Lionel Messi | Joins Inter Miami (pg4111)

[Dribble]

That's such a weird post fella, trying to hypothesize about a formation whilst including players we won't have at our club.

I prefer to look at it much more simplistically by thinking we'd employ a front 3 of Sergio, Leo and Merlin. Personally I wouldn't give 2 fucks what went on behind that as I'd be too busy knocking one out. ;-)

No worries mate, I was just following on from the post I was quoting and that's why I said 'for arguments sake' as that post also quoted players we didn't have, but the point remains the same. I don't think wide right is Messi's best position anymore and neither do I think wide left is Silva's best position. Both of them are strongest as No 10's and we can only have one of thise in are current set up.

Seeing as it would take a bid north of £150m to get Messi who would expect to start and finish every game, if we were to continue to play players in their strongest position what happens to Silva? Effectively he becomes Messi's back up which could/would cause all manner of problems.

Also taking your post ejaculative euphoria of watching Messi, Silva and Sergio into consideration, (Lol) the reality would have to kick in that once the likes of Stoke/MauUre have hoofed the ball past our forwards/midfielders, what would you have to protect us?

Like I said in my post, I'd never thought of it before and I've surprised myself how my thinking has begun to change once I've truly considered the impact a Messi transfer to us would have. I've just read a surprising statistic on 442, whereby they've aggregated the the likes/dislike percentages for fans if a certain players were linked to their club and strangely enough Messi came in around the mid-60% mark for both City and Chelsea fans well behind players like Pogba, Barkley, Isco and Draxler who were all up in the 70's.

With a front 3 of Sergio, Merlin and Leo, I don't think you'd worry too heavily about width - that would be left to the fullbacks. Hence you'd employ a 3 man central midfield and pretty much adopt the Barca formation, one as an anchor and two pulling the strings.

That's the thing though, whilst its not dead by any means, Bayern, Real and Chelsea have shown that there are ways to circumnavigate tiki taka possession based football and the use of a false number 9. Sit back in a defensive formation, soak up the pressure then hit them on the break down the wings. Every style of play has its day and whilst I love tiki taka, like all styles it needs to evolve with the times.

With the formation of Messi, Aguero and Silva as a front three, who would protect the full backs? I've always thought both our left backs suffer when Nasri or especially Silva play on the left. This is brought into sharp contrast when Jimmy plays on the left and offers the overlapping full back protection.

 

[Dickydunne]

How could we afford a deal like this with FFP ? I believe it is possible, but would it be practical financially?

 

[Stuuuuuu]

How could we afford a deal like this with FFP ? I believe it is possible, but would it be practical financially?

Isn't his buyout fee something like £125M? Yes, it's a lot of money. But him being at the club will bring in more than that in revenue through sponsorship deals and merchandising.

 

[bluechampion7891]

Arsenal met Suarez's BOC and the Dippers still told them to fuck off.......

There's a difference between a release clause like Suarez had, which was meaningless, and a Spanish buy-out clause. The latter has a legal basis which means if it's met, the player can walk away.

They are exactly the same a buy out clause in a contract simply means if someone bids that amount then the club have to alow the player to talk to that club and leave if they wish. Suarez turned down arsenal because Gerard told him arsenal wasn't big enough for him and if he waited a year he would go to barca or real. Anji activated messi's buyout a few years back and he refused to talk to them, a buyout clause just takes any power away from the club who own the player.

no. buy out clauses allow the player to buy his contract from the club, essentially becoming a free agent. typically this doesnt happen as the clubs agree to sell the player at the value of the buy out clause but it cannot be triggered externally. if an agreeable fee is not reached what would then have to be done is that the buying club provides money to the player and he then buys his clause out (which may or may not be suubject to taxes). Bayern munich did the former (that is buying at the value of the buy out clause) with Javi martinez (after a legal "battle"), whereas united appear to have done the latter with Ander Herrera

on the other hand, release clauses allow clubs to externally trigger it. we will see this with Marco Reus (probably). if a buying club meets this value, the selling club has no choice and its up to the player to hold talks. Luis Suarez's "release clause" that arsenal tried to trigger was different. I do no know the exact details but its speculated that it was not legally binding (probably drafted in that way)

 

[bluemoon27]

he aint moving bout time the matter was left alone

 

[g180aj]

There's a difference between a release clause like Suarez had, which was meaningless, and a Spanish buy-out clause. The latter has a legal basis which means if it's met, the player can walk away.

They are exactly the same a buy out clause in a contract simply means if someone bids that amount then the club have to alow the player to talk to that club and leave if they wish. Suarez turned down arsenal because Gerard told him arsenal wasn't big enough for him and if he waited a year he would go to barca or real. Anji activated messi's buyout a few years back and he refused to talk to them, a buyout clause just takes any power away from the club who own the player.

no. buy out clauses allow the player to buy his contract from the club, essentially becoming a free agent. typically this doesnt happen as the clubs agree to sell the player at the value of the buy out clause but it cannot be triggered externally. if an agreeable fee is not reached what would then have to be done is that the buying club provides money to the player and he then buys his clause out (which may or may not be suubject to taxes). Bayern munich did the former (that is buying at the value of the buy out clause) with Javi martinez (after a legal "battle"), whereas united appear to have done the latter with Ander Herrera

on the other hand, release clauses allow clubs to externally trigger it. we will see this with Marco Reus (probably). if a buying club meets this value, the selling club has no choice and its up to the player to hold talks. Luis Suarez's "release clause" that arsenal tried to trigger was different. I do no know the exact details but its speculated that it was not legally binding (probably drafted in that way)

what I said about suarez is how im told he explained it in his own book.

 

[abu13]

A great player, possibly the finest footballer in history however i think it would be wrong to sign him.

He is coming up to 28 now, realistically we may get 3 good years from him, for the money involved it is simply too much for the 3 years. If he was 26 then i would agree that we should go balls deep for him.

I know he would raise our profile and it would be an enormous statement of intent but i think the money would be better spent getting 3 top draw players.

 

[BoundedCascade]

he aint moving bout time the matter was left alone

As soon as Lucho or whatever the hell they call him is gone then Messi will be right as rain again and get another contract extension, which is really just a way to get more money into his pockets via signing bonus.

I would love to have him but it just isn't going to happen.

 

[City_Sean]

IMO signing Messi would guarentee us NOT to fail FFP, could you see Uefa kicking us out of europe if we had Messi, I couldnt. Sponsors would pull out if Messi wasnt on show.

 

[Dribble]

Messi's back on the right for Barca against Athletico and he tearing the arse out of their defence........

 

[Ric]

Pretty strong words from Messi tonight:

@barcastuff: Messi: "I don't plan to leave, everything that has been said is false. About relation with coach, about Chelsea, about City..." #fcblive

@barcastuff: Messi: "I didn't put any conditions to stay, because I don't plan to leave. I'm happy here." #fcblive

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Pretty strong words from Messi tonight:

@barcastuff: Messi: "I don't plan to leave, everything that has been said is false. About relation with coach, about Chelsea, about City..." #fcblive

@barcastuff: Messi: "I didn't put any conditions to stay, because I don't plan to leave. I'm happy here." #fcblive

It's virtually a done deal then, reading between the lines.

 

[TonyM]

Pretty strong words from Messi tonight:

@barcastuff: Messi: "I don't plan to leave, everything that has been said is false. About relation with coach, about Chelsea, about City..." #fcblive

@barcastuff: Messi: "I didn't put any conditions to stay, because I don't plan to leave. I'm happy here." #fcblive

Sounds like a challenge.

 

[squirtyflower]

Pretty strong words from Messi tonight:

@barcastuff: Messi: "I don't plan to leave, everything that has been said is false. About relation with coach, about Chelsea, about City..." #fcblive

@barcastuff: Messi: "I didn't put any conditions to stay, because I don't plan to leave. I'm happy here." #fcblive

Would you say anything different?

Especially if you want your loyalty bonus

 

[BobKowalski]

Pretty strong words from Messi tonight:

@barcastuff: Messi: "I don't plan to leave, everything that has been said is false. About relation with coach, about Chelsea, about City..." #fcblive

@barcastuff: Messi: "I didn't put any conditions to stay, because I don't plan to leave. I'm happy here." #fcblive

Got what he wants then. Might as well hand him the keys to the club and let him get on with it.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Pretty strong words from Messi tonight:

@barcastuff: Messi: "I don't plan to leave, everything that has been said is false. About relation with coach, about Chelsea, about City..." #fcblive

@barcastuff: Messi: "I didn't put any conditions to stay, because I don't plan to leave. I'm happy here." #fcblive

*sniff, sniff*

 

[bluwes]

Pretty strong words from Messi tonight:

@barcastuff: Messi: "I don't plan to leave, everything that has been said is false. About relation with coach, about Chelsea, about City..." #fcblive

@barcastuff: Messi: "I didn't put any conditions to stay, because I don't plan to leave. I'm happy here." #fcblive

*sniff, sniff*

What ? you think Ric's a Rag. Ultimate deep cover.

 

[Ric]

Only messing. I think it's patently obvious he'll be a City player next season.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Pretty strong words from Messi tonight:

@barcastuff: Messi: "I don't plan to leave, everything that has been said is false. About relation with coach, about Chelsea, about City..." #fcblive

@barcastuff: Messi: "I didn't put any conditions to stay, because I don't plan to leave. I'm happy here." #fcblive

*sniff, sniff*

What ? you think Ric's a Rag. Ultimate deep cover.

Trust no-one, wes.



Apart from me.

 

[sam-caddick]

Interesting quotes from Messi, but I expected nothing less really, he needed to get the media to take away some of the bad press hanging over Barcelona by killing any potential sale speculation and unease with Enrique.

Let's see how Barcelona's elections go and the rest of the season pans out, they could go two seasons without a trophy if they win nothing this season, Messi could likely look at the potential for next season if that happens.