Messi is a mindf*** for Barcelona and Man City…

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Messi is the problem at Barcelona
Thanks Leo, and goodbye! Please shut the door as you leave..

I recently wrote a comment here on why I think that Barca have failed Coutinho rather than Coutinho failing Barca. The bottom line was that Barca’s biggest problem is their continued dependence on a 33 year old MESSI. They treat him like he’s going to be around forever and they couldn’t survive without him. So stupid.

If I were the Barcelona President or Board, then Tuesday with Messi’s “transfer request” would have been like Christmas coming early to me! I would be thanking my lucky stars.

Think about it, Barca have nothing to lose and everything to gain by letting Messi go.

1) They would be getting £500,000 pw (£26,000,000 p.a) off their wage bill. Just for comparison, the entire LFC backline (Alison, Trent, Gomez, Virgil, Robbo) makes £425,000pw!

2) They would be creating space “to breathe” for the likes of De Jong, Coutinho and Griezmann. Start earning returns on the investments already made. A mesmerising Ronaldinho had to leave to create space for Messi….think of Ansu Fati….

3) They get a head-start on their planned rebuild. Why wait for Xavi next summer to start the process when you can do it now? Get rid of the old guard early build now and maybe even get a Hansi Flick effect so Xavi doesn’t even need to be hired next season..

4) As things stand, they are not favourites to win La Liga or the Champions League next season even if Messi stays, so what would they lose anyway if they take this coming season as the start of the rebuild?

5) And perhaps most importantly, give the whole club and squad an early weaning off from a Messi domination that is bound to happen in the near future anyway.

I read that they are still trying to convince him to stay, and that he may have just instigated a power play to get the president to resign. But for me it’s rather easy. Call his bluff, organise a press conference to thank him for all the years of stellar service, cancel the contract, shake his hand and tell him he’s free to go for free……and then watch him despondently shake his head in disbelief when he realises that he’s actually done Barca a favour.

It would cause more problems for Messi than it would for Barcelona, and for that reason I cannot see why they’d fight to keep him. Anyone who signs him will immediately be breaking up their team and creating new dynamics to accommodate Messi in their team. Go ahead, why not give Man City/Utd, PSG or whoever else a chance to disrupt their footballing setup and ruin their wage structure while at it?….I can see you sniggering at the back Jurgen…!

Barca should be thanking Messi for this early Christmas present. Just accept his request and cancel the contract before he comes to his senses and realises what a great favour hes doing for you.
Drew (Dublin)

 

Why do Man City want Messi?
The thought of seeing the greatest of all time in the Premier League is, of course, genuinely exciting. And while he is 33, he’s still Messi and any move he makes will have him motivated to show how great he is. Which is better than everyone else.

But…aside from simply showing how big their trust fund is, why do City want him? City scored 27 more goals than anyone else last season, including the team that finished 18 points clear of them. For the three attacking midfield positions, Pep has Silva, Sterling, Mahrez, Foden, De Bruyne, Torres and Gundogan. City already has far and away the best attacking squad in the league.

So of course, Messi replaces literally anyone at RWF. But it’s not going to solve City’s actual on the field problems. I mean, they’ll also spend another 100m on defenders, but still.

The only reason to buy Messi if you’re City is because you can. And fair enough.
Ryan, (looking forward to Messi ‘paying for himself’ when he transfers to NYFC in 2 seasons) Bermuda

 

 

Have a Messi raffle
Here’s an idea which should happen but never will:

All 20 Premier League teams want Messi. It would be great for the entire league if he comes.

So – the PL holds a raffle. Tickets are £10million each, of which say 1 million is reserved for good causes. All 20 clubs buy in and one of them wins a three year contract with Lionel and all his wages already in the kitty.

Messi comes out of it with £180 million quid, the league collectively recoups all of that from increased global interest and one lucky team gets to have the greatest player ever on their books.

It would be amazing and right.
Nicky Gilbert

 

Medals and Messi
I’m with DC, BAC on the medals thing – whatever the rules say, a player who only featured for a handful of games across the season – and crucially didn’t appear in the final – shouldn’t be getting a medal.

For a prime example, look no further than Messi: listed and lauded as a four-time winner despite only ever playing in three Champions League finals (and isn’t that crazy?). He got injured in the first leg of the last-16 tie vs Chelsea and missed the rest of the 2006 season. That one shouldn’t count!

(Incidentally, Ronaldo has played in seven finals and won five of them. No agenda, just an interesting comparison if, like me, you’d assumed their CL pedigree was more or less equal. It really isn’t.)

Overindulgent fourth para: why do so many articles refer to Messi being ‘the final piece’ in the PSG / Man City jigsaw – a basic guarantee of winning the 2021 CL? A couple of quality defenders would seem a much shrewder investment for both teams.
Max CPFC (go on, Lionel, the kits look alike)

 

Fax facts
Those wondering if Messi’s sending a fax was an attempt to be retro or a homage to Phil Collins’ divorce proceedings should know it was actually a burofax.

This is entirely a Spanish phenomenon, a trademark of the post office here no less, and is still part of everyday life. Some utilities companies require one if you want to, say, end your contract with them.

It’s the faxing equivalent of a certified letter, and so it has the advantage of giving you legal confirmation that the recipient has received it, although it doesn’t tell you if they subsequently went around the Barça headquarters fuming in Catalan and swearing in Spanish.
Lev

 

Building a manager-proof squad at Chelsea
Delighted that our fairly spectacular summer transfer business is continuing with finally adding Chilwell to the team. Now if we could wrap up a deal for a goalkeeper who actually tries to stop shots…

I’m not convinced us being in for Havertz at the numbers being discussed has any basis in reality, that’s not how Marina operates, that’s more of a Woodward thing (being publicly attached to an enormously expensive target for months, supposedly trying to talk down the price to no avail, folding tent and going home).

In general I’m an extremely happy Chelsea fan. Our transfer business has been spectacular, yes. But what makes it truly special for me, is that we now have the making of a deep, exciting squad that’s not too closely moulded in the image of one manager. I love Frank, but I have my doubts about his ability (at this stage at least) to challenge at the level we should be challenging after such an outlay of cash. And yet, none of these signings strike me as one that would be cast aside as soon as a new manager arrives. It’s a manager-proof squad!

We have a demonstrably engaged owner, a hyper-intelligent club legend as Director of Football, a shrewd and proven dealmaker in Marina (see: Costa, Diego. also: Morata, Alvaro. also: Oscar), a club legend as manager, a world-class academy and a crop of academy-grown talent breaking through, some of the most exciting young players in Europe joining the team, and an undeniably well-run club.

It’s a great time to be a Chelsea fan. Bring on the new season!
Rouzbeh “Is Messi too much to ask for?” Noori

 

It’s okay not to know a player
I saw someone in yesterday’s mailbox describing Malang Sarr as a great prospect. I apologise wholeheartedly if I’m wrong, but I would bet that, among the total readership of F365, there are maybe seven people who would have been able to say who Sarr played for a month ago.

So, that sweeping assumption being made, can we all just agree not to pretend that we know what foreign players who we’ve never seen play properly are like before they sign? Like, we all know that none of us really know anything about 96% of the players bought in by PL teams from abroad. Can we just stop the weird pretence? It’s okay for us not to have completed football fandom. Right??
Jamie

 

Help please
The story of Hout Bay United Football Community is such an incredible one that I decided to join the team a few months ago, and since then it’s been quite an adventure. This nonprofit club in a small part of Cape Town attracting the interest of people like Jurgen Klopp, securing employment for dozens of people, and delivering over 3 MILLION meals to underprivileged families during the Covid-19 lockdown here in South Africa. The team is currently just two promotions away from our Premier League (the PSL), and that is a clear dream that we have.

We have just started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to buy a field to train on. Please can you help? Please.
Michael