I have been requested to write an article on Barcelona's current problems by another poster. The issues faced by Barca are not just on the pitch, they're in financial ruin too; but for the sake of clarity I will focus only on their on-pitch problems today.
First things first. Messi, the GOAT, should not be there. He wanted to leave in the summer and should have been allowed to do so. He's the club's greatest ever player, he can achieve no more in Catalonia but the greedy ex president Bartomeu forced him to stay. He's still been Barca's best player this year, but mentally he's checked out and you can tell. I liken it to forcing your missus to stay with you, even when she doesn't want to. Would you really be surprised if she didn't put out any more? Nope. I also feel sorry for him when I watch him because he has to do the role of three players. He takes on the responsibility of a winger, deep-lying playmaker AND a number 10! All because the players around him are useless.
Secondly. The team is finished. Busquets, Alba, Pjanic, Pique and Messi have all got to go. Out of that bunch, only Messi is still capable of maintaining a world class standard. The rest are just nowhere near what they were, even Pique.
Thirdly. The recent recruitment at Barcelona has been beyond a joke. Imagine boasting players like Suarez, Neymar, Thiago, Iniesta, Dani Alves and prime Rakitic, only to replace them with garbage like De Jong (sorry but he's useless), Andre Gomes, Paco Alcacer, Braithwaite, Junior Firpo, Griezmann and Dembele. You can't get rid of great players and replace them with rubbish and expect the same result.
Light at the end of the tunnel? Yes indeed. Barca, whilst having some terrible players, also have plenty of very good young ones. Dest, Mingueza, Araujo, Trincao, Pedri and Ansu Fati should all reach lofty heights. Especially Pedri, for a 17 year old he is absolutely ridiculous. A bigger prospect than Ansu Fati for sure and that says it all.
Why Are Barcelona In A Mess?
posted on 11/12/20
Be fixed when they replace koeman with xavi
posted on 11/12/20
comment by Christopher (U20930)
posted 9 minutes ago
Be fixed when they replace koeman with xavi
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I really want to see this happen.
posted on 11/12/20
It’s quite evident that their biggest success story (messi) is now their biggest weakness, as messi served as a smoke screen for the last 5 years or so. Arguably the best period of high level play ever(along with Ronnie) and its papered over so many cracks for Barca over the years. The loss of Xavi and iniesta and they transitioned as if nothing happened. But now messi has no help at all it’s showing
posted on 11/12/20
I recall reading that Messi takes a huge % of their profit with his astronomical wages. His basic is outrageous without all the add ons/match bonuses he has.
Guess that's the cost of having the very best
posted on 11/12/20
Doesn’t help that they’ve spent obscene money on loads of flops and many of these, plus past it players that were good, are on ridiculous wages as well.
Messi’s wages and issues off the ball, which contribute to their problems on and off the pitch, aren’t quite as big an issue as all those other problems.
posted on 11/12/20
comment by Donny The King van de Beek (U10026)
posted 22 minutes ago
Doesn’t help that they’ve spent obscene money on loads of flops and many of these, plus past it players that were good, are on ridiculous wages as well.
Messi’s wages and issues off the ball, which contribute to their problems on and off the pitch, aren’t quite as big an issue as all those other problems.
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30% of your huge wage bill on one player defo isn't ideal but I agree buying players they didn't need was strange. Messi wages are so crazy they have to pay there other stars huge amounts just to be earning half his wage 😅
posted on 11/12/20
Why did they sell Arthur and replace him with someone over 10 years older in Pjanic
posted on 12/12/20
comment by Stretchy Mendy (U1641)
posted 2 hours, 50 minutes ago
Why did they sell Arthur and replace him with someone over 10 years older in Pjanic
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Financial reasons from what I read, which were symptomatic of the poor transfer decisions from previous seasons.
posted on 12/12/20
Some of our lads were saying they are bored of drawing Barca in the CL
Bring it on I say...never a better time to do them over
posted on 12/12/20
Some of Barcelona’s best performances this season have come when Messi has been rested. I think that the reason for this is that when he does play, everyone expects him to do all the heavy lifting in attack. Without him, the players take more individual responsibility and play much closer to their potential. It’s a bit like the problem Madrid had when they signed Ronaldo Naz. The other stars in the side took something of a back seat and relied too much on him pulling a rabbit out of the hat to win games, even though the gap in ability wasn’t as large as it is between Messi and his teammates.
Secondly, the idea that the wage bill is due to all the expensive signings is wrong. Messi himself is an academy product; the other established academy products like Piqué or Busquets are also big earners. Academy products are only cheap in terms of transfer fees and of wages when they break into the side. Once they are established, they earn as much as any comparable signing, if not more sometimes, because it would be a terrible look on the directors if they lost a homegrown player due to other clubs paying them more.
As things stand, Barça have little choice but to let Messi move on and to either let the other veterans run their contracts down or convince them to sign new deals on significantly reduced wages. If they love the club so much they will accept that, and if not, the club owes them no more loyalty than they do to the club.
There’s no short term fix for Barça’s problems, as they’re totally hamstringed financially and are going to have to get most of the ageing high earners off their books before they can rebuild properly with new signings. Right now, they need to release Messi as soon as possible and make do with the squad they currently have.