Was just about to post this. Mental.
Ballon d'Or 2021 | Lewandowski robbed again
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) look forward to a new life under Ruben Amorim. What system will we be playing? What players will impress? and how will it all go? We also say goodbye to Ruud Van Nistelrooy and review United's 3-0 win at home against Leicester City.
Was just about to post this. Mental.
But you could afford Kane?
In a less than ideal fashion, but sure. Not sure that would make you better though
So who's out? De Bruyne? De Bruyne would struggle to play with Messi. So would Foden, Bernardo and Mahrez. Messi is a MASSIVE ball hog who barely plays when he doesn't have the ball at his feet
Disagree
Who said anything about Messi being a passenger or a hindrance. 99.9% of teams in the world would be better with him. The very best though, nope
Who said anything about pressing? Mbappé can play anywhere, like Lewandowski, you put him in and you don't have to worry about tactical fit
Messi STOPS the ball. The thing people point to Graelish about for his poor fit for City(which btw make be the best argument you can make for Messi improving City) is even more true for Messi. And Messi wants the ball constantly...
Messi's wages are nearly 1m a week, a 4 year contract would be 200m. Kane would cost maybe 100m over 4 years transfer and wages of about 60m so160m. Also the transfer fee and contract could be amortised over 5 years on a 5 year contract, so 4 years of Kane could be 140-150m. Kane was a no brainer and in the end we couldn't ever go an extra 20-30m to make it happen. Finances put us out of the race for Kane nevermind Messi.
KDB wouldn't struggle to play with Messi nor would any of those listed. People said Neymar would and they formed probably the best attack of all time with Suarez. Mahrez would be out. To think a forward line of KDB, Bernardo, Foden, Jesus and Messi or even with Grealish for Jesus would make us weaker is insanity to me. In fact Messi and Mahrez have similar ball hogging styles and Mahrez is consistently among our top scorers.
Ronaldo would make them worse too, so there's no point discussing that.
Why would City or Liverpool want Messi or Ronaldo?
Why would they ruin the harmony their teams have just to accommodate declining GOATS who walk the pitch? Sell t-shirts? Increase stakes in Wall Street?
You don't change which is already working.
Plus Bayern would never sign declining Messi or Cristiano, it's not in their policy to sign players based on marketing or thinking about selling t-shirts, probably the fact that they are under 50+1 have something to do with this, as they don't have just greedy businessesmen on the board, but also former Bayern footballers who know things about the game.
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For about a year and a half. When Messi cared enough to sacrifice for his teammates. Not sure this 34 year old version is even capable of it anymore. Luis Enrique's last season in barcelona was a season long quest to fit the team around Messi. Neymar spent a chunk of the season being asked to play wingback to fit Messi
Kane would have cost what in wages, about €20M a year? Plus €150M in fee, over 5 years that's €250M, or €50M a year. Same as Messi...
Messi or Cristiano wouldn't make City a better team, same goes for Bayern and Liverpool.
We should stop with non-sense of "if you put this better player here, that team would be better"... that's how PES works, not how real Football works.
The fact that there are many teams who have won lot of stuff without having a Cristiano or Messi level player on their team speaks for itself.
You don't change which is working fine, especially for declining old players who just walk the pitch.
Meanwhile Barcelona keep struggling to score and losing, while Messi keeps winning with his other two teams. But apparently hed made every top team in the world worse 
Apparently all that stat padding against Betis and Almeria was actually worth something, as they were constantly finishing top or second in the league and winning trophies.
Apparently all that stat padding against Betis and Almeria was actually worth something, as they were constantly finishing top or second in the league and winning trophies.
And what was happening in Europe and La Liga in the past few years ?Meanwhile Barcelona keep struggling to score and losing, while Messi keeps winning with his other two teams. But apparently hed made every top team in the world worse
Apparently all that stat padding against Betis and Almeria was actually worth something, as they were constantly finishing top or second in the league and winning trophies.
So you don't think Messi could swap in like for like rw with Mahrez (who is 30) or even today like for like f9 with Grealish where he doesn't have to press that hard and make City better? Even at 34?
Ronaldo also would have made City better, because they'd be giving up a little control for players who will improve others aspects. Why do people think Pep wanted both Messi last season and Ronaldo this? Most certainly not to warm the bench or because he thought they were incapable of making the team better.
Same thing that happened with Cristiano and Real Madrid pre-2014.
As a team...not good enough to win, not Ronaldo's fault.
Where they struggling at the middle of the table and struggling to qualify for CL KO rounds in the past few years?
We couldn't afford that money for Kane and Levy wouldn't budge, thats my point. City went for Kane because they thought he'd be cheaper long term than Messi. Now if we'd had stumped up for Kane there would be an argument to be made but we couldn't. We literally went after Kane because we couldn't go after Messi, and when it was clear Kane would cost Messi money and we couldn't save 30-40m we then went after Ronaldo.
The idea that we suddenly decided they aren't good enough doesn't add up for me. He was out of our price range, we thought Kane wouldn't be till he was.
Just seen this — it’s absolutely mental.
Thats the funniest thing I've ever seen. Worse than the Bernard Mendy journalist. Literally got a Polish flag on the card he used to say he's too slow.
His impact for Barca has been more than good but at the same time he's hindered his club's finances like a leech every single time he renegotiated a contract.
Agree with this. If we had focused more on team building over the past 8 years rather than signing whatever flashy players are available, we'd be in a far better place by now.
Always made me laugh when people kept saying we'd be far better team if we simply bought a world class CM, ignoring the fact that we played like 11 strangers making it up as we went along.
Looking at some of the voting, it's ridiculous and clear that they don't watch every major league. Also clear biases within the votes.
Are you on the Barca board to know what kind of things go behind closed doors and how they make their decisions? Because you know, they probably know a thing or two more about finances than you and me.
And if he was so badly hindering his club finances, why wouldnt they let Messi go when he publicly stated that he wanted out on the summer of 2020? He told them he wanted out, and they could have gotten a transfer fee for him, but instead they decided to go to court against him if needed. Then when they wanted to sign him the year after, they couldnt even afford it. They couldnt even afford registering Depay for the league
Absolutely not. Messi doesn't play out wide anymore, period.
Yes, that's the argument in favour of Messi. If Graelish doesn't make them worse, maybe/probably Messi wouldn't either. Though that said, still, Graelish doesn't require the ball as much as Messi and is more active off of it
I agree
Cristiano was a desperation move. Messi? They had a real chance to sign him this summer and didn't.
I don't know if Messi would make this City side better, but i don't believe so
Because everything has been leaked left, right and center ? The problem with the way you think, you only wanna put the blame the current Barca on a single party when my point is that it is to be share among everyone, Messi included.Are you on the Barca board to know what kind of things go behind closed doors and how they make their decisions? Because you know, they probably know a thing or two more about finances than you and me.
And if he was so badly hindering his club finances, why wouldnt they let Messi go when he publicly stated that he wanted out on the summer of 2020? He told them he wanted out, and they could have gotten a transfer fee for him, but instead they decided to go to court against him if needed. Then when they wanted to sign him the year after, they couldnt even afford it. They couldnt even afford registering Depay for the league
They should have let him gone the year before without a doubt for me
PSG fans have posted in the thread complaining that Poch is making him hog the touchline like Pep does with Mahrez.
Honestly I don't think he'd make City like twice the team or anything but I do think he'd be more efficient on the wing than Mahrez and easily our best false 9 when we play with that. Particularly false 9 with Foden and Jesus doing the leg work for him.
It’s a farce that Mbappe is the top 3 for some — he’s not even the best attacker at PSG; — Neymar is.
Mbappé have been better than Neymar for PSG.
He literally outscored and outassisted Neymar in the last three seasons, not only on Ligue 1 but also in Champions League btw.
In what world Mbappé isn't the best attacker PSG have right now?
In all the best flashy moments PSG had, i remember Mbappé scoring/assisting important goals, while Neymar was absent due to injuries or partying in Brazil with his sister.
Neymar is a hell of a player, but Mbappé have been better than Neymar for PSG in the last three years, that's a fact.
Ridiculous that some thing that Mbappé is less important than Neymar for PSG.
Meanwhile Barcelona keep struggling to score and losing, while Messi keeps winning with his other two teams. But apparently hed made every top team in the world worse
Apparently all that stat padding against Betis and Almeria was actually worth something, as they were constantly finishing top or second in the league and winning trophies.
Is anyone here arguing that Messi is bad rather than simply "not Balon D'Or worthy"?
Barcelona lost Suarez and dropped down the table, then lost Messi and Griezmann and have dropped down more. All these players were basically not replaced by anyone, of course they're struggling!
Do you not feel a little silly making statements like these, which you can't actually prove in any meaningful way? The Copa America is like 100 years old and things like assists weren't even recorded until a few decades ago.
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Messi had 9 G/A in the Copa America; Argentina played 7 games. He tied in goals with Luis Diaz.
There are multiple players who scored 9 goals in a single Copa America (Jair, Javier Ambrois, Humberto Maschio), and multiple players who scored 8 (Pele, Rodolfo Micheli, Nicolas Falero). Often this happened in less games (6). Assists were not recorded back then. So what the hell are we talking about here, the 'dribbles completed' stat again?
There are multiple players who scored 9 goals in a single Copa America (Jair, Javier Ambrois, Humberto Maschio), and multiple players who scored 8 (Pele, Rodolfo Micheli, Nicolas Falero). Often this happened in less games (6). Assists were not recorded back then. So what the hell are we talking about here, the 'dribbles completed' stat again?
we have some real characters on this forumNot silly at all, unless a player had 20 assists in a Copa tournament back in 1960 Messi absolutely had the best Copa tourney in its 100 year history. If we had no stats from prior Copa I’d get it. But considering pele and maradona never won a Copa, I have no problem saying Messi had the best one its history as we have nothing that suggests otherwise considering the stats Messi put up in this years tourney
Messi would make city better than Ronaldo would
City couldn’t sign Messi because by the time things fell apart with Barca city already signed Grealish. If pep could pick between Messi and Grealish I imagine he’s pico Messi considering the lack of a transfer fee required and pep would know how to get the best out of messi
What the hell are you talking about, I just told you multiple players have the same amount of goals as Messi had goals+assists. Why on earth would they need 20 assists?
I'm at least glad we've clarified that the argument "Messi has the best Copa America in history" is actually "numbers don't go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10..."
Well, yes, Messi stops the ball. Precisely speaking, he's still the best to receive the ball between the lines and he's still the best at advancing the ball on the field/finding players between the lines and the best at finding players in behind with through balls. And that's still the rarest skill to find in attacking players, especially as you currently have an abundance of pace merchants in this current generation. Messi in the KdB role for City would be absolutely lethal.
Also, you're being a bit naive if you think that Lewandowski and Mbappe can play for every team in the world. You can be sure as hell that they struggle if you take them out of the system they're used to. Even if they didn't, their impact on the attack isn't even nearly as wholistic as Messi's.
And something doesn't add up if Mbappe is a) much easier to integrate because he doesn't need the ball into his feet and b) runs even less than Messi.
Only Ronaldo can play for every team in the world. He has won the CL with Man utd and Real Madrid and the Euro with Portugal.
and Messi won cl with Barca and Copa America with Argentina
40 million votes, and Messi won again.
Lew robbed again
Lew robbed again
40 million votes, and Messi won again.
Lew robbed again
What is this award, never heard of it?
Not any award, just public poll of 433 platform.