richards30
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 20 May 2009
- Messages
- 25,977
If we had nothing to hide then surely we would have cracked on with the signing? Hmmmmm.....
Well I certainly do.
Well I certainly do.
Pep announced weeks ago that there would be no signings in January (I dont know why were even talking about FDJ)So open to being corrected here...from what I’ve read the FFP probe would be into activity prior to 2014. why would a player’s transfer fee in the summer of 2019 be relevant to that probe? If anything, wouldn’t City be more likely to try to spend big this summer if they thought UEFA was actually going to do anything ( to get players in prior to any potential samctions)?
Well I certainly do.
We'll have to wait until the smoke has cleared to see what the final terms were because while signing a generational talent like FDJ should be the objective of Barca generally speaking, the club does not enter into bidding wars for good reason - particularly when it involves clubs with unlimited finances. The amount, 90 vs 75, doesn't bother me in principle but if the club increased the fee to tip the scales then Barto has gone ahead and done exactly what the club has long never done. The wages, however, there simply may not be any easy way around it in the modern game except for the obvious wage bill issue in the squad. Of course, remains to be seen what the final numbers are, including net wages. Presumably the club will explain this or at least provide us some spin to make it palatable.
I am over the moon to land FDJ but I long believed he would choose the club on equal terms, not dumping cash on his doorstep ala the Qataris whose only achievement in world football thus far is to blow up the transfer market - so in that regards, it's worrying. Maybe not shady worrying like in the original Neymar transfer but financially & philosophically
The good is that this surely spells the end of Rakitic's tenure at Barcelona and hopefully means the end of the Parisian outcast, Rabiot
@Parisian You can spin it any way you like, the reality is that a club has spent nearly 2 billion in 8 years of ownership of a club that has only been around for a handful of decades pales in comparison to OL & OM in terms of history, culture and makeup of French players. The Paris club has effectively only 1 key French player for a club you would have us believe is the most popular in France - a country that is not all too keen on seeing their clubs dominated by non-continental French players much less foreign ones. Paris is a fantastically beautiful & culturally rich city but they are not a football city/club - anyone who has been in Lyon or Marseilles ahead of a match will feel the palpable difference. As I have already said on more than one occasion, players choosing PSG do so for the cash not sporting reasons as there is no sporting history to be drawn to but rather the marketing juggernaut of the Qataris who are flush with cash. All you have to do is appreciate just how difficult it is for players to leave the club once they sign their names in blood - their 8 year history is littered with examples of holding players ransom to their contracts. The only player who was able to leave relatively unscathed was Matuidi who was in the twilight of his career but even he was blocked when wanting to quit the club