Lionel Messi | Joins Inter Miami (pg4111)

[decmancity]

Only on bluemoon would people be debating positives and negatives about signing the greatest player of all time. Fck me.

 

[ADegenerate]

Except, it's a billion dollar football club, and not a woman being beaten up, so it's not really like that at all. A multi millionaire getting more money out of a billionaire club is not quite the same as hitting a woman is it? Bit harsh and not a fair moral comparison. I get your metaphor in a way, but its worth remembering that Messi probs has little sympathy for Barcelona's finances, and in all truth, why should he? He probably can't stand the current chairmen and leadership team too. Doesn't mean he doesn't love the city, the fans, what the club means to him, the staff who he works with on a day to day basis etc. The club will still be ridiculously rich and win trophies long after he's gone. They'll clear that debt and get money off the state or sumat like they always have. Also, he's Lionel fucking Messi. If I was possibly the greatest ever in my job you're damn right i'd use my position to make sure the situation unfolded how I wanted it to if I could.

The only problem is that of precedence. It’s never ending turmoil with Messi. He’s laid his bed and now he has to lie in it. Nev’s metaphor was dramatic, but also apropos. Would you want Kev signing continuous never ending massive pay raises on one deal years every season? Barca’s in shambles. It’s not just messi you have to worry about every season but transfers, unhappy players, managers, the board, etc. Absolutely toxic.

edit: basically said the same things while I was posting. Cheers pal. I’d have him in a heart beat but it doesn’t come without contingencies.

 

[OccupiedPalestineBlues]

Only on bluemoon would people be debating positives and negatives about signing the greatest player of all time. Fck me.

I don’t think the point of debate is that he is or isn’t the worlds best player (albeit on the wane), the point of debate is whether having him would improve us or destroy our wage structure, our team play dynamic and reduce our output.

Messi is still brilliant as an individual player but all play goes through him, or else, and that diminishes what Barca are as a team.
Barca play in a weaker league than we do, but the Messi effect is that they score less than us and concede more than we do.
Last season Barca scored 86 and conceded 38 league goals & we scored 102 and conceded 35 in a tougher league.
This is because Messi isn’t a team player. He reduces overall offensive performance because the fantastic players around him are required to play for him, rather than the team, and he reduces defensive performance because he doesn’t defend (mostly walks around in the middle of the opposition half nowadays). Their attack is blunted and they play with 10 men whenever they don’t have the ball.
Yes he’s individually brilliant, get the whole team working for Messi and he’ll score 30 wonderful league goals but we’ll score less overall as a team.
The point is that he’d cost a fortune and cause more harm than good.
I keep hearing all this “don’t think about it, pay whatever, he’s the goat” stuff and those saying that have clearly taken their own advice and not thought about it.
I say, do think it through and be very careful what you wish for.

 

[decmancity]

I don’t think the point of debate is that he is or isn’t the worlds best player (albeit on the wane), the point of debate is whether having him would improve us or destroy our wage structure, our team play dynamic and reduce our output.

Messi is still brilliant as an individual player but all play goes through him, or else, and that diminishes what Barca are as a team.
Barca play in a weaker league than we do, but the Messi effect is that they score less than us and concede more than we do.
Last season Barca scored 86 and conceded 38 league goals & we scored 102 and conceded 35 in a tougher league.
This is because Messi isn’t a team player. He reduces overall offensive performance because the fantastic players around him are required to play for him, rather than the team, and he reduces defensive performance because he doesn’t defend (mostly walks around in the middle of the opposition half nowadays). Their attack is blunted and they play with 10 men whenever they don’t have the ball.
Yes he’s individually brilliant, get the whole team working for Messi and he’ll score 30 wonderful league goals but we’ll score less overall as a team.
The point is that he’d cost a fortune and cause more harm than good.
I keep hearing all this “don’t think about it, pay whatever, he’s the goat” stuff and those saying that have clearly taken their own advice and not thought about it.
I say, do think it through and be very careful what you wish for.

In what world does he not improve us? we have been embarassed the last 4 years in the CL for starters. He is a guaranteed success.

As for wage structure, I really don't get this point. Yes, he will be on big wages, he is the best player ever. Do we think hes going to come in at 100k and then maybe get a bigger one if he proves himself?

If a single player in our current squad could muster the courage to go and knock on Pep's door and say I want parity with Messi then we have a much bigger problem.

 

[domalino]

Just the 90 mil py then.

And keeps threatening to leave, to get more, but loves them.

How much do you think he brings in? It's way more. £20m of the £90m is his slice of image rights.

The key point is that he's not eating up their wage budget and hurting the team around him because of it, they should have the best squad in Europe without Messi going off the wage bill and transfer spend.

 

[ADegenerate]

In what world does he not improve us? we have been embarassed the last 4 years in the CL for starters. He is a guaranteed success.

As for wage structure, I really don't get this point. Yes, he will be on big wages, he is the best player ever. Do we think hes going to come in at 100k and then maybe get a bigger one if he proves himself?

If a single player in our current squad could muster the courage to go and knock on Pep's door and say I want parity with Messi then we have a much bigger problem.

I think the general point of this debate isn’t about wages, wage structure, him improving us, will be track back etc...

It’s more about long term ramifications for his legacy, the clubs legacy, peps legacy, etc. If we pull the trigger everything is on the line on literally one or two seasons. You’re basically risking it all for something that isn’t a lock while looking INCREDIBLY foolish (Ronaldo x10) if it doesn’t come off perfectly and the probability is that it won’t in a footballing sense.

I don’t give two Fucks about football twitter or the media but I also don’t necessarily want to risk even more scrutiny while getting no respect if we win. Perfect example of a rock and a hard place, yeah?

@domalino thoughts?

 

[Carlos- the- jackal]

We can all debate the rights or wrongs of signing Messi but one thing is nailed on, if he indicates he will join us we will be in like a rat up a drainpipe, it lifts us to the most high profile club in the world, the worlds sporting media and every armchair fan will decend upon us, whether you think that’s a good thing or not is up for debate, personally i would love to see Messi in the blue shirt.

 

[Neville Kneville]

How much do you think he brings in? It's way more. £20m of the £90m is his slice of image rights.

Can you explain how him pretending he is leaving, every few years, then getting a pay rise, is done for love of the club ?

If Van Dijk does it next season & signs up, & Liverpool sell it as 'love' as in 'this means more' what will our reaction be, when we stop laughing ?

Barca get away with this bullshit all the time.

Messi has had them by the balls, for years

 

[ADegenerate]

Can you explain how him pretending he is leaving, every few years, then getting a pay rise, is done for love of the club ?

If Van Dijk does it next season & signs up, & Liverpool sell it as 'love' as in 'this means more' what will our reaction be, when we stop laughing ?

Barca get away with this bullshit all the time.

Messi has had them by the balls, for years

Have to agree. There’s way too much for him to risk moving when he’s already considered the GOAT by pretty much everyone. His legacy is complete. He’s got nothing else to fight for except his perpetual pay rise.

I don’t think he’s got the balls to come the premier league.

 

[RayCTID]

Runners up in la liga, quarter finals of the CL is a shitshow? What terms did you use to describe our seasons under Ball and Clarke?

Team and squad divisions in the team should be factored in. We had already had a taster with the whole Balotelli scenario (with an added bonus of his agent).

 

[sir baconface]

According to a lot of people on here Lionel Messi isn't good enough for City. A strange opinion in itself but I reckon everyone of us would be absolutely gutted and green with envy if he signed for the Rags or Dippers

Name one. Plenty have said he brings more issues than he solves. However, there are more posters with comprehension difficulties or shit eyesight than posters who don‘t think he’s good enough.

 

[RayCTID]

Messi has never carried Barcelona, he's been the jewel in their crown. They simply don't have the team behind him any more. When you compare the team to any of theirs in recent history it absolutely pales in comparison.

We don't have the team either

 

[domalino]

Can you explain how him pretending he is leaving, every few years, then getting a pay rise, is done for love of the club ?

If Van Dijk does it next season & signs up, & Liverpool sell it as 'love' as in 'this means more' what will our reaction be, when we stop laughing ?

Barca get away with this bullshit all the time.

Messi has had them by the balls, for years

I think you're doing a disservice to simply say he "pretends" he's leaving. I believe TH and others have said we were genuinely close in 2016, and the word out of Barcelona is that he's serious this time.

You have to look at it from his perspective where he wants to be a one club man, stay at Barcelona forever, outside a little trip to Newell's Old Boys when he's nearly 40, and win everything and establish his legacy as the best.

But on the other side of that, he's gone 5 years without a CL. The club has wasted his best years, the president has taken the club to the edge of financial ruin. They've brought in progressively worse coaches, they've spent insane amounts of money on increasingly failing transfers who only play their best money in his position, and now they've even sold off a young player, Artur, to avoid paying personal financial penalties because of their financial mismanagement.

Christ, the board secretly hired a social media company to lead attacks on Messi and his wife, and Xavi and Pep, because the board felt he had too much power. Just think through how insane that is!

They should never have lost the league this season, or the Copa del Rey last season, and there's only so much Messi can do when the defence behind him lets in 4 goals at Anfield, 3 goals in Rome. Messi was incredible in the Anfield match, and the players around him just crumbled.

He is genuinely torn, and they have convinced him the last couple of times he's thought about moving, with promises of a change of direction etc. but it never happens. And that's reflected in the last contract he signed in 2017 where he negotiated the clause where he can walk away for free.

If he stays this time, just like last time, it doesn't mean he wasn't serious about leaving, it just means a 50/50 decision came down the wrong way.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Have to agree. There’s way too much for him to risk moving when he’s already considered the GOAT by pretty much everyone. His legacy is complete. He’s got nothing else to fight for except his perpetual pay rise.

I don’t think he’s got the balls to come the premier league.

I don't, he wants to be 'the' one imo & has seen how difficult that is in international football.

He paid his debt for his 'love' of Barca & could have left several years ago, if he had any balls to do so.

Instead, he screwed more money out of them & stayed.

If he does leave now, it will be simply because he thinks they are so shite, he can't play at his level anymore & has no real choice other than go, retire, or sink.

It won't be down to his 'love' of Barca if he stays.

 

[Neville Kneville]

I think you're doing a disservice to simply say he "pretends" he's leaving. I believe TH and others have said we were genuinely close in 2016, and the word out of Barcelona is that he's serious this time.

You have to look at it from his perspective where he wants to be a one club man, stay at Barcelona forever, outside a little trip to Newell's Old Boys when he's nearly 40, and win everything and establish his legacy as the best.

But on the other side of that, he's gone 5 years without a CL. The club has wasted his best years, the president has taken the club to the edge of financial ruin. They've brought in progressively worse coaches, they've spent insane amounts of money on increasingly failing transfers who only play their best money in his position, and now they've even sold off a young player, Artur, to avoid paying personal financial penalties because of their financial mismanagement.

Christ, the board secretly hired a social media company to lead attacks on Messi and his wife, and Xavi and Pep, because the board felt he had too much power. Just think through how insane that is!

They should never have lost the league this season, or the Copa del Rey last season, and there's only so much Messi can do when the defence behind him lets in 4 goals at Anfield, 3 goals in Rome. Messi was incredible in the Anfield match, and the players around him just crumbled.

He is genuinely torn, and they have convinced him the last couple of times he's thought about moving, with promises of a change of direction etc. but it never happens. And that's reflected in the last contract he signed in 2017 where he negotiated the clause where he can walk away for free.

I agree he will be 'torn' but I don't agree on the reasons he's 'torn'.

It's all about him, imo, not because of 'love'.

He won't have the same power anywhere else.

 

[decmancity]

I think we will see a 'new' Messi if he joined us, fresh start. He won't be expected to deal with all the internal politics and even international 'Catalan independency etc' politics. He just has to turn up and play football, he will be with his best mate Sergio in what could be his last season and back with his favourite manager.

 

[domalino]

I agree he will be 'torn' but I don't agree on the reasons he's 'torn'.

It's all about him, imo, not because of 'love'.

He won't have the same power anywhere else.

I don't think he gives a shit about power. If he did, he could get the entire board sacked tomorrow by just going public with criticisms of the things they've done to him, his family and the players. He could simply make an ultimatum publicly or privately, him vs. the board, and they'd all be gone by tomorrow morning.

If he cared about power, Dani Alves wouldn't have been pushed out, Setien wouldn't have been hired, Koeman wouldn't be the new coach, Suarez wouldn't be on the way out.

 

[sir baconface]

Only on bluemoon would people be debating positives and negatives about signing the greatest player of all time. Fck me.

If it was incontestable, they’d be no fcukin debate.

 

[Neville Kneville]

I don't think he gives a shit about power. If he did, he could get the entire board sacked tomorrow by just going public with criticisms of the things they've done to him, his family and the players. He could simply make an ultimatum publicly or privately, him vs. the board, and they'd all be gone by tomorrow morning.

If he cared about power, Dani Alves wouldn't have been pushed out, Setien wouldn't have been hired, Koeman wouldn't be the new coach, Suarez wouldn't be on the way out.

I'm sure he does. And I'm sure he'd fuck off, if they signed Ronaldo.

 

[ADegenerate]

I don't, he wants to be 'the' one imo & has seen how difficult that is in international football.

He paid his debt for his 'love' of Barca & could have left several years ago, if he had any balls to do so.

Instead, he screwed more money out of them & stayed.

If he does leave now, it will be simply because he thinks they are so shite, he can't play at his level anymore & has no real choice other than go, retire, or sink.

It won't be down to his 'love' of Barca if he stays.

Like all of us, i’m not completely sure. I think we’re all close to the same POV minus a few personal deviations of where his headspace is at.

I partly agree with you, @domalino, @twosips, and genuinely most posters in this thread. What do you do when you’re the GOAT, but haven’t done it internationally? I think a move to the premier league completely cements that. The easy route is to stay at barca with an easy end to your career while risking nothing and maybe fighting for one more league title and a CL or completely risk embarrassment and coming to City.

That’s the real risk and I don’t think he has the disposition to do it personally.