One of my theories is that our board knows this is a dead end, and are just using the opportunity to not buy anyone, wasting an entire summer on a deal that cannot be made.
Frenkie de Jong | The last muppeting lap
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That’s a given though. Everyone knows this.
This was me before De Jong went on holiday that seems like an eternity ago.
If even half of this nonsense is true then us still being involved with this says more about us than Barcelona or De Jong.
Welcome Poirot!
Right. If we walked away from just one of these deals, then other clubs would know they’re taking a big risk by engaging in these types of tactics. Barcelona know we are fully committed at this point, so we have no leverage.
this is why having backup options is so critical. FDJ is a great player, but you can’t tell me there’s not a player who can do the job 90% as well for 75% of the price and 10% of the headache. Get things off the ground with the other player, then go back for the big money star in a year or two when ETH has proven his worth, we have champions league, and teams know we will call their bluff if they try to yank us around.
Yeah it’s time to take a step back on this one and look at other targets and let Barcelona foot the bill for his missing wages. Once they do that we’ll be back in with a bid. We only stand to lose by chasing this until the close of the window.
One of Barca's most reliable journalists was reporting that relations between Barca and De Jong's agents are "very bad", and today his agents don't want to speak with any other clubs but them.
Feck knows what is going on with this saga any more.
One of my theories is that government are all lizards in masks. Seems just as likely as yours.
Ha ha ha another conspiracy theorist.
How does that help anyone involved at United?
Insulting to Poirot
So are we still close...or....
Sports Bible, quoting an article wrote by someone called Nick Purewal? Who the hell is he? Works for PA??
The article says:
However it then goes on to say:
Soooooo it's unclear what was said, but Nicky boy seems to think that Barca encouraged Chelsea to make a bid? How would you know that eh Nick, you have an amazing exclusive there son, seeing as no one else knows anything.
One of Barca's most reliable journalists was reporting that relations between Barca and De Jong's agents are "very bad", and today his agents don't want to speak with any other clubs but them.
Feck knows what is going on with this saga any more.
Probably not what is reported by sport.
Close to a mental breakdown, yes.
To the Tielemans thread!!
We’ll it doesn’t really matter what the agents want, it’s down to what De Jong wants, and if he doesn’t want to talk to anyone and he wants to stay at Barcelona then it’s done.One of Barca's most reliable journalists was reporting that relations between Barca and De Jong's agents are "very bad", and today his agents don't want to speak with any other clubs but them.
Feck knows what is going on with this saga any more.
I’m in the opposite camp. Pulling out of this is a God send at this stage. There just doesn’t seem to be any avenue that we can use to sign him but at least we tried.
It seems everybody is fecking everyone else about. I’m half hoping he stays, Barca then can’t register anyone and the club collapses in on itself
Sport has a few good journalists who cover Barcelona, but as an outlet, they aren't good. Mundo Deportivo's better as more of their journalists have good connections to Barcelona, but even they, as an outlet, don't have a connection to Barcelona. Same goes for Marca and Real Madrid.
The reality is that the outlets got their reputations as being mouthpieces because of the journalists who worked for them. In reality, none of the Spanish outlets are really mouthpieces for their clubs; only the journalists are.
Well, do Barcelona want to keep him enough to not register other players?
Does FDJ want to stay enough to write off 20m?
Obviously no to both.
Although it was reported earlier this morning his relationship with Barca had broken down, they are happy to sell him and he’s only interested in United.
It’s anyone guess at the moment
I dunno man, have you seen dorries? Her mask don't fit properly....
I mean that is true in essence but to say that what his agents think is entirely irrelevant is a tad naïve. Their entire job is fundamentally to talk people into giving them what they want, and if they feel Barca are unworkable then you can bet your ass they will be pushing De Jong to take a move.
If being the key word, would not take the word of sport
This would be made out more if we failed on signing De Jong and more if we don't sign anyone else, I dare to see the meltdown this would eventually cause in our already toxic fan base.
If all the assumptions we've made are true then this is all posturing from both sides.
We're just waiting for the inevitable, but obviously it doesn't mean we're the only ones, we're just the most keen.
How can you guarantee about something which you have no idea of ? Barca are an embarrassing club to deal with and everyone knows how they are with transfers. If you were expecting a quick resolution that's on you. We are taking one of the best players and we have a limited budget. It's so easy to say, pay what they want or move on to next target. Both has its own merit and demerits .
How much time did we take to close Malacia and Eriksen deals ? If we are so incompetent, it should also be affected, right ?
I’m normally a very optimistic muppet but I’m at the stage of being bored shitless of this, stay or go I don’t care anymore, just make your mind up either way!
I won’t be in here unless I see a positive thread title change, preferably “here we go” or “FDJ to united …True
”
I wouldn’t believe the last one as he’s an idiot
I won’t be in here unless I see a positive thread title change, preferably “here we go” or “FDJ to united …True
” I wouldn’t believe the last one as he’s an idiot
Is it toxic if it’s justified?
Well at the moment, everything thats coming out of this saga is coming from those linked to Barca.I’m normally a very optimistic muppet but I’m at the stage of being bored shitless of this, stay or go I don’t care anymore, just make your mind up either way!
I won’t be in here unless I see a positive thread title change, preferably “here we go” or “FDJ to united …True
I wouldn’t believe the last one as he’s an idiot
Mostly Chelsea rumours because of the meeting yesterday, which suddenly all these journos seem to know what was said. Amazing how that happens.
Personally, myself, i don't feel like anything has changed much. Just a lot of shite coming from Barca to try and start a bidding war, or to try and get United to bend to their demands. Who knows
Yes, because the board have been very reluctant to spend money on players over the last decade.
Ummmmm yeah, because thats the greatest way to please our new manager and get things off on the right foot. Come on now... If it was a dead deal, or unobtainable, then we'd walk away. Look at the Timber deal!
I think it's a reddit thing, each football subreddit has a tier list for journos ranked on reliability and quality of info shared.
I believe it's reviewed and refreshed after every transfer window or season
I wish that was the case, but the United tier list, for example, is quite outdated, as is r/soccer's own tier list. Barcelona seems to have updated theirs, but they seem to heavily base it on Reshad Rehman's evaluations for whatever reason. Then there's AC Milan's, who last updated theirs in 2020.
Still, it doesn't mean that what they post is the absolute truth, and everything should be taken with a bit of skeptisicm until confirmed by the club.
The only completely honest and true sources are the clubs themselves
How many pages did the Sneijder thread reach? The Dutch love a long one.
This has all the hallmarks of 2003, where we were “in talks” with Ronaldinho for months only for Barca to swoop in at the last minute and hijack the deal.
Well expect the fans to raise some hell
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