FinBarcelonafan
Well-known member
Exactly. This will go down as 500mil wasted money or close to it, if we buy him back for 200mil.
Neymar Jr.
- Thread starter El Flaco
- Start date
Exactly. This will go down as 500mil wasted money or close to it, if we buy him back for 200mil.
malvolio
Senior Member
in the end the board takes the decision. pushing the blame on messi is just lazy thinking and just eating up the crap spewed by the press. people came and went while he was here. did that made him pack up his bags and leave? did that hindered his performance on the pitch?
if you think about it maybe we would have been better off if we would have brought all of messi's pals to the club. we splashed huge amounts on dembele, coutinho and griezmann. all were board decisions and not messi pals. look where that got us.
serghei
Senior Member
I think we've already agreed that the board is crap. All of us think the same, and our current situation wouldn't have happened with a good, professional board.
But Messi is also a problem. He sides with his buddies. I think nobody sane really doubts that the term Club de Amigos, meaning veterans with very high powers at the club, running things more than they should, is basically a term for Messi & friends.
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malvolio
Senior Member
what do you mean "he sides with his buddies"? i can't remember him having a tantrum when fabregas got sold(and the fabregas family are really close to messi's family).
he is good pals with suarez, but you can't say that suarez played just because of this friendship. it is evident now why suarez played - lack of true alternative.
other than that what other pals has messi forced upon this club? pinto?
so the man speaks fondly about a guy whom he had a great on the pitch relationship that brought success to this club. you see it as messi influencing the club. when in the end the board didn't even make a move for neymar. also saying good things about lautaro(a fellow countryman of his) wouldn't be bad for his closest pal suarez? you could make up theories like that all day.
the facts are these:
- messi has always been loyal to us
- there isn't any evidence that he got his way in bringing his pals to the club or influence their stay here
- speaking fondly about fellow professionals or wanting to play with the best is generic bullshit that all players say when interviewed
- there was speculation in the press about messi not wanting griezmann here. result? griezmann was bought -> messi power indeed
serghei
Senior Member
It's OK if you believe that. I don't. I think Messi is no1 Amigo and a big influence in the locker-room. You can't talk about amigos and veterans running things, and not speak about Messi imo. Messi is a great player still, but a bad influence in the team and in the locker-room. Plenty of reasons to believe this part too.
Messigician
Senior Member
For what it's worth, hackers who hacked the club's personal messages claim that Neymar's return had been finalised
Andrew M
New member
You're entitled to your opinion of course, but I feel you've got this one wrong.
Of course he's a big influence in the dressing room. He's the best player in our history. It would be strange if he didn't have a big influence.
It's not like Ronaldinho who was a party boy and whose on pitch performance was bad. Messi only recently deservedly won the Ballon d'or.
You seem very eager to accelerate his retirement. Why? We'll have decades to see what life is like after Messi. He can stay for as long as he wants imo.
Messi983
Senior Member
Cesc wanted to leave, we didn't push him out of the club.
Messi983
Senior Member
I just want Messi to finally accept that what he wants is not always also in club's best interest. I'm not saying he wants to hurt the club intentionally but we did exactly this by listening to his wishes. Messi wanted to keep his friends around before he has agreed to renew his contract the last time. Bartomeu was affraid to lose him and that's why we renewed Suarez, Raki, Busi, Alba, Pique instead of trying to phase some of them out of the club and replace them with younger and hungrier players. This is Messi's power which has (indirectly) influenced on a lot of our decisions over the past few years and have put us in a situation we're currently in and will be for a few more years until those players contracts will expire (we'll have a hard time to get rid off them before because they are happy to be here and because we also still don't want to upset Messi by pushing his friends out of the club).
malvolio
Senior Member
We could just as well have
kept him and made him undisputed starter if Messi wanted it, no?
I'm the dawg who hacked the Twitter and I can confirm this.
Marshall D Teach
Active member
Has there ever been a deal that turned out to be as bad as this for every party involved? Buyer, seller and player.
serghei
Senior Member
Because I don't wanna see us building a new team around 35-36 year old Messi. I just don't see us using Messi as some sort of back-up, don't think he'll accept this role, as I don't really see him showing the same level of dedication for the club, of sacrifice like past legends in the mold of Xavi, Puyol, Iniesta showed. And I fear the longer we keep him when he is old, the more we'll postpone our true rebuild of this team.
A full-on rebuild with everything involved is required, no matter the casualties in terms of players imo. We're treating Messi as if he's bigger than the club, which is hilariously not true.
Xavi's path is exactly how Messi's path should be imo, ideally. When he hits 35 and he will show his age limitations even more, he will have to make room for somebody else and help the team as a mentor / substitute player for as long as he wants in this role. Or if he wants to go to Qatar or USA and make shit-loads of money for his family, fine. He should be free to do so. But under no circumstances we should guide and shape our new Barcelona around aging Messi. If he wants to help in the new regime and new conditions (which do not involve any preferential treatment for veterans, like frequent days off, personalized tactics, and such idiotic things), that would be amazing. If not, he needs to go for both his sake and our sake. I don't wanna see the club going against Messi. Best would be to mutually set when it's time to part ways. Nicely, like Xavi, and Iniesta's departures. But for this we need some sacrifice from Messi and for him to realize the club is way bigger than him. And imo he's not a leader, he thinks about himself first and his friends, not the team. Xavi and Puyol, they were leaders. And Iniesta was an absolute Don.
Basically, if a new great manager comes, who wants to build something and decides he needs Messi to do these things, Messi should either do them, or if he can't anymore, he should be replaced. I don't mean technical things, but physical things. Which he may not be able to do.
We have not reached that point yet, not because Messi can do these things, but because nobody with balls has addressed these issues. Messi is too powerful because the board don't dare to back anything that goes against Messi. This and the fact the manager we had post Lucho was a complete and helpless coward and a yes man, a puppet in the hands of the veterans. No wonder Messi and Suarez absolutely adored Valverde.
We are already at the point where Messi needs babysitting and sacrificing from the team. That's fine, since we're on the last legs of a 5-10 year old cycle, and we can't do better anyway without Messi. This is basically the last legs of the Guardiola cycle in reality (which is astonishing since we're in the 8th year post Pep), combined with the last legs from the Lucho cycle (Rakitic, Suarez). Valverde's role is nonexistent since most of the players that were brought during him were treated like shit.
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malvolio
Senior Member
as far you and i know, this is pure speculation. but if you just like to peddle this narrative without facts or official information it doesn't make you right.
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