Price profile for defensive midfielder shifts

by .

Well, Arsenal fans, things do appear to be moving at a rapid pace this window. Still not a lot of movement on midfield targets, but we’re starting to see some shapes appear when it comes to the squad.

AMN has edged closer to a 4 year deal with Wolves. He put Traore in his pocket when we played there away from home, now he’s earned a move to Molineux. I suspect this exit is more to do with his desire to play in a fixed position regularly than Arteta’s desire to oust him. A lot of Arsenal fans are angry he’s moved for £20m, roughly a Dom Solanke of a fee. I’d not be so sure that’s a bad number. I think that’s literally what a deflated market looks like in 2020.

The only clubs that’ll be dropping big money are those that are chasing mega names. Chelsea will go wild because they saved last summers transfer budget. City, PSG and United will bring in big players. Outside that, I can’t see huge movement on transfers and I suspect we’ll see a deflation on fees of at least 30%.

Rumours of a Thomas Partey move seem to have fizzled. With Atleti tied into a situation where they can only spend 25% of what they earn, it’s clear that a cash-only deal is what they’ll want. That probably won’t work for Arsenal.

We aren’t loaded by any stretch. Our movement is going to come from selling players. If we’re bringing in blockbuster names, that’ll probably be because we’re exiting one. Matteo, Torreira, Bellerin, and Lacazette are going to be the drivers of big cash or big swaps if there are any to be had. I think there’s also a chunk of change to be had in some of the squad stragglers. Chambers, Holding, Reiss, and BIG MO all have value. Mustafi might find it hard to move with no hamstring and I think Xhaka has cemented a place in the heart of Mikel.

However you look at it, I’d imagine it’ll be hard to shape the squad perfectly this summer. I also wonder if it’s sensible to go too hard. Sure, Bellerin might land a big fee from PSG, but are we sure about Soares? If we sign another right-back, are we certain they’ll settle right away? Arteta has a complex system, ripping out the whole right side of your team the week before a season seems rash.

I also wonder if we’ll start to see a bit of realism with who we’re linked to as agents learn that we’re not as flush as they had hoped. We’re being linked with Boubakary Soumaré, the defensive midfielder from… Lille (I’ll take Luis Campos as our shadow TD).

He’s a Youtube sensation. He was supposed to move to Newcastle, didn’t, then found himself on the bench. He lacks experience, having only racked up 50 appearances, but it’s clear why people like him. He has the typical high levels of technique you expect from Lille signings, he’s very fast over short distances that make him prime for a team that likes to press, he’s also 6ft2, which would give a team that suffers from setpieces some additional presence we’ve lacked with Torriera. This is just press talk, but he’s the sort of talent I was expecting over a Thomas Partey like name this summer.

Right, I have a GOOD podcast for you to take a listen to. Last week, I asked if anyone working at Adidas would contact me because I’d like to talk to them about what they think of the Arsenal partnership. I started talking to Dom Dominique. He’s worked in the ad game, was experienced in amateur development coaching, and has been doing a Masters degree at Manchester Met Uni in Sports Directorship.

We made a podcast and it was great fun.

We had a geek out over Adidas and searched for reasons why they’re getting it so, so right. We spoke about a course he’s doing that helps people move towards becoming a sporting director… hugely fascinating, with some Arsenal links there. We also spoke about modern coaching and how the technical profile of kids coming through is rapidly evolving. If you’re into the geeking out we do on here about the inner workings of football, this weeks podcast is for you. Follow him on the below. Twitter: @dommy_daniel Instagram: @dommy_ldn

But more importantly, tune in and listen to the podcast!

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Champagne Charlie

Messi financially blackmailing Barcelona, what a statement.

His value to the club on and off the pitch makes his salary look like minimum wage.

Mr Serge

Pedro agreed the guy probably never even watched the match

Mr Serge

CC Messi shirt sales alone cover his salary I just read that’s mad

Valentin

Luteo, Ronaldo is paid £26 millions BEFORE tax at Juventus. No other player is paid even half of Messi is paid. The club simply can’t afford to pay him that much. And that does not include the rest of the deals where Barcelona had to put some member of his family on their payroll. In the US sport, because of the salary cap, you can easily spot who is in it first for the money or who is interested first in title and then money. During their dominance, San Antonio Spurs players accepted lower wage (still high but lower than… Read more »

Radio Raheem

Messi is on €50 million net so €100 million gross according to the well informed hacks.

Jamie

“The same with LeBron James. He would rather have a competitive team than take all the highest salary in the league.“

LeBron James is literally the highest paid player in the NBA.

Champagne Charlie

“LeBron James is literally the highest paid player in the NBA.“

Shhh, we’re bashing Messi for earning a mega salary. He’s just like Ozil ya know

Mr Serge

Play for free Messi help poor Barca out lol

Valentin

CC, That’s a myth, Messi shirt sale does not cover his full salary cost. Barcelona sell about 2 millions shirts per year. Nike sell the full replica kit for £40. Some Clubs receive a fraction of the shirt price, assuming that Barcelona has a great deal that entails them to 50% of the revenue that would still not cover his salary. In reality Barcelona has a deal with Nike and receive a guaranteed fixed amount until 2023, in exchange for Nike being able to use their stars in their own advertising. I think that it is about £140 millions per… Read more »

Mr Serge

Valentin it was me that said that not CC

Valentin

Jamie,

Check your number, you’ll find that despite being one of the biggest (if not the biggest) star of the NBA, LeBron James is not in the top 5 salary of the NBA.
He is the top earner when you include the endorsement and other side deals.

Jamie

“Shhh, we’re bashing Messi for earning a mega salary. He’s just like Ozil ya know”

It’s incredible. Dude has 634 goals and 285 assists in 731 appearances for Barca and he’s part of the problem. Probably because we can’t be too sure of his age.

Jamie

Val –

His salary is over $37m a year.

Luteo Guenreira

Val

The amount of ignorance you spout while trying to act like you know even a cunt hair’s worth of how NBA salary caps work, how much Lebron gets paid (his current salary is actually the maximum that would be allowed for a player in his situation, no discounts this time around), and even Barca’s bottom line when it comes to Messi’s shirt sales….is truly impressive.

Luteo Guenreira

Val is correct about Lebron’s salary in that aspect though. You can get paid more re-signing with your old team, it’s an incentive that was included in the last CBA in order to give teams more leverage in convincing a superstar player to stay with the team. Lebron left Cleveland to come to Los Angeles after his last contract ended, so he automatically isn’t eligible for the supermax contract he would have been able to receive from Cleveland. His current salary is the maximum he would be allowed to receive while signing with a new team.

azed

Lol at Messi playing for free…..

Valentin

Luteo,

My point was that LeBron James wants to win titles and twice he moved to do that despite the move actually coating him financially.

BTW, despite one of my brother a former player, I am not remotely interested in basketball, the only reason I know he is not in the top 5 is because pre covid quizz one of the question was naming two players in the top 5 NBA salary and I put the only two names that I knew Steve Curry and LeBron James and to my surprise LeBron James was not in the top 5.

Mr Serge

Azed it was tongue in cheek saying to play for free I even said help POOR Barca out. People can’t take a joke

Guns of SF

Messi should go back to Newells old Boys…. imagine that.
playing for free.

Mr Serge

And I said lol 😏

Valentin

As I said, LeBron James is not in the top 5 salary of the NBA.
http://www.espn.com/nba/salaries

Luteo Guenreira

My point was that LeBron James wants to win titles and twice he moved to do that despite the move actually coating him financially.

Val if you’re so easily able to discern the motivations of elite athletes just by seeing them on TV or by reading something that was written by someone who heard something from someone else, I don’t know why you even bother commiserating with peons like us. You should be a sports therapist.

Luteo Guenreira

What does Lebron being in the top 5 in NBA salary have anything to do with Messi? WHY, to you, does some random fact about a completely different athlete prove that Messi doesn’t want to win, that he’s blackmailing anyone? What in the serious fuck are you talking about?

Kay

call this #Messigate or #Valgate?

Champagne Charlie

Val

You’re being top tier ridiculous to claim Messi is a financial burden on the club, and it’s painfully naive to think his commercial influence extends to short sales alone.

The numerous deals Barca pull are largely thanks to his, quite literally, legendary ability and performance level for the club.

I can tolerate an argument that he’s maybe involved himself above the levels a player should in terms of internal politics – but still idk about that. Financial burden? Please go away.

Champagne Charlie

https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/sports-business-group/articles/deloitte-football-money-league.html

Barcelona have the largest revenue in world football, please work out the percentage Messi eats into and analyse that relative to others.

Namely Ronaldo at Juve given he was your white knight example. Their revenue nearly half Barcelona’s.

Dissenter

Valentin “Messi can complain as much as he wants about the bad management of the team, but his annual financial blackmail is one big part of the reason the club is in a huge financial mess. His salary of £26 millions NET is more than anybody else. That correspond to about £42 millions before tax (not included the VAT! 😉).” That’s excellent value for money. Messi makes Barca a lot more than 26 million or 42 million, how much do you think his marketing potential benefitted Barca. How many titles did he win for them, often winning 10-20 games yearly… Read more »

Dissenter

*bone headed
*Barca aren’t broke because of Messi.

Aussie+Gooner

Nice little warm up against MK Dons. Obviously not at full bore but a couple of nice goals. Mark McGuiness scored a cracking header (though not as good as Holdings!!!!). He may be one for the future and his size helps a lot! Saliba had a good start to his Arsenal career and looks very promising on this performance, albeit in basically a practice match. Still some defending errors though and MK Dons found themselves with plenty of space between the last defender and our goal on a couple of occasions. Saka and Tierney carried on where they left off… Read more »

Dissenter

Messi deserves every penny he’s been paid by Barca. He’s been masking all their stupid transfer moves for half a decade.

Dissenter

Luteo really got triggered by that Val Messi comment.

Ronald Koeman is probably on the way out because now he will forever be known as the manager who pushed the great Leo Messi away from Barcelona.

Dissenter

Val
You wont get an authentic current season Nike Barca shirt for less than $100 in the states.
That £40 price you quoted is bunkum

Overmars

Here’s a prediction – Everton will be ones to watch this season.

With the pulling power of Ancelotti, along with money that the owner has, they’ll be able to attract some big names.

James Rodriguez, Doucoure and Allan from Napoli look likely signings. All of which were linked with Arsenal once upon a time.

Any gamblers on here, could be a dark horse for the top 4.

azed

Mr Serge

My comment was direct at Valentin not you.

Captain Tierney

Pierre

Kidding ? Mate.
Auba and Balogun treated the same.
One is our best player and has reportedly already signed other is someone who hasnt even achieved s senior appearance and is playing hardball.

Guns of SF

Messi knows without a xavi or iniesta type he will not win much anymore.

Barca has great players but have gone to a buying team. Used to produce genius players la masia

Moray

Barca need to rebuild, and Messi should not be central to that due to his age. I’m sure he can compromise on salary at this stage in his career, for the chance to spend his last couple of Seasons testing himself in a different league. As mentioned above, he makes huge income through endorsements anyway and this may Even increase if he moves to the premiership, say. The problem is that Messi is such a dominating figure that whichever club he lands in is likely to be disrupted by his presence. Particularly if he moves just before or just after… Read more »

Pedro

CC, Barca had to take out special loans from hedge funds to buy players last year. Their wage bill is out of control. All their older players are a burden. Even worse in a pandemic.

MidwestGun

I think what Barca really needs is Ozil in a swap deal for Messi.
Speaking of useless financial burdens. 😀

Tony

Barca getting their long awaited and much deserved bad karma from Messi and Suarez.

Karma generally evens itself out in the end where people reap what they sow.

Don & Pierre should probably stay in doors during electrical storms.

No point tempting fate.

Tony

Midday
Ideal deal for us and Messi as I couldn’t see Messi wanting to live in Manchester with the bin dippers being on his doorstep.

Messi would be happy at home in London.

To be honest I’d be happy giving Ozil to Barca free and just autographed boots & kit from Messi to auction. Currently they’s have far more worth to our coffers than anything remotely Ozil these days.

MidwestGun

Tony-
I like it.. win/win… I’m a problem solver that’s what I do.

Tony

Was funny to see so many Bangkok sex tourist posters coming out on LG the other day.

Just shows you never really get to know people these days no matter how many times one reads their posts.

Just have to check to see if Don was in Bangkok just after his arse bleeding problems. Would certainly make sense as to why Don didn’t want to go to local hospitals.

I mean how would he explain it?

Guns of SF

I get a niggling feeling Messi might call it a day TBH…..

I think Barca was his end all, and its over now.

That club was literally part of his DNA… if he can get up and move on to another team great, but a part of me feels he may just hang em up.

He has won everything and is arguably the greatest ever.

DivineSherlock

Call Don Raul asap . If anyone can make a deal for Messi its him .

Bojangles

Harry M appealing the court decision. The claim is his councel wasn’t given enough time to mount a proper defence. He probably has a case, after all, according to reports, he and his friends and family were only behaving in a manner expected of English tourists, the stupid Greek police kept throwing themselves at his fists and he was simply trying to pay for his drinks as he was being led away which the police misconstrued as attempts to bribe them. These foreigners do not respect English tourists, they seem to forget that 100 years ago the English ruled over… Read more »

Guns of SF

LOL!

Tony

Bojangles
lol

United’s captain fantastic now with issues what could be better? Can just imagine the banter he’s going to get on the pitch.

I mean you put his sister in a pen of pigs and play spot the sister.

Albanians must have had beer glasses that night.

Sid

“Just have to check to see if Don was in Bangkok just after his arse bleeding problems. Would certainly make sense as to why Don didn’t want to go to local hospitals.”

Lol, Shots fired, i repeat shots fired

Habesha Gooner

Messi being a burden to Barcelona is one of the most outrageous things that have been written here, and there have been many. I wish he would become our financial burden.

China1

Messi moving to PSG would be such a bland move for him

Early retirement outside of a handful of CL games a season

I hope he puts football before money and ends up at a real club

moray

“I hope he puts football before money and ends up at a real club”

Stoke?

Danny+S

I wonder if Barca weren’t paying messi over 1m per week, if he’d have stayed 2 decades with them.

Sid

Arsenal should offer Barca Laca + 1€ for Messi

Aussie+Gooner

OMG! We need to find those ‘Albanians” and find out what they had in that syringe. Poor Daisy has aged 40 years over night! If that stuff gets in the water supply we will all be dead before Christmas!

DivineSherlock

Messi ending up at City and helping them win UCL next season or The Barcelona chairman ends up resigning and Messi ends his career there. only Two possibilities I see happening.

Globalgunner

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53911105

In truth this has implications for Arsenal. Who could Barca sign right now that would either replace Messi or be big enough to placate him to stay especially as they have given Suarez the heave ho. It is Auba of course. I think we should be in for Suarez too. He is at least a short term solution if Auba leaves.

The plot thickens. Cannot believe Messi wants to leave. Its probably the Suarez thing that broke him. Brace problems are not with the forwards. It’s the aging g midfield and dufus defending that’s the problem.

DivineSherlock

Globalgunner

Its not even the players , its the stupid board . I mean they spent it all on just Dembele , Griezmann and Coutinho. Imagine they spent that much on defense and midfield areas. Its bizzare really

Aussie+Gooner

“It’s embarrassing watching Brits like this that get so drunk they forget who they are, he had to ask the Greek police who didn’t know either”

Gold!

Valentin

CC, If you had bother reading my previous posts, you would see that we agree on the main. Everything is not black and white. Messi can be both a Barcelona strength but also a weakness. A strength because he is one of the GOAT player. He brings with him brand recognition, prestige and of course sponsorship. But also a weakness because it is not anymore Barcelona FC, it is Messi FC. Barcelona used to have multiple stars like Ronaldo, Ronaldhino, Rivaldo, Eto. When the club thought that they were becoming bigger than them, they were moved on. With Messi they… Read more »

Valentin

ManCity barely scraped through the UEFA FFP via a technicality, there is no way they could afford Messi without just blowing out all its conditions.
It would not a smart move to antagonise UEFA right, who would send accountants in bulk to check those numbers.

DivineSherlock

Valentin with the most incorrect assessment of all time beating Bamford with Neymargate . Ask any Barcelona fan and you will know the truth but please dont pass this shit as truth.

Emiratesstroller

The potential departure of Messi is in my view bad for both player and club. First can a player who has spent his entire playing career at Barcelona adapt to a new club at this stage of his career? Also how will it impact on his legacy? Second what will be the impact on Barcelona and the people who run the club. Barcelona has become far too political as an organisation. Like Real Madrid they throw money like confetti to feather egos and it is clear that the club is poorly managed. The club may be the heart and soul… Read more »

Valentin

Here are some of the points I wanted to make on Yesterday’s game. 1) maybe things will change with The arrival of Gabriel, but three at the back seem to be staying. 2) it confirmed that we definitely need an upgrade on that central midfield. Xhaka and Elneny were trying, but quick forward pass combined with rapid movement is not their game. 3) Saka may grow to become a very good No10, but right now he is wasted there, as he is an outstanding left winger. 4) Saliba had an uneventful game. However his forward passing and composure stood out.… Read more »

Captain Tierney

Valentin I dont believe Messi runs the transfers and contracts at Barca but he is most probably commands a stronger voice than the head coach. But that has happened due to the incompetency of the board who failed to recruit a manager who can command respect from the GOAT and if cannot control 1 player in the dressing room , he loses control over all. Enrique was OK but the subsequent managers Valverde and Setien have done nothing of note (in their playing and management careers as far as I know) to command that Barca dressing room’s respect especially Messi’s.… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Captain Tierney

Barcelona are potentially in a worse situation than AC Milan. The club cannot
be sold. It is owned by its membership.

In the past that might have been considered a plus, because Regional Government and the Banks could bail them out. However, I doubt that is the case today.

Jamie

Val – “Because of that Messi started to throw his weight around. He got involved in things that a player should not have. He recommended players and if he did not get his way, he threatened to leave. Because of the club structure and the socios votes, the club never had the courage to call his bluff.” The BBC’s pushback against all the ‘power’ Messi has at Barca: “People say he has a lot of power in the club. He talks directly to the board if he gets asked, as all the top players do in big clubs. Let’s see… Read more »

Radio Raheem

Where’s is this £26m coming from? Messi is on €50m net or £45m net.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53911105

Barcelona’s wage to turnover ratio stands at about 80% with COVID-19. This is clearly unsustainable, hence, their move to try to move the big earners. There’s a mandate that those running the club must leave in the club in a financially neutral or profitable position otherwise they pay for any deficits from their pockets.

Dark Hei

“Barca 2-3 years ago didn’t need a pragmatist like Valverde , they needed someone with a big personality like Zidane at Madrid. ”

In short, all they needed was Arsene Wenger.

azed

When in a hole, you put down the shovel and stop digging.

Val

Stop digging.

Doyindav

I really did think Arteta would bin this 3 at the back idea. Granted it was our saving grace last year, also Xhaka can’t receive a pass and turn.

We should be looking at getting proper midfielders in and going back to 4 across the back.

Uwot?

After all that the Barca bandits have dished out to Arsenal over the years let me say that their current predicament fills me with absolute joy.It couldn’t happen to a more classless bunch of c** ts.Right up there with Manure & chavs.Their arrogance knows no bounds.Hope they go f*** ng go bankrupt.( They won’t,some dodgy Arab money will arrive)Never have forgiven them for that shirt stunt with cesc & the underhand,classless tactics they employed in his transfer.Hate them with a vengeance.If they drift into the wilderness for the next decade.even better.

Batistuta

Probably should have gone for a Wenger before they got Valverde really, the entire club is in an absolute disaster and they’d probably be worse off if this isn’t one of Messi’s usual whinning before getting a pay rise. Also thankfully Milan is on the up and up really, sorted out the backroom mess and have got a good coach and some players who’ve started to pull their weight, even somehow convincing Zlatan to stay one more season which is a huge plus. Messi might end up at Inter though if he didn’t move to PSG, City would have to… Read more »

Sid

As long as Xhakalson plays in midfield 3 CBs will have to be played at the back.
Im telling you for free!

Champagne Charlie

“CC, Barca had to take out special loans from hedge funds to buy players last year. Their wage bill is out of control. All their older players are a burden. Even worse in a pandemic.“ I’m aware of their financial misuse, I’m arguing the absurdity that Messi is a financial burden to the football club and a reason for their troubles. How anyone can walk down that path is laughable, it’s literally all other financial matters that have led them to where they are and Messi has maintained the facade by virtue of being Messi Val No, you attributed the… Read more »

Sid

Daisy is the new Carolyn Bryant, Albanians the new Emmett Till .

Im telling you for free!

Moray

Messi’s the wrong age to be pulling a hissy fit.

He’s still a great player but I do long to see him playing through a snowstorm in Leeds in Feb…

Buzzy

The only reason id be happy with Messi coming to City would be that Liverpool will not get anywhere close to another title for a long time and in that time they’ll be back to the usual mediocrity

Valentin

CC, I said he is in part, NOT the ONLY part. Of course the main culprits are the amateur board, but Messi took advantage of their weakness and incompetence. Look at Abidal, he tried to rebalance the team but was opposed at every attempt. He wanted to recruit Kante and in order to so tried to sell Rakitic which is my view was a good move. Messi threw a hissy fit. The result is that Abidal left. First thing that Koeman is doing is showing the door to Rakitic and trying to buy a decent DM. Headcoaches and DoF have… Read more »

DigitalBob

So in a scenario whereby Bartomeu resigns with the rest of the Barca board or they call early elections and he loses, does Koeman also get the sack? He could have the shortest tenure for a Barca manager in their history!

Looking at this realistically its now feeling like the transfer request is simply to get the above to happen.

If a transfer happens City are the only realistic option due to Pep. Can’t see him going to PSG or Utd as some pundits have suggested.

Valentin

I doubt that ManCity could afford to pay £200 millions for Messi and his humongous wage without shattering FFP. And that time, UEFA would go to war about it. PSG may not be so keen to repeat the same behind the scene drama when they are trying to establish themselves as UEFA power player. Messi is more likely to go to an Italian club to give them a huge boost (a la Ronaldo for Juventus), in the middle East or China or simply retire. Another left field possibility, It could be a huge coup for the MLS if Nike were… Read more »

Champagne Charlie

Val

You can emphasise the word “part” all you like, there’s absolutely no financial justification to claim he’s a been a burden to the football club – which was your claim. So subtlety changing tact to him exerting influence over transfers is a big swing and miss because that’s never been argued.

Did you run through the Deloitte figures and construct what percentage of their revenue he takes as a salary compared to others?

DigitalBob

Valentin – A Messi transfer only happens in my opinion if he is allowed to leave on a free(by the courts if that’s what it takes), in which case he will easily settle being the best paid player for City at £350K per week or whatever it is that’s feasible.

As I said yesterday if he truly wants out he will take a paycut on his current mammoth weekly wage to make it happen.

azed

Look at Abidal, he tried to rebalance the team but was opposed at every attempt. He wanted to recruit Kante and in order to so tried to sell Rakitic which is my view was a good move. Messi threw a hissy fit.

Valentin
Please stop.

You think Messi was the one that suggested the signing of Dembele, Coutinho, Arthur, Greizmann and Braithwaite?

Valentin

CC,

I am not pivoting, you are. My initial point all along was that Messi was part of the mess Barcelona is in now. Financial his annual demands contributed to the financial aspect of it. And his threat of leaving if his mates were not allowed to stay with a raised salary were one of the reason why Barcelona squad was so unbalanced. That you choose to ignore that part of argument and laser on the financial part was your decision.

Valentin

Azed, He wanted Countinho, Dembele, in fact he courted those players with personal phone call to convinced them to join. The fact that things went pear shaped does not invalidate that. He never wanted Griezman and he made that abundantly clear by ostracizing him as much as possible. I would say that this is exactly the kind of behaviour that he would not have been able to get away with if the management had not been scared of him. I always thought that Griezman was bought as a future replacement to Messi and he did not like that. Braithwaite was… Read more »

Dissenter

Valentin
Leo Messi is the reason why Barca were still competitive
They’ve been making. stupid and costly transfer decisions in the past 5 seasons and got away with it because Messi’s gloss mitigated the looming calamity.
When is the last time they signed a decent manager?

Dissenter

Valentin
‘ He wanted Countinho, Dembele, in fact he courted those players with personal phone call to convinced them to join. The fact that things went pear shaped does not invalidate that.’

Oh dear, you are having an epic meltdown
You’re lucky that your arch nemesis are not on legrove currently.
Do you have the faintest iota of proof to back up these ridiculous assertions?

Champagne Charlie

Val You mean that I chose to disagree with a considerable strand of your argument? You interposed with Lebron James and Cristiano Ronaldo to make the point about his salary, you dismissed his commercial value relative to his earnings, and you said it was down to his greed. It was an analysis that was met with derision by multiple posters on here due to the absurdity of the claim. No ‘lasering in’ necessary given it was a fundamental element of your criticism. You’re just trying to save face at this point, and look at the verbiage you drop about Barcelona… Read more »

Valentin

Dissenter, I make the distinction between Messi the player who in my view is one of the GOAT and Messi the off the pitch influencer. On the pitch, bar the last two years he was able to win games on his own and you are right he was the glue of the Barcelona team and that hided the incompetence of the board. However off the pitch, he became bigger than Barcelona and that has a lead to a growing influence. Combined with the weak and incompetent board that led to the mess Barcelona is in today. Every coaches and DoF… Read more »

Bojangles

“Dani Ceballos, who spent the 2019/20 campaign on loan at Arsenal, has informed Real Madrid he wants to return to The Emirates, according to Defensa Central. ”

Not sure where Arsenal are on this?

Valentin

CC, I did not mentioned Christiano Ronaldo, so you must have read somebody else posts or not pay attention to mine because the only Ronaldo I mentioned was the original one who played for Barcelona. I am not dismissing Messi’s commercial value, I am just not over evaluating it like the one who argue that the sales of Messi shirts pays for his salary where the numbers prove that it is a complete fallacy. When CR7 left Real Madrid, everybody thought that it was the end of the club. They have just won la Liga without him and financially they… Read more »

azed

“Do you have the faintest iota of proof to back up these ridiculous assertions?”

Valentin knows a guy that knows a girl who has a friend that is dating Messi’s pool boys cousin and that cousin confirmed that Messi called Coutinho and Dembele.

I’m telling you this for free.

Victorious

We could have stood a chance of signing Messi if Wenger was still at the club in any capacity,berate the man for losing in at the end but he’s still got a massive pull and personality

Wonder why the traditional big clubs in England have been mentioned and we’re not even grant the courtesy of my even a clickbait link

Victorious

Athletico Madrid must be having a laugh, offering 3 players for us to take any with Laca going the other way to except not including the only one we’re interested in

Hopefully the club tell them to rightly fck off

Captain Tierney

‘He wanted Countinho, Dembele, in fact he courted those players with personal phone call to convinced them to join.’

Val’s inside sources are at it again !!!!
This time they’ve hacked into Messi’s cell phone. 🤦

Captain Tierney

I’m starting to believe Val has a big ITK account on twitter.

Graham62

Just love the fact that the RNC has become a family affair.

“My Dad is not what he seems”

“My husband cares”

Not from where I stand.

Graham62

Victorious

You do realise Wenger became a laughing stock.

Maybe in 2006 Messi would have been enticed by the pull of Wenger but no way in the latter years of his reign.

Arteta stands more of a chance.