Andrés Iniesta

[JamDav1982]

I can understand extending the contracts and not lowering the salary. But increasing the salary as the player gets older and is less effective is crazy.

No qualms from me about offering legends like Iniesta a big contract at 29/30 when know will likely cover some decline but offering an increased wages to players passed their best at 33 is ridiculous. Legend or not.

 

[Interlop]

It's an interesting situation, if true. In that case would you want to sell him now to China or whatever for like 50-60 mil, or keep him another season until his contract ends?

 

[Giginho75]

That version of Iniesta is a squad player and could well still be useful.

What Barca should do is not offer him a huge contract now he has declined.

i agree.

 

[El Barcelona]

Extending depends on if we now buy a replacement for him but increase in salary sounds insane. 34 is a beautiful age to go on retirement after all those years he gave for Barca.

 

[BillytheKid]

How did Iniesta go out of his prime so quick?

 

[CatalinR10]

How did Iniesta go out of his prime so quick?

to me he always left the feeling he went out of his prime in the course of a week . Sure , he had one or two godly performances per season and some other decent ones but his last 4 years were just meh compared to his 2010 form . Back in the days he provided god level performances every week.

 

[BillytheKid]

to me he always left the feeling he went out of his prime in the course of a week . Sure , he had one or two godly performances per season and some other decent ones but his last 4 years were just meh compared to his 2010 form . Back in the days he provided god level performances every week.

Exactly and hes not even that old. Modric isn't much younger than Iniesta and he looks like he'll be playing at top level for another 5 years

 

[DonAK]

Iniesta had quite a few injuries throughout his career and was always the kind of player to struggle more from a physical decline than Xavi.

We never quite replaced Xavi. Did not replace Dani and I fear might not realize it's time for The Don to take the step back from being a starter.

 

[BerkeleyBernie]

His abilities simply took a backseat once Barça transitioned to a Xavi-less MSN focus and the old midfield ground game was mostly bypassed. It's like asking why Xavi didn't provide throughballs anymore after teams started camping 10 men in their own box.

 

[Lelouch vi Britannia]

Legend or not, 33 year old declining players need to be replaced, if gradually, not given giant contracts that could potentially block funds from going towards a replacement.

With our board it's not an unlikely scenario that he leaves and we don't get a replacement but that's another matter entirely

 

[ManusXavi]

How did Iniesta go out of his prime so quick?

He hasn't. He just isn't used properly.

Back four.
2 midfielders
Messi Iniesta Neymar
Suarez.
Simple solved. His attack is definately still world Class. It is the defense that is his only problem.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Iniesta had quite a few injuries throughout his career and was always the kind of player to struggle more from a physical decline than Xavi.

We never quite replaced Xavi. Did not replace Dani and I fear might not realize it's time for The Don to take the step back from being a starter.

Exactly. We need to start replacing these big name players, because otherwise we end up replacing them with Rakitic, Gomes etc. While Rakitic is great backup player, good player, he is no Xavi or Iniesta. At the end we have already downgraded our midfield quite a bit since Xavi left. We need to find some new blood to midfield, who can make our team better again.

 

[blaugrana1987]

Jesus Christ this board. Guy has 33yr, they extend his contract and give him pay bump. He is Barca legend, but player getting 10m in his 33s is not a thing we need roght now.

 

[Giginho75]

just for understand, because i'm not updated about the players contracts...
how long is the current contract of iniesta?
what does fcb want to do with him?

 

[GetIn]

There is a reason why Real Madrid does so much better than us when it comes to signing and selling players. If they notice a player is performing below standard for a prolonged period of time they will sell them or force them out of the club no matter what the circumstances may be. They are ruthless when it comes to selling players. They don't care whether the player is a club legend, been there for 20 years, or has delivered countless trophies to the club in the past.

This is the same policy we should be adopting but we are content to just sit back, put our feet up and offer raises to declining or underperforming players. This breeds a culture of complacency and laziness. Do you think a club like Madrid would keep around dead weight like Gomes and Arda? Fuck no, they would cut their losses and send them packing on the first flight out of Madrid.

There is no competition for places in this team. Had a bad season or two? Not justifying your transfer fee? Look lost on the field? Have no fears, you can stink up the place with your mediocrity for 3-5 more seasons while we pay you astronomical wages until we finally let your ass leave on a free! Every player on our squad needs to know that if they start shitting the bed, they can and will be replaced. Enough with the bloody 2nd, 3rd and 4th chances, it's time for Farto to man up and focus on being cut throat in the transfer market instead of arranging mid season friendlies in the middle east.

Iniesta has always been a loyal servant to this club and is one of our best players ever, but it's time for him to go. He still has one more year left and we should send him off in class, but we cannot afford to be giving declining players new deals at this point.