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Lionel Messi is leaving FC Barcelona

I'd like to see him at Man City. I wanna see what the legend can do in the EPL. Ligue 1 isn't decent but it's not La Liga or EPL.
 
Messi is still rolling and can ask for the big bucks. Can anyone really afford him without going broke?
 
Sure.

I mean obviously not the most fiscally mismanaged sports franchise in the history of the world (and that's not hyperbole). But other places certainly could.
The team has to be able to keep other stars around him also. It won’t be cheap for anyone. There is enough money in Miami a few rich people could bankroll him with pocket change.
 
he team has to be able to keep other stars around him also. It won’t be cheap for anyone. There is enough money in Miami a few rich people could bankroll him with pocket change.


I agree, it won't be cheap.

PSG is owned, essentially, by the government of Qatar. Man City is owned by a member of the royal family of Abu Dahbi. Either one of them could buy Messi tomorrow with a rounding error on their personal financial report. Barca can't do that, because the people who have run Barca are literally the worst businessmen in all of professional sports of all time.
 
The team has to be able to keep other stars around him also. It won’t be cheap for anyone. There is enough money in Miami a few rich people could bankroll him with pocket change.
Wasnt Messi looking at $1 million per week wages? The only people in Miami who would pay that are the drug cartels that kept Crockett and Tubbs busy.

furthermore, this is no knock on Messi, but who is worth that kind of money? The highest paid guy in the EPL is <400K.
 
Wasnt Messi looking at $1 million per week wages? The only people in Miami who would pay that are the drug cartels that kept Crockett and Tubbs busy.

furthermore, this is no knock on Messi, but who is worth that kind of money? The highest paid guy in the EPL is <400K.
Messi is an investment for team instant improvement, entertainment and as a marketing machine. That’s it.
 
Barca was not a poorly-managed club until Bartomeu and his cohorts took charge in 2014. However, I believe that it was only partially a case of mismanagement and largely a case of corruption. Their whole group is being investigated for financial fraud.

They made some absolutely horrible acquisitions at inflated prices: Coutinho, Dembele, Griezman the prime three. But, those don’t account for most of the debt.

As far as teams being able to afford Messi, his Jersey and other merchandise have generated between $60 Million and $100 Million in annual merchandising revenue. He is not a source of their losses. I have three Messi jerseys. I know Barca fans who have three for each year he was at the club: The home, away and third jerseys because the design changes every year. When CR7 signed with Juventus, they started selling his merchandise the same day he inked the contract. Juventus later said that sales of CR7 merchandise more than paid his wages.

Meanwhile, this is how I and other Barca fans have felt since Thursday:

 
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I hope Barcelona has fired every accountant and mathmetician in the organization because I have no clue how they could lose the GOAT because they didn't realize they spent too much.
 
Barca was not a poorly-managed club until Bartomeu and his cohorts took charge in 2014. However, I believe that it was only partially a case of mismanagement and largely a case of corruption. Their whole group is being investigated for financial fraud.

They made some absolutely horrible acquisitions at inflated prices: Coutinho, Dembele, Griezman the prime three. But, those don’t account for most of the debt.

As far as teams being able to afford Messi, his Jersey and other merchandise have generated between $60 Million and $100 Million in annual merchandising revenue. He is not a source of their losses. I have three Messi jerseys. I know Barca fans who have three for each year he was at the club: The home, away and third jerseys because the design changes every year. When CR7 signed with Juventus, they started selling his merchandise the same day he inked the contract. Juventus later said that sales of CR7 merchandise more than paid his wages.

Meanwhile, this is how I and other Barca fans have felt since Thursday:

On my commute today, Sirius XM FC has been talking about the Barcelona situation. I found it very interesting. In the grand scheme of things, I guess I’m still wet behind the ears as a soccer fan. I looked at Barca as this uber historic club, and they really weren’t I guess until Cruyff came and elevated the club. So I think it’s cool how you organically embraced the club at the time that you did. And then of course they won their first UCL in 1992?

as a fan, I guess you’ll spend a few years experiencing what other club fans have to experience. It will make things that much sweeter when they turn it around again.

how about this…Lionel Messi has scored 1 out of every 11 goals in the history of Barcelona. What an incredible stat.
 
On my commute today, Sirius XM FC has been talking about the Barcelona situation. I found it very interesting. In the grand scheme of things, I guess I’m still wet behind the ears as a soccer fan. I looked at Barca as this uber historic club, and they really weren’t I guess until Cruyff came and elevated the club. So I think it’s cool how you organically embraced the club at the time that you did. And then of course they won their first UCL in 1992?

as a fan, I guess you’ll spend a few years experiencing what other club fans have to experience. It will make things that much sweeter when they turn it around again.

how about this…Lionel Messi has scored 1 out of every 11 goals in the history of Barcelona. What an incredible stat.
Not to be 15 years behind here, but I just now got SiriusXM. What number is the xm station and is it worth the listen?
 
Not to be 15 years behind here, but I just now got SiriusXM. What number is the xm station and is it worth the listen?
157. I like the channel. They have a little bit of everything. United States of Soccer focuses 90% of the time on the U.S. whether national teams, MLS, lower levels or the women's league.

Grumpy Pundits are a riot when Rodney and Tommy are on. The football show is solid as well. Overall I really enjoy it.

Probably the only show I never have listened to is the coaching academy. dumb, dumb, dumb.
 
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Not to be 15 years behind here, but I just now got SiriusXM. What number is the xm station and is it worth the listen?
Honestly, I rarely listen to anything else. I essentially quit local sports radio cold turkey. The great thing about soccer is that there is never an off-season. So there’s interesting discussion every day. And even though I don’t watch the other leagues, I learn about them while listening in my car, and it helps me have a better understanding of teams during Chanpions League and a better understanding of players when they discuss transfers and international matches.

The Football show is the earlier morning show and it’s super.

its followed by Grumpy Pundits which is the mid morning show, and it’s excellent too. The pundits rotate depending on the day, and Tom Renne is a bit much for me but it’s still a good listen.

then American state of soccer with Jason Davis is in the early afternoon. It’s my least favorite show on the channel but it’s a great listen during international competitions and WC qualifying when team USA is in the headlines. Aside from that it’s lots of MLS and USL talk.

the late afternoon show hosted by Tony Meola is very good too.

it’s worth the subscription alone.

another great feature is the shows are all achieved on their app. So if you miss shows or segments, you can go back and listen. They have every segment labeled so you can just click on the segments that interest you and you don’t have to sit through discussions that you could care less about.
 
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157. I like the channel. They have a little bit of everything. United States of Soccer focuses 90% of the time on the U.S. whether national teams, MLS, lower levels or the women's league.

Grumpy Pundits are a riot when Rodney and Tommy are on. The football show is solid as well. Overall I really enjoy it.

Probably the only show I never have listened to is the coaching academy. dumb, dumb, dumb.
Don’t know if you listened today…they had a reporter on who is a Fulham supporter on to talk about the promotion of Brentford (and Norwich and Watford). His discussion regarding his rival club was interesting.
 
Don’t know if you listened today…they had a reporter on who is a Fulham supporter on to talk about the promotion of Brentford (and Norwich and Watford). His discussion regarding his rival club was interesting.
I didn't get a chance to tune in today. which show was it? I wont ask you to ruin it for me with what was said...
 
I didn't get a chance to tune in today. which show was it? I wont ask you to ruin it for me with what was said...
I think it was grumpy pundits. Nothing major. He said brentford scouting is incredible with how they are able to reload. But he also said that if they don’t add in the last 3 weeks of this transfer window, they’ll be going back down to the Chanpionship next year.
 
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Interesting discussion this AM on XM. They were discussing biggest transfers in history. They put in order
1) Pele to NY
2) zidane to Madrid
3) Ronaldo to Madrid

the show host is an Italian guy and huge Serie A guy. He discussed how Zidanes move from Italy to La Liga was a changing of the landscape because in the 90’s, Serie A was the best league in the world where all the top players played. His move to Madrid started an exodus to the Spanish League and then that League became the best league in the world for 15 years until recent years with the English Premier League taking the mantle.

the thought is that this Messi move, while being massive, won’t do anything but elevate the PSG brand and not much else.
 
I think it was grumpy pundits. Nothing major. He said brentford scouting is incredible with how they are able to reload. But he also said that if they don’t add in the last 3 weeks of this transfer window, they’ll be going back down to the Chanpionship next year.
He's not lying. Brentford have some incredible scouts. I have kept an eye on their transfers and very very quiet. It would be tough to see them pull a Leeds and have a fantastic season.
 
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Interesting discussion this AM on XM. They were discussing biggest transfers in history. They put in order
1) Pele to NY
2) zidane to Madrid
3) Ronaldo to Madrid

the show host is an Italian guy and huge Serie A guy. He discussed how Zidanes move from Italy to La Liga was a changing of the landscape because in the 90’s, Serie A was the best league in the world where all the top players played. His move to Madrid started an exodus to the Spanish League and then that League became the best league in the world for 15 years until recent years with the English Premier League taking the mantle.

the thought is that this Messi move, while being massive, won’t do anything but elevate the PSG brand and not much else.
That sounds like it would have been a great discussion for sure. Pele to NY was huge for sure, may have really helped jumpstart soccer in the US. There were other huge names in European soccer who also made the move to US, beckenbauer was one big name too. I remember how strong serie a was in the 90s. Lots of great players flocked to Italy, we even had a few American players make their way to Italy in the 90s. I think Ronaldo to Italy isn’t as big of a deal as Pele to NY, and Zidane to Spain was big as it was a trend that showed many players leave Italy.
I don’t really know what the impact on Messi leaving is, but it sure impacts Barcelona the most. All of this is interesting.
 
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I spent a lot of yesterday trying to focus on something other than Messi leaving Barça. I watched videos of some of the great matches they have played that I saw live on television: the Champions League runs in 2008-09 and 2010-11; the 2-6 thumping of Real Madrid at the Bernebau in Pep’s first season and the 5-0 demolition at the Camp Nou in year 2; a few more. I looked at the ticket stubs from the matches I attended in 2013, my first trip to Barcelona, including a Champion’s League win over PSG, 3-1; and the photos I have of the parade in early May after they clinched La Liga with a record 100 points. (By sheer luck, the parade went right by my apartment on Via Laietana and I walked along with the open-deck buses carrying the team for about a mile, along with a million or more other Barça fans.) That was Tito Villanova’s first and only title, as he had been diagnosed with cancer mid-season.

After all of that, I came to one conclusion that I believe is irrefutable: All of you have your favorite teams, and all of those teams hopefully have some glorious memories for you. However, none of you will ever experience anything close to the pure exhilaration I had during Pep’s four years and Tito’s one year as coach there. Not only did those teams win, but they won playing beautiful soccer — in a style which I don’t think any subsequent team from any league anywhere has come close to emulating. (Liverpool two years ago was the closest IMO). And, I don’t think any team ever will. I got to watch not only Messi, but Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, David Villa, Thierry Henri, Carles Puyol, etc.

Last year Chelsea won the Champions League but wasn’t ever in contention to win the Premier League. Liverpool had one great year, followed by a not so great year. Man U hasn’t won anything of substance since Sir Alec left. Real Madrid won 3 straight Champions League titles, but few would say they were the best team in Europe in any of those years. They got extraordinarily favorable draws in each. And, in those 3 years they only won La Liga once and didn’t win either of the other two major Spanish trophies. Four trophies in 3 years is not dominance. Bayern had one year where it clearly was the best team in Europe and one or two others where it could be argued that it was. But, it neither has the trophies to back up such a claim nor a time period approaching Barça’s amazing five years.

In Pep’s first year, Barça won six major trophies, including La Liga, the Spanish Cup, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. In his second year, they won 3 of those 4, losing in the Champions League semifinal. The next year, they won 3 of 4 again, including the Champion’s League. The next year, they lost in the Champions League semifinal but won a domestic double again. In Tito’s only year, they won La Liga and the Copa del Rey but lost to Bayern in the Champions League quarters.

PSG could well win 5 trophies this year. So could Bayern. But, I don’t believe that either will have a 4 or 5 year span comparable to Barça’s. Not to mention that because of the quality of the French and German leagues, their domestic titles mean much less than winning the Premier League, the FA Cup, La Liga or the Copa del Rey.

I’m not likely to watch Barça win many trophies over the next few years. But, I will have unmatched memories of having been a Barça fan during a period of greatness I don’t believe any other club will approach.

Visca Barça!
 
After all of that, I came to one conclusion that I believe is irrefutable: All of you have your favorite teams, and all of those teams hopefully have some glorious memories for you. However, none of you will ever experience anything close to the pure exhilaration I had during Pep’s four years and Tito’s one year as coach there.


I don't think there is any doubt that those teams were some of the greatest soccer teams ever. Surely at least on the short list, if not at the very top.
 
On my commute today, Sirius XM FC has been talking about the Barcelona situation. I found it very interesting. In the grand scheme of things, I guess I’m still wet behind the ears as a soccer fan. I looked at Barca as this uber historic club, and they really weren’t I guess until Cruyff came and elevated the club. So I think it’s cool how you organically embraced the club at the time that you did. And then of course they won their first UCL in 1992?

as a fan, I guess you’ll spend a few years experiencing what other club fans have to experience. It will make things that much sweeter when they turn it around again.

how about this…Lionel Messi has scored 1 out of every 11 goals in the history of Barcelona. What an incredible stat.
Well, I mean, they were always a wildly popular club....as THE "national team" of Catalonia but I suppose they didnt become a "world club" until Cruyff as you say. Perhaps the best current example of "old Barca" is Dortmund. Great club, huge fanbase, but not many outside of Germany care
 
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