Borussia Dortmund

[Horatio]

It is a sad reality but this is not new, right? After all year after year BVB sold their some of the best players to clubs such as RM, Bayern, ManU and now us for the first time so this is not new.

This transfer happened in an embarrassing way. Nice of you to show sympathy towards Emma but let's do it without the excuses.
When Real does it, they're despicable but when we do it we turn completely apologetic. We snatched their starplayer right before the end of the transfer window made possible because of Dembele's silly strike. Not sure if there is prescedence for that looking at previous BVB transfers.

 

[Yannik]

No hard feelings Emma, it was simply a matter of time since Dembele clearly expressed that he wanted to join us at some point and the fact that BVB made potentially 110m (excluding the 20m fees paid to Rennes) out of him that was a more than great deal for BVB. Plus, he didn't leave with a big hole for BVB to fill, they have Pulisic who is more than capable and Mor who is coming to age on the right side for them.

Dortmund wants to sell Mor for like €10-15m. Pulisic could fill the void, but I he was benched by Dembélé. If you sell your starter and then use your bench player, then that's getting worse on paper and I don't think (and hope) that BVB will do that. However, they'll look onto the market to sign a replacement, then find out they're cursed.

 

[Emma]

It is a sad reality but this is not new, right? After all year after year BVB sold their some of the best players to clubs such as RM, Bayern, ManU and now us for the first time so this is not new.

Because it's nothing new, it's no funny, being a BVB-Fan yet. Always have to look how other clubs reap the fruits of your work -
so my suggestion to BVB is serious: to set up a Bank like "Deutsche Bank" with all the Money they have now.

 

[Luftstalag14]

This transfer happened in an embarrassing way. Nice of you to show sympathy towards Emma but let's do it without the excuses.
When Real does it, they're despicable but when we do it we turn completely apologetic. We snatched their starplayer right before the end of the transfer window made possible because of Dembele's silly strike. Not sure if there is prescedence for that looking at previous BVB transfers.

I actually don't have any issue with how RM took Sahin, he wanted to go and BVB let him do it.

I am not proud of how Dembele handled this transfer at all and I wish he could have handled it better and more professionally but I don't see that we did anything inappropriate by relentlessly pursuing him. Of course, if there is evidence showing us explicitly or implicitly telling Dembele to do what he did, it would be a totally different story.

 

[raki]

Congratulation! I note that Barca is completely unpretentious in terms of the character of their players They commit a boy who has forced through impossible behavior his farewell. - Great number, Barca.

Barca has lost my respect, sorry, once the club was my second favorite.

We will miss you. You can go sell players to Bayern for free....

 

[Luftstalag14]

Because it's nothing new, it's no funny, being a BVB-Fan yet. Always have to look how other clubs reap the fruits of your work -
so my suggestion to BVB is serious: to set up a Bank like "Deutsche Bank" with all the Money they have now.

BVB aspires to be a club that players join because they want to play for BVB, not a club used as a springboard for something greater as had happened so many times already. Hopefully with this huge sum of money BVB can buy quality players or promise higher and competitive wages and translate everything into success on and off the field, expand your influence and fanbase, and eventually turn into a club that stands alongside the like of Bayern, Rm, Barca etc. I think that day is not that far away.

 

[Yannik]

I am not proud of how Dembele handled this transfer at all and I wish he could have handled it better and more professionally but I don't see that we did anything inappropriate by relentlessly pursuing him. Of course, if there is evidence showing us explicitly or implicitly telling Dembele to do what he did, it would be a totally different story.

Well Barca is innocent until proven, and even if it was actually the case then I'd imagine it to be pretty difficult to actually proof that. But let's drop the evidences here for a second and put our tinfoil hats on. Honest question: Would you, as a Barca fan yourself, personally believe (or at least consider it likely) that Barca might have had something to do with Dembélés behaviour?

 

[Luftstalag14]

Well Barca is innocent until proven, and even if it was actually the case then I'd imagine it to be pretty difficult to actually proof that. But let's drop the evidences here for a second and put our tinfoil hats on. Honest question: Would you, as a Barca fan yourself, personally believe (or at least consider it likely) that Barca might have had something to do with Dembélés behaviour?

Yannik my friend, I honestly don't know. Perhaps one detects a pattern from THIS window from all three Barca targets, i.e. Verratti, Coutinho and Dembele and draws the conclusion that it must have been us directing them to do what they did. Sure, sounds plausible but again I don't have the evidence to definteitely say that we were behind it. I mean, for example people say Dembele did something similar in order to join Rennes(? Not sure as I don't know the story), so maybe it was truly Dembele himself that was behind the moves? In the past did we have similar issues? That players linked with us threw a fit to transfer out? I don't know enough to say. Perhaps it is our new guy Pep Segura who brought this over?

To me, simply too many unanswered questions to say we are truly behind this. So honestly Yannik, I don't know. Certainly plausible.

 

[Emma]

Well Barca is innocent until proven, and even if it was actually the case then I'd imagine it to be pretty difficult to actually proof that. But let's drop the evidences here for a second and put our tinfoil hats on. Honest question: Would you, as a Barca fan yourself, personally believe (or at least consider it likely) that Barca might have had something to do with Dembélés behaviour?

I could't swear that. certain is, that Barca submitted a first bid on a Thursday - BVB has rejected. A day later, Dembele began his strike.

Doesn't mean that Barca was the instigator, but it could be.

 

[Yannik]

Yannik my friend, I honestly don't know. Perhaps one detects a pattern from THIS window from all three Barca targets, i.e. Verratti, Coutinho and Dembele and draws the conclusion that it must have been us directing them to do what they did. Sure, sounds plausible but again I don't have the evidence to definteitely say that we were behind it. I mean, for example people say Dembele did something similar in order to join Rennes(? Not sure as I don't know the story), so maybe it was truly Dembele himself that was behind the moves? In the past did we have similar issues? That players linked with us threw a fit to transfer out? I don't know enough to say. Perhaps it is our new guy Pep Segura who brought this over?

To me, simply too many unanswered questions to say we are truly behind this. So honestly Yannik, I don't know. Certainly plausible.

Thanks for your honesty. I see it the same way. Dembélé threw hissy fits before so there's a legitimate reason to think he just does that stuff, but of course there's a pattern here. And all these came after there was a media report about a supposed meeting. In Dembélés case (and Coutinhos) it all started with that delegation that flew to Dortmund, then to Liverpool. In Verrattis case there was a supposed meeting during Holidays in a restaurant in Ibiza. 2-3 days after all these media reports the players revolted. A similat thing happened once to Cesc.

It's.. well.. all very suspicious. I don't feel comfortable accusing them off anything, because there's no proof and I'm a sane guy that doesn't conclude randomly on pure speculation. But I do kinda believe it.

But if true, Barca would definitely not be the only big club to pull that off. I feel like Liverpool does the same. And many more. Barca is probably just doing it the most obvious.

 

[Emma]

BVB aspires to be a club that players join because they want to play for BVB, not a club used as a springboard for something greater as had happened so many times already. Hopefully with this huge sum of money BVB can buy quality players or promise higher and competitive wages and translate everything into success on and off the field, expand your influence and fanbase, and eventually turn into a club that stands alongside the like of Bayern, Rm, Barca etc. I think that day is not that far away.

Your word in God's ear - I am not so optimistic. I have the impression that Kids like Ous only come to Dortmund, if they are promised to let them move to Real, Bayern, Barca, PSG, ManCity, ManU, Liverpool, Tottenham when ever they want.

 

[Alik]

Your word in God's ear - I am not so optimistic. I have the impression that Kids like Ous only come to Dortmund, if they are promised to let them move to Real, Bayern, Barca, PSG, ManCity, ManU, Liverpool, Tottenham when ever they want.

I think the only way to break out of that cycle is to win trophies whilst those players are still in the team. Of course that's easier said than done.

 

[Ode to Django]

Congratulation! I note that Barca is completely unpretentious in terms of the character of their players They commit a boy who has forced through impossible behavior his farewell. - Great number, Barca.

Barca has lost my respect, sorry, once the club was my second favorite.

 

[Horatio]

Thanks for your honesty. I see it the same way. Dembélé threw hissy fits before so there's a legitimate reason to think he just does that stuff, but of course there's a pattern here. And all these came after there was a media report about a supposed meeting. In Dembélés case (and Coutinhos) it all started with that delegation that flew to Dortmund, then to Liverpool. In Verrattis case there was a supposed meeting during Holidays in a restaurant in Ibiza. 2-3 days after all these media reports the players revolted. A similat thing happened once to Cesc.

It's.. well.. all very suspicious. I don't feel comfortable accusing them off anything, because there's no proof and I'm a sane guy that doesn't conclude randomly on pure speculation. But I do kinda believe it.

But if true, Barca would definitely not be the only big club to pull that off. I feel like Liverpool does the same. And many more. Barca is probably just doing it the most obvious.

At this point I am 50/50 on the possibility. But here some thoughts to address some points in your post.

This might be a case of anchoring bias, but you already kind of addressed that in your last sentence.

Barcelona has a huge pull factor for a lot players. Dembele in this case knows if the transfer happens he won't end up on the bench so he knows this would be a great move for him.
The same goes for Coutinho and Verratti, given the current situation of Barcelona. Also consider that Dembele is risking being called up by the national team. Not sure if Barca could make Dembele do so.

Also think about it this way: if Barca can convince a player to go on a strike or revolt, does Barca really need to tell that player to do so? Maybe that's in that players' nature.

Also I don't know what the example of players revolting in Verratti's case proves though. Couldn't they simply be pissed because Verratti was adamant about wanting to leave and them knowing he's really important to them and feeling abandoned?

 

[Icarium]

There is not proof to accuse barca for Dembele, Coutinho and Verratti behaviour. But barca are known for tapping up players just like any other club. We are no different from others, the circumstances make us look worse for now. Having a corrupt board who surround themselves with lies and conspiracies doesn't help. I feel bad for Dortmund but they did get the money they initially demanded. They valued him at 150M and they got it.