, and a legendary star.
I was thinking that it's in Barca's interest to just stall on the legal tangle and let the transfer windows close on October 5, but if you tick Messi off and he won't play ("Oh, my back hurts!") then you get no Messi and he leaves for free in January. But would Messi want to not play a whole year at this age?
I'd still guess Barca will just stall so that nothing happens, hoping (very possibly incorrectly) that Messi will calm down and realize he wants to play this season once a transfer can't happen. If Barca isn't 100% stubborn on the whole thing, I'd guess that they could come to some sort of reasonable negotiated minimum release clause agreement with Messi's lawyers so that the dispute doesn't go to court. (Would there be enough time to get a court ruling on the release clause and get a transfer done?)
And who knows how the fans will react as this unfolds. Is it possible they could force an immediate election to get Bartomeu out quickly to appease Messi in hopes of changing his mind? Then Victor Font wins and becomes the chairman and Xavi becomes the manager and Messi is happy and stays.
Time for popcorn!
It's an instantly fascinating story, with the legal release clause dispute, an iconic franchise, and a legendary star.
I was thinking that it's in Barca's interest to just stall on the legal tangle and let the transfer windows close on October 5, but if you tick Messi off and he won't play ("Oh, my back hurts!") then you get no Messi and he leaves for free in January. But would Messi want to not play a whole year at this age?
I'd still guess Barca will just stall so that nothing happens, hoping (very possibly incorrectly) that Messi will calm down and realize he wants to play this season once a transfer can't happen. If Barca isn't 100% stubborn on the whole thing, I'd guess that they could come to some sort of reasonable negotiated minimum release clause agreement with Messi's lawyers so that the dispute doesn't go to court. (Would there be enough time to get a court ruling on the release clause and get a transfer done?)
And who knows how the fans will react as this unfolds. Is it possible they could force an immediate election to get Bartomeu out quickly to appease Messi in hopes of changing his mind? Then Victor Font wins and becomes the chairman and Xavi becomes the manager and Messi is happy and stays.
Time for popcorn!
‘Messi leaves for free in January’. That’s why nobody is going to pay a €300 million release clause. Bartomeu won’t leave until he’s balanced Barcelona’s book for his tenure, because Barcelona’s board are all personally liable for any debts accrued during their tenure. That’s currently in the region of €80-100 million this term I understand. Barcelona’s total ‘debt’ is something like €500 million.
Edit: the BBC are reporting that his buyout clause is €700 million. Nobody is paying that. FFP is still a thing despite the Man City ruling.
Hoping that he goes to City, and that we manage to put in a bid (even as a loan) for Foden.
(A man can dream).
I guess the alternative is Barca have a fire sale to balance the books and keep Messi.
That might of worked non covid. The only club that's even buying seems to be Chelsea. Totally forgot they had a transfer ban so they are kinda making up for pent up spending.
If Barca can get 100m even for Messi at 33 they probably should consider it. That probably sounds like blasphemy but he's 33. How many seasons of high level football can the club buying him even expect?
City would probably be happy if he was good for 2 years maybe a smaller role 3rd and then the goes off to a huge MLS or equivalent payoff retirement tour.
Maybe I'm wrong. Not sure if Messi is going to age like Ronaldo. If he does Serie A is probably where he needs to get to eventually.
Celtic are having a Football Manager Moment™ tonight.
70-30 possession percentage advantage and 28 shots to 7... Lost 2-1.
That'll be a nice selection of our best players, most notably Edouard, up for sale then.
Absolute shocker tonight. Mind you, that's become the norm for Celtic in the 756 qualifying rounds we go through each year. Last year, Cluj. The year before, AEK Athens. Never learn.
Arsenal face Liverpool at a fan-free Wembley on Saturday to kick off England’s 2020-21 campaign, just over 138 hours after the 2019-20 Champions League final
Arsenal win the Community Shield.
I think this is less about Arsenal and more about how Liverpool seem to have lost that pre lockdown form.
Which I don't mind as there actually being competition for the title throughout the year is way more interesting then a runaway train.
Even then though it's probably just Liverpool + City. Maybe Chelsea is the 3rd team but I'm not sure if they will be able to keep it close.
September 12th. It starts again. Personally can't wait for obvious reasons that Arteta seems to have something special going.
Huh, Bellerin to PSG for £25m?
I'd ask for more, personally.
Huh, Bellerin to PSG for £25m?
I'd ask for more, personally.
Ya 25m seems light. Considering he's still only 25 I wouldn't take less than 40m especially from a money bags club like PSG.
He's definitely lost a step and is fairly injury prone though.
Arsenal have been playing a 3-5-3 where essentially Bellerin is a wing back. If the club keeps Maitland Niles maybe Bellerin is actually a sub?
There's definitely selling to happen still for Arsenal. Sokratis supposedly off to Napoli. Not 100% yet confirmed tho. Mkhitaryan terminated his contract and is gone to Roma.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...
EPL cancels Chinese TV deal. Another shot at club finances.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out medium term for non sugar owner teams.
I include teams like Arsenal Spurs and United even in the non classification maybe even Liverpool? United are rich when gate, commercial and tv revenue is all humming but depending on the club the player wages are right there as a huge expense.
Really makes me question the Willian deal for example. The ultimate luxury signing to bring in a player like that in the face of not knowing when you are going to earn a single £ of gate receipts.
On the flip side Chelsea can sign Silva because it's really Romans option to just burn his own money.
On the flip side Chelsea can sign Silva because it's really Romans option to just burn his own money.
Chelsea’s situation is a little unique though as they haven’t spent a lot recently due to the transfer bans, still have the Hazard money banked and (as are all clubs) Allowed to offset this years spend against next years revenue due to Covid. Gives them more flexibility in terms of FFP.
Liverpool have always balanced their books as best they’re able, but have spent a lot completely refurbishing Melwood (Training complex) and in player salary increases this season. It’s one of the reasons why transfer have been muted this year so far - Fenway know how to run a team well, they don’t just throw money at things mostly because they don’t have the excess the likes of Chelsea and Man City do. The Glazers just load the debt back into Man United.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...
EPL cancels Chinese TV deal. Another shot at club finances.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out medium term for non sugar owner teams.
What an interesting story. I feel like there are some pieces missing there. So they canceled the deal because the Chinese side didn't pay the 160million that was due in March? Makes sense, but maybe they didn't pay in March because, like, there were no matches being played? The end of the article mentions that they've reached out to the Chinese company for comment. Be curious to hear their side of the story.
I'd think they'd replace that with a different deal fairly soon, but whether it'll be the same amount or not remains to be seen. As big as that amount seems, it's 15million per team even if Premier teams get the full amount shared among all the teams, which is unlikely. But yeah, in a time of dropping revenue, it's never good to have another chunk of potential income vanish.
We typically let international breaks sneak up on us in this thread because they typically break the momentum of the club schedule most of us seem to enjoy more. Maybe I'm assuming though?
Totally caught me off guard that there's international fixtures going on the next couple days. Kinda head scratching for this to be going on during a world wide pandemic.
I understand leagues rebooting under bubble conditions assuming the proper precautions are being taken. I'm not sure Andorra vs Latvia right now is necessary but maybe it's also not as problematic as I think.
Considering how spectacularly wrong my expectations were for Fulham last time, this season, my hope is simple. Stay up.
He can go and play golf with Gareth Bale.
This must count as one of sport's least shocking shocks ever
That interview really is astonishing though.
Well that was a odd round of nations league last night, especially the England v Iceland game. Some very rusty looking players out there, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that the leagues this year will throw up a few surprises. Not quite ‘Leicester win the league’ level but I do wonder if someone unexpected might make the Champions League places a maybe even a Sheffield United?
Liverpool and Man City will duke it out again for the Premier League title - I’m really not confident on calling that. I like the look of some of Liverpool’s youth players but City do look stronger (Messi notwithstanding) and also have their hunger back. They will be very hard to stop, unless Pep and his owners go all out for the CL, which Pep will inevitably mess up in the later stages. I worry for Liverpool the emotional drain of winning the top league for the first time in 30 years will have negative impact early on by which time City will be out of sight.
The interest to me will be in the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U and Spurs (although that’s mostly due to the ‘how long will it take Levy to sack Mourinho?’ Stakes) handle their new managers or the extent of City/Liverpool’s superiority. I think Arsenal look good on the pitch, and while Chelsea look stronger on paper I don’t think Lampard has the skill or experience to handle them yet. OGS at United? United looked shot in the latter stages of the Europa League, and Poch is still waiting in the wings. I suspect he’ll be in charge before Christmas. Then it’ll be a different story.
Fulham, West Brom and Aston Villa will struggle. West Ham really need to step up as do Brighton and Crystal Palace. Leeds? I think they’ll start strong and then fade badly.
Everyone else? Who knows? Someone will have a good season (Newcastle have made some very shrewd signings all of a sudden) It’s going to depend on how the bigger teams cope with the schedule I think. An interesting year, but not for the right reasons.
Manchester City's Phil Foden and Manchester United's Mason Greenwood sent home from England's Nations League camp after both broke quarantine in Iceland.
At least England's performance on the pitch isn't the worst thing that happened on that trip now.
Foden will be in good company when he gets home as Man City's Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte have tested positive for Covid-19.
Manchester City's Phil Foden and Manchester United's Mason Greenwood sent home from England's Nations League camp after both broke quarantine in Iceland.
At least England's performance on the pitch isn't the worst thing that happened on that trip now.
Foden will be in good company when he gets home as Man City's Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte have tested positive for Covid-19.
Not the international breaks you wanted but needed!
Neymar also tested positive but that was back after the CL final when he went to Ibiza...
Portugal looked amazing actually against Croatia but not really putting much stock into these games currently. I'm not really familiar with the current Croatian team and they looked like they might be missing a bunch of senior players.
Wolves splash 35m on 18 year old Fabio Silva from Porto that I've never really heard of.
Apparently Foden and Greenwood left the English bubble section of their hotel to meet up with Icelandic girls. I understand completely, but at the same time... really, guys?
They were fined by Icelandic police, but didn't say anything to English leadership and Southgate only found out just before training.
Meanwhile, two of the Czech Republic team that beat Slovakia on Friday came into contact with a covid+ member of the coaching staff, so the Czechs sent the entire team home and have 24 new players for today's game against Scotland, 22 of whom haven't played an international game before.
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