Lionel Messi \ Signs for PSG

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Pep's Suit said:
Surely this was prepared for some time? You don't go from 'heartbroken', from this basically life-changing moment to immediately talking to another club? Also such a big deal agreed during just few hours? :lol: And you have City and Chelsea ready to spend £100m+ on Kane and Lukaku but they don't even try for Messi? Really?? To me this sounds like he agreed to join PSG months ago unless Barca paid him whatever he wanted.
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The heartbreak happened a year or so ago, when Barcelona reneged on the contract and refused to let him leave, and threatened to take him to court.

The official breakup happened a few days ago but they were apart for a while. Many relationships end that way.
 
Pep's Suit said:
Surely this was prepared for some time? You don't go from 'heartbroken', from this basically life-changing moment to immediately talking to another club? Also such a big deal agreed during just few hours? :lol: And you have City and Chelsea ready to spend £100m+ on Kane and Lukaku but they don't even try for Messi? Really?? To me this sounds like he agreed to join PSG months ago unless Barca paid him whatever he wanted.
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I think so. It was done in a way so that both messi and barca will look good to the fans. Both of them can now blame la liga, while doing what is best for them financially.
 
Adam-Utd said:
It's not like this is Messi's choice either - he literally chose to stay there.

Barcelona are the ones that have messed this up, with the salary cap they cannot afford to keep him. That's not on Messi.

The next best option for him is to play with his friend Neymar in Paris, what's the issue with that?
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People are butthurt that he will play for an oil club. The reality is he doesnt want to live and play in England, the Bundesliga and Italy could never afford even half of his wages. His only option is Paris if he wants to stay in Europe

If Ronaldo went to Paris, most wouldnt care. They would twist it in a way that it would make sense. He is ambitious and competetive and wants to win, bringing PSG to the CL trophy, performing in a new environment again etc.

Dont know why people get worked up. He is 34, playing there for 2-3 years and then likely going to the MLS or Argentina to retire.
 
dinostar77 said:
He could have played for Barcelona for free or with a token salary of €1 per week or something. Then got Barcelona to give him a "golden handshake" goodbye in 5 years time and backpaid him all the money owed. He has more money than he or his kids or his kids kids can ever spend. How badly did he want to stay? Obviously not that badly as hes off to PSG.

Still hope we might see him in PL if he finds french league too motonmous for his talent. Has plenty of time to play in MLS and then a season at Newells Old Boys in argentina as he has stated previously he would like to do at the end of his career.
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Yeah, trust a club that reneged on your just expired contract, preventing you from leaving, to give you a golden handshake after 5 years of playing for free.
 
izec said:
People are burrhurt that he will play for an oil club. The reality is he doesnt want to live and play in England, the Bundesliga and Italy could never afford even half of his wages. His only option is Paris if he wants to stay in Europe

If Ronaldo went to Paris, most wouldnt care. They would twist it in a way that it would make sense. He is ambitious and competetive and wants to win, bringing PSG to the CL trophy, performing in a new environment again etc.

Dont know why people get worked up. He is 34, playing there for 2-3 years and then likely going to the MLS or Argentina to retire.
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IF an English club and the money and space to take him then i'm sure he would consider it - but he's had no offers.

I really don't see what else they expect him to do? If he was not as good anymore and struggling to get into the team they wouldn't care if he moved.
 
The whole playing for free thing is so bizarre.
 
izec said:
People are butthurt that he will play for an oil club. The reality is he doesnt want to live and play in England, the Bundesliga and Italy could never afford even half of his wages. His only option is Paris if he wants to stay in Europe
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God forbid he actually challenges himself after leaving his lifelong comfort zone. Can't stand the English weather? Some GOAT..
 
dinostar77 said:
He could have played for Barcelona for free or with a token salary of €1 per week or something. Then got Barcelona to give him a "golden handshake" goodbye in 5 years time and backpaid him all the money owed. He has more money than he or his kids or his kids kids can ever spend. [...]
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Literally no one would do this themselves. They only ever expect others to do it.
 
mu4c_20le said:
God forbid he actually challenges himself after leaving his lifelong comfort zone. Can't stand the English weather? Some GOAT..
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To be the GOAT, you dont need to play in England or love the weather there. The world isnt evolving around England you know.
 
Pickle85 said:
I think people are just (rightly) saying that this shows the myth of his depth of love for Barcelona. It's no surprise he won't work for free - few would - but it also lays to rest the 'Messi lives and breathes Barcelona' myth. He's as greedy as the rest.
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Indeed by the end of the day hes a professional football player. If he wanted to stay that badly, he would have reduced his wage demand at least. But its still mainly Barcas fault for letting this happen though.
 
tenpoless said:
Indeed by the end of the day hes a professional football player. If he wanted to stay that badly, he would have reduced his wage demand at least. But its still mainly Barcas fault for letting this happen though.
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Agreed all round
 
Personally I think this is a stain on Messi’s career. Selling his soul to the oil club for money. This was his chance to cement his legacy, go and prove it in the premier league or join a proper club like Bayern but no, just like Pep with City, he’s run to the easiest option to live out yeh rest of his career as a celebrity. Ronaldo yet again proving he’s the classier player.
 
izec said:
To be the GOAT, you dont need to play in England or love the weather there. The world isnt evolving around England you know.
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I know, it seems to revolve around money for this guy. He's no different than Neymar really.
 
adexkola said:
If Stoke were in the PL I'd be more vehement about Messi finding his way to England to settle once and for all the ancient proverb
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It would have taken some luck as well for them to meet, right? For it to be a cold Tuesday night it would have to have been the league cup or FA cup?
 
izec said:
To be the GOAT, you dont need to play in England or love the weather there. The world isnt evolving around England you know.
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Thats right because in order to be the goat he needs to eat grass.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
Personally I think this is a stain on Messi’s career. Selling his soul to the oil club for money. This was his chance to cement his legacy, go and prove it in the premier league or join a proper club like Bayern but no, just like Pep with City, he’s run to the easiest option to live out yeh rest of his career as a celebrity. Ronaldo yet again proving he’s the classier player.
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To be fair, where else was he ever realistically going to go? The list of viable clubs for top, top players grows ever smaller. If it wasn’t PSG, it would only have been City or Chelsea.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
This was his chance to cement his legacy, go and prove it in the premier league or join a proper club like Bayern but no, just like Pep with City, he’s run to the easiest option to live out yeh rest of his career as a celebrity.
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:lol:

cementing his legacy by winning the BL with Bayern, what a challenge.
 
Zen86 said:
To be fair, where else was he ever realistically going to go? The list of viable clubs for top, top players grows ever smaller. If it wasn’t PSG, it would only have been City or Chelsea.
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I’m pretty sure all of the top clubs would have taken him. Utd would have signed him on reasonable wages, as would Juve and Bayern. Would they match the wages offered by PSG? No but he’s 34, I would have had far more respect for him if he moved for footballing reasons over money.
 
Cloud7 said:
It would have taken some luck as well for them to meet, right? For it to be a cold Tuesday night it would have to have been the league cup or FA cup?
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If the FA didn't arrange the draw and schedule accordingly it would be a disgrace :mad:

Pickle85 said:
If he can't do it in the championship he's not my goat.
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:D
 
Lay said:
The whole playing for free thing is so bizarre.
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Technically I'm sure that they could have agreed on a "end of contract" bonus to be paid in 2 installments or more following the end of the contract, and a much minor salary. Of course Barcelona is walking on the line on bankruptcy so there's not a lot of financial reliability there. I'm sure the option was at least discussed as an alternative.

Of course Messi would, or should not play for free, but I'm fairly certain a lot of creative ways to get the man paid has been discussed thoroughly.

Unfortunately, Bartomeu ruined Barcelona.

Paying Antoine Griezman € 881,423 a week, Frenkie De Jong € 400,654 a week and Leo Messi € 1,360,731 a week is beyond outrageous.

€ 230,769 for Umtitiis also a bit of wasted money, but really its nowhere near a problem, if only the club had been ran remotely responsible.

The mistakes of Barcelonas recruitment and wage policies have enough material to fill a book, but the salary of Antoine Griezman is perhaps the most outrageous and ridiculous pricetag for a "very good striker" I've ever seen.
 
Tom Cato said:
Technically I'm sure that they could have agreed on a "end of contract" bonus to be paid in 2 installments or more following the end of the contract, and a much minor salary. Of course Barcelona is walking on the line on bankruptcy so there's not a lot of financial reliability there. I'm sure the option was at least discussed as an alternative.

Of course Messi would, or should not play for free, but I'm fairly certain a lot of creative ways to get the man paid has been discussed thoroughly.

Unfortunately, Bartomeu ruined Barcelona.

Paying Antoine Griezman € 881,423 a week, Frenkie De Jong € 400,654 a week and Leo Messi € 1,360,731 a week is beyond outrageous.

€ 230,769 for Umtitiis also a bit of wasted money, but really its nowhere near a problem, if only the club had been ran remotely responsible.

The mistakes of Barcelonas recruitment and wage policies have enough material to fill a book, but the salary of Antoine Griezman is perhaps the most outrageous and ridiculous pricetag for a "very good striker" I've ever seen.
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Unfortunately?! I think it's bloody hilarious.
 
Taking no wages from barca wouldn't mean hes playing for free.

Apart from the delayed payment structure, he gets millions a year from endorsements.

I would have thought that staying at barca, making a 'sacrifice' would have been better for his brand long term, that is after hes done playing to be honest. This all seems a but short sighted.

He's worth €600 million, I would think a couple of years on a reduced income would have paid him more in terms of brand over the next decade than he will make from a stint at PSG.
 
Honestly I think the rumoured 36 million per year is a bargain for Messi. He's still the best around and you triple the investment almost instantly just by his commercial power.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
I’m pretty sure all of the top clubs would have taken him. Utd would have signed him on reasonable wages, as would Juve and Bayern. Would they match the wages offered by PSG? No but he’s 34, I would have had far more respect for him if he moved for footballing reasons over money.
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I doubt anyone else bar City would have even entertained the idea of signing him. His Barca wages mean no self supporting club would at this moment in time.
 
Pickle85 said:
I think people are just (rightly) saying that this shows the myth of his depth of love for Barcelona. It's no surprise he won't work for free - few would - but it also lays to rest the 'Messi lives and breathes Barcelona' myth. He's as greedy as the rest.
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Every player is somewhat greedy. Every player plays for a paycheck. Having said that, he did agree to a 50% paycut and therefore those claiming he should work for free are being laughed at for a reason.
 
Ladron de redcafe said:
Every player is somewhat greedy. Every player plays for a paycheck. Having said that, he did agree to a 50% paycut and therefore those claiming he should work for free are being laughed at for a reason.
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Would be interesting to see whether that offer was made to help everyone save face. Barca presumably knew it wouldn't be enough so he'd never have to go through with it. It's in everyone's best interests to put that story out there. Barca look like they've done all they can and Messi walks away with his Barca sainthood semi intact. If push came to shove, it would be interesting to see if he'd actually have gone down that road.
 
Pickle85 said:
Would be interesting to see whether that offer was made to help everyone save face. Barca presumably knew it wouldn't be enough so he'd never have to go through with it. It's in everyone's best interests to put that story out there. Barca look like they've done all they can and Messi walks away with his Barca sainthood semi intact. If push came to shove, it would be interesting to see if he'd actually have gone down that road.
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You're free to speculate all you like but the only facts around here are those released by the people who know. Meanwhile, those crying about Messi needing to play for free can continue to sit and come with all sorts of fantasies and conspiracies.
 
slored1 said:
Honestly I think the rumoured 36 million per year is a bargain for Messi. He's still the best around and you triple the investment almost instantly just by his commercial power.
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How on Earth are you supposed to do that?
 
When a tin-pot Championship-sized club can spend £100m on Jack Grealish and perhaps the most iconic club in World football can't keep their star player you know something is wrong with the game.

Super League is inching closer people. Don't cry when it happens just remember nobody spoke up loud enough about the direction the game is going.
 
Ladron de redcafe said:
You're free to speculate all you like but the only facts around here are those released by the people who know. Meanwhile, those crying about Messi needing to play for free can continue to sit and come with all sorts of fantasies and conspiracies.
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You're right, I guess we'll never know for sure...
 
mu4c_20le said:
God forbid he actually challenges himself after leaving his lifelong comfort zone. Can't stand the English weather? Some GOAT..
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He's been playing in the best league in thr world for most of his career. The English league is now stronger but his so called comfort zone has been the highest level of club football in the game

It's funny. Nobody called out SAF for sticking to his comfort becuase it's a moronic thing to say. What a different world we live in where loyalty is for the weak and having a dozen clubs to your name is the sign of strength (Zlatan what a lion).
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
Bayern are a proper club, PSG are a joke and make a mockery of the game.
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@Bole Top is pointing out that going to Bayern is less challenging than going to PSG given that they're more dominant in Germany than PSG are in France. Messi wouldn't be cementing his legacy any more at Bayern than he is at PSG.
 
Ladron de redcafe said:
@Bole Top is pointing out that going to Bayern is less challenging than going to PSG given that they're more dominant in Germany than PSG are in France. Messi wouldn't be cementing his legacy any more at Bayern than he is at PSG.
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He would though because he’d be playing for a proper historic club and as dominant as Bayern are in their league, PSG are even more of a joke in France (doesn’t matter that they didn’t win yeh league last year).
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
He would though because he’d be playing for a proper historic club and as dominant as Bayern are in their league, PSG are even more of a joke in France (doesn’t matter that they didn’t win yeh league last year).
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They aren't even champions of their own League. So you're evidently wrong. Repeating an incorrect claim ad-nauseum doesn't make it any less inaccurate.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
It's funny. Nobody called out SAF for sticking to his comfort becuase it's a moronic thing to say.
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Bit of a shit comparison though consider SAF moved from the brilliant comfortable job he did at Aberdeen to an absolutely mammoth task of trying to bring Manchester United back to the top of the English and European game. That's anything but sticking with comfort. It'd been almost 3 decades since a European Cup for the club and 2 decades for a league win.

Not really comparable to a bloke playing his entire career in a team that had just won a CL around the time he was making his debut.

You're right about loyalty though and it's been brilliant to see him give almost his entire career there.
 
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