Bogarde ended his Chelsea career with more honour than Messi

Editor F365

Keep your mails on Messi and much more coming to theeditor@football365.com…

 

Barcelona Wars: The Messi Saga
Barcelona are going to dominate the mailbox for the next few days and with good reason, how did they let themselves get into this situation, the financial debt, their greatest ever star leaving on a free, dreadful transfer deals and much more, then the talk of where will Lionel Messi play his football ahead of the new season? PSG, Manchester City or head back to Argentina, a few options and how will it impact the FFP rules?

I am going to take a surprising view on this and suggest none of those options will come to pass, he will remain at Barcelona and this is why, last night at the same time Lionel Messi is confirmed to be leaving Catalonia and La Liga a statement is put out by rivals Real Madrid, Madrid’s statement was about the CVC fund deal with La Liga, the statement read:

“This agreement was made without the participation of Real Madrid and without their knowledge and LaLiga has allowed for the first time today that we have limited access to the terms of the agreement, The clubs have assigned the audiovisual rights exclusively for their commercialization in competition and for a period of 3 years. This agreement, using a deceptive structure, expropriates from the clubs 10.95% of their audiovisual rights for 50 years and against the law, The negotiation has been done without a competitive process and the economic conditions agreed with the CVC fund give it returns of more than 20% per year. It is this same opportunistic fund that unsuccessfully tried similar deals with the Italian and German leagues.”

Real Madrid have not been alone here either as Barcelona also dont wish to sign off the La Liga deal with CVC as it would all but end their ambition of creating a European Super League, La Liga like the majority of fans want this concept dead and buried but certain club owner do not want that to occur at all, last night Barcelona were quite clear in their own Lionel Messi Departure statement, they had agreed a deal with Lionel to remain at the club and he was more than happy to sign the deal but La Liga said no due to their financial rules, it certainly feels to me that this is a huge power play between Barcelona against La Liga, who will back down first?

Personally i actually feel La Liga might just back down because Lionel Messi is their league’s most marketable asset especially since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, when you ask any football fan or even non fan to name a footballer they often say Messi, ask them to name a footballer that plays in Spain and they will again likely name Lionel Messi, if he leaves then who is the next big marketable asset for the league that can take his place?

Barcelona have made a ballsy move here if my interpretation is correct, the question is will the ballsy move pay off in a big way or leave them and La Liga infertile.
Mikey, CFC

Messi/Barcelona nuclear option and Kane
Never mind Kane hitting the nuclear button, as many on here and other places are saying, I think it’s Barca who have gone truly nuke crazy. I think this is the final attempt at getting players out. Imagine the abuse people like Coutinho and Umtiti will be getting right now! I still think Messi will stay at Barca. Along with the above players, and more, being forced out, La Liga must also be squirming as Messi is effectively the only remaining superstar in Spain. And on the same day they announce private equity investment too. This one isn’t over.

It’s an interesting one in relation to the Kane story. No matter how it’s painted, Kane stayed away from Spurs without authorisation. But big deal in comparison to Messi and Barca. Grealish being given the No 10 shirt shows Messi won’t be moving to City – Pep will have known about the Barca situation ages in advance of the announcement, so the Kane move is still on.

But there’s another interesting angle here for me. Refs are going to be using VAR to look for whether players are playing for penalties. Along with Vardy, Kane is number 1 at doing this – he deliberately stops his run leaving defenders nowhere to go but into him. When refs start overturning those pens, that’ll likely have an impact on his all round game outside the box too, as they’ll stop flagging for free kicks as well. Are City willing to splurge £150m on someone who will in effect need to adapt his game in the coming season? Is Kane still the league’s best striker if he can’t win those cheap free kicks and pens?

City must have a plan B in case the Kane move doesn’t happen. Where I Pep, I would probably wait a year to see the impact the reffing has on Kane before spending such big bucks.

Yours
Michael, LFC

 

The obvious solution for Messi is to sign for…
If I’ve understood it correctly, Barcelona want to keep Messi and Messi wants to stay at Barcelona.  They just can’t register him *at the moment*.

Talk of him signing for your middling premier league club on a 2 or 3 year contract is definitely a bit giddy. My guess, he’ll sign a 6 or 12 month contract somewhere, and then back to Barca he goes.

The question then is where he spends that 6-12 month playing time. The club signing him will know he’d rather be somewhere else and would need to accept that. He may want to ensure he doesn’t have to play against Barcelona.

The simple answer here is that he signs for Colchester United. All of our players would rather be playing for someone else, we never play Barca in the Champions League and he could well be the catalyst to kick us on from 12th to 9th in league 2 – plus there’s an attacking mid slot there now that Poku has been sold to Peterborough.

It’s the obvious next step for him if you don’t think about it.
Jeremy Aves

Mercenary Messi
Messi has quit Barcelona.

– Not on principle, after the “broken gentleman’s agreement”

– Not because of their years long mismanagement

– Not because of their mistreatment of ‘dear friends’ like Suarez

He quits because they couldn’t sell enough of his team mates to pay him to stay at the club he ‘loves’.

Honestly, this feels shockingly despicable and ‘mask off’.

He’s a 34 year old megarich man who – even in retirement – will still earn £10s of millions every year until he dies.

-He wanted out 12 months ago? Understandable

-He quits as soon as his contract runs out this season? Understandable

-He agrees new Barca contract so long as they cripple themselves selling younger talent to pay his wages? Eh…

-He finally quits because Barca can’t sell enough of his team-mates to give him what he demands? LOL

Seriously, Winston Bogarde ended his Chelsea career with greater professionalism, honesty and honour.
Calum, Scotland

P.S. Sorry for going all bullet points, but I end up screaming “LETISSIERSHEARERBULLBUFFON!!!” when I try to elaborate on what an utter fraud Lionel is.

 

Barcelona and Messi’s situation reminds me of when I was prevented from marrying Scarlett Johansson due to ‘facial and body’ obstacles. Totally beyond my control..
Martin, LFC

 

More than the club…
If Messi does leave Barca (and I still don’t think it will come to that) then Barca are knackered on and off the pitch. Their team is a shadow of the legendary tika-taka team, and without the footballing genius and commercial pull of Messi, Barca, and even Real Madrid and La Liga as a whole will economically decline.

It won’t happen. La Liga will cave/negotiate otherwise. It’s in nobody’s interest to anyone in Spain to let him leave.
Graeme, Glasgow

Messi to Spurs
Love all the spud fans saying “sell Kane and use the money to pay Messi’s wages” I know that most are tongue in cheek, but let’s be honest, Messi will take one look at Tottenham and “nah, stuff that” or whatever the Argentinian equivalent is.
Andrew goonerabroad Brown

 

Messi to Juventus
Two GOATS + Haaland

I’ve been enjoying the “Messi to Villa” etc joke mails but have a question for the mailbox: wouldn’t you like to see him go to Juventus and play with Ronaldo? Some people say it’d be a train smash, having two big egos in the same team. For me, I’d love it, even if it’s just to see if they’re correct. But there’s also the chance that the two great players combine well and produce scintillating football.

Stuff it, I’ll go further: put Haaland in that team as well.  Having those two either side of him … wow. I’d want to watch every match. Either it’d be mouthwatering or a disaster – probably a mouthwatering disaster. But a helluva lot of fun.
Nebs, Johannesburg

 

We NEED Messi to Stoke
The football gods need to make this happen, Messi needs to be playing on a rainy Wednesday night at Stoke City. Even if a PL club signs him (heard Aston Villa got some spare cash), I’m sure FA can cook up an away match at Stoke for one of the cups.

You need this, I need this, the world needs this!!!
Gaurav, MUFC (Football didn’t come home, but the ultimate footballer should)

Bet365 Stadium

Silver lining schadenfreude of Messi going to City
If you support one of Manchester City’s rivals and the thought of Messi signing for them is upsetting you, here are two amusing silver linings:

1. They’re going to need to have a very awkward conversation with Jack Grealish, telling him that he’s going to have to pick a new squad number;

2. if City finally wins the Champions League this season, you’ll all still be able to say that Pep can’t do it without Messi;

and a non-City bonus: Harry Kane will end up stuck at Tottenham.
Oliver Dziggel, Geneva Switzerland

 

Lazy Lukaku critics
Lukaku didn’t do it at Chelsea? He wasn’t even given a chance for goodness sake!

People question his ‘mentality’ for leaving Chelsea and not fighting for his place, but Be Bruyne & Salah were both older than him when they left and it worked out ok for them.

Chelsea fans were desperate for Lukaku to be given a chance in place of Torres,Ba,Eto etc but it just didn’t happen for him and we signed Costa. Success is so often dependant on any number of variables which can include: fixtures, injuries, managers, tactical plans etc.

Not sure what more he could do to convince people of his quality, he’s within 5 goals of Jamie Vardy’s PL Career goals and 7 behind Stevie G, but then he never won the league so perhaps Gerrard was overrated lol. Some players develop and get better later on as they add more facets to their game, Lukaku is a classic example.

Lukaku didn’t just ‘do it’ in Italy, he dominated the league and was widely acknowledged as the leagues best player despite the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s developed his game and is going to change a lot of peoples opinions.

A player can come from a ‘weaker league’ and still be a top performer in the PL, case in point being Bruno Fernandes ( Bruno couldn’t hack Serie A by the way).

Despite what was written on this site, Chelsea not signing a striker after winning the champions league would be insanity, anyone who watched more than 3 of our games could see we were desperate for a dominant no 9.

Messi is quoted as saying that he and many others at Barce hated Chelsea more than Madrid during his peak years, so you can file that under ‘not likely’. Of course, we’d love him at the bridge, but it’s not as simple as give him a two-year contract and he’ll come.

Mark my words, Lukaku will be right at the top of the goal-scoring charts this year.
H420

 

Kane’s contract…
Alex, the Legal Eagle sums up Kane contract issue pretty well
and I agree, legally, Spurs have every right to insist Kane plays out his contract. However, this also has severe implications for the transfer market which both Kane and Tottenham are well aware of.

One can say Kane and his team as naive for signing such a contract. However, there are many clubs which have signed new long term contracts with their players, before the current one expires, knowing full well that the player will likely be sold for a profit well before the end date of the new contract. The player camp knows this too but still signs the contract as an act of good faith to the club they serve.

This is where the gentleman’s agreement comes in and legally, Tottenham are well within their rights. But, what would it do for the club’s reputation should they, as Alex suggests, sue Kane for damages. Would prospective players not think twice before joining such a club.

Conversely, current players would let their contracts run out too instead of agreeing to new ones when they enter the last few years of their contracts. This could have large repercussions for the entire market, setting the precedent for more and more players letting their contracts run out and then demanding large signing bonuses from their suitors.

Over the next couple of years, we might see just such a situation with players like Pogba, Mbappe and many others and clubs are aware that such precedents can be very dangerous for them.

Contracts are bound by the terms contained in writing, but businesses need to also maintain their reputations in order to flourish.
Adeel

Just to respond to Alex the Legal Eagle;

If Tottenham were to declare Harry Kane had breached is contract, and decided to sue him for his bottom dollar, they would surely wind up with only half of what Levy is currently asking for, at most.

Kane signed a 6 year contract worth £62.8 million, or £10.4 million a year. Bonuses etc. not included. Anything prior to this contract should not be included as all previous contracts were honoured in full, and with the the signing of this current contract, rendered null and void.

One could argue – successfully I might add – that the first three years of this contract were honoured in full by both parties. Kane did his job above and beyond expectations, and was handsomely remunerated by his employer for such work.

So surely, a judge should reasonably expect Kane to pay for the remaining three years of his contract, as this is what was breached. He would lose out on money owed, and be asked to compensate in either the amount owed to him, or amount paid already. They’re the same amount; £31.2 million. All yearly performance bonuses received prior to this should be kept, unless they are related to the 6 year period and not seasonally based. All future bonuses are insignificant as they are not guaranteed to be paid out, so cannot be reasonably expected by either party.

Essentially, if this were to happen and City stepped in to foot the bill to get him to sign, it would work out much cheaper for them!
Neill, Ireland

 

Just to say I really enjoyed Alex the Legal Eagles view on the Kane transfer.

Its fascinating to hear a reasoned and specifically a legal  interpretation of the events that are so emotive.
Zak

 

Why don’t clubs use the Webster ruling more often?
Lee in yesterday’s mailbox suggested (somewhat sarcastically) that Harry Kane could buy out his own contract for £31m under the Webster ruling, and leave as a free agent.

Stupid question: why can’t City just give him a £31m additional sign on bonus? Is there a catch? Some obvious reason why we haven’t heard of more clubs pushing transfers through this way?
Jayraj, MUFC

 

Footballers on the lash
Years ago a mate of mine and I arrived into a big nightclub in South Dublin, only to be waltzed by by none other than Damien Duff on his way to the toilets. Being half cut at this stage we took off in hot pursuit to be sure that it was the man himself, which we soon confirmed was the case.

100% coincidentally, I was back in the same toilet later on when he emerged from one of the stalls (we must have been on the same schedule) and he was immediately surrounded by a bunch of guys wanting to advise him on the speculation about a potential big move away from Blackburn. One in particular told him ‘Damien, I just want to say one thing…’, to which Duff was actually listening, ‘….sign for United’ upon hearing which Duff let out a loud ‘Pfft’ sound and walked away rolling his eyes.
Ian, Dublin

I actually have two stories about seeing footballers on the lash – both of them situate around the same place, the iconic, sweat/piss/puke smelling Liquid & Envy nightclub in Portsmouth. In the late 00s/early 10s myself and my best mates would finish work (we all worked in the same shop) head to someone’s house for some pre-drinks and a bit of Pro-Evo and then drive around to Portsmouth (one of us was always designated driver) for a night on the sweat/piss/puke stained tiles. Good times.The first footballer we saw there was David Nugent. One-cap Dave used to be spotted in Liquid & Envy quite frequently on a Monday night during his 4-year stint at Pompey, and oddly enough when I think back I never actually used to see him with anyone. Weird. It was like he was feeding off the giddy excitement of 18 year olds spotting someone remotely famous. He never really blossomed at Pompey, and it was a badly kept secret why – the guy loved a VK orange.

The second, and probably funnier story of a footballer we used to see was Matt Ritchie. Me and my friends were all aware of Matt because a few of them went to school with his brother, and in our small town he was talked about quite regularly as one of the few that could ‘make it’. Anyway, young Matt decided that he was a big timer and too good for bar-etiquette of the ‘I was here way before you, so I’m getting served next’ and was stood with his arm halfway over the bar, £20 note in hand trying to get the barman’s attention. When I got served before him he turned to me and said those disappointing words – ‘What are you doing mate? Do you know who I am?’, to which I wittily replied ‘Yeah, you’re Jamie’s brother – how is he?’. After some light pushing and shoving and his friends (who I happened to know quite well) pulling him away, I promptly returned to my pals carrying 3 VK apples, 3 Jagerbombs, a Coke for the driver and the biggest grin on my childish face. Delicious.
Lee (one local legend used to get free entry because he had a liquid & envy tattoo – bet he regrets that now), LFC