Erling Haaland

[Joan]

People overestimate what we know about Barca's finances. At the moment, there's no way to tell whether we're able to afford him or not.

Makes more sense to speculate whether he'd come.

 

[Barcilliant]

How did this become the Bar?a vs Utd thread lol.
Raiola will always point his client towards the money. Both City and Utd would break the bank in terms of wages and transfer fee.
If City or Utd pay 100 million plus Dortmund will sell.

People overestimate what we know about Barca's finances. At the moment, there's no way to tell whether we're able to afford him or not.

Makes more sense to speculate whether he'd come.

Speculate?
We couldn't even afford ONE player who was out of contract this summer.

 

[Joan]

Speculate?
We couldn't even afford ONE player who was out of contract this summer.

When did that happen?

 

[khaled_a_d]

People overestimate what we know about Barca's finances. At the moment, there's no way to tell whether we're able to afford him or not.

Makes more sense to speculate whether he'd come.

Exactly.
Even the presidential candidates are waiting to see the official records of the club, but somehow the fans thinks they know better

 

[Rassvet]

1) Nesta - Maldini
2) Ferdinand - Vidic
3) Puyol - Pique
4) Ramos - Pepe
5) Carvalho - Terry

Also, Barcelona - United 2009 was arguably the most star studded CL final ever. Prime Messi and CR7. Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Alves, Henry, Eto'o, Pique, Rooney, Tevez, Scholes, Giggs, Ferdinand, Vidic, Carrick, Evra, Van Der Saar.

4 world class centerback partnerships and one that was carried by its midfield.

 

[ebc_99]

If he has any sense in him, he will opt an EPL team to join, City or Liverpool most likely.
Let's stop dreaming about him. The chance are minimal even if Messi goes...
The best that can happen to Barca is if his move creates a domino effect of other transfer that might push a decent attacker to join Barca

God you guys are depressing, why would he be smart going to Liverpool or City? If you are a player like him you don't want to join a team that's already winning, because it is closer to the end of that cycle. You want to join a team before they start winning so you can become the catalyst for the return to the top and be remembered for doing something spectacular.

Be a Cruyff or Maradona not a Fabregas or Thiago.

Those clubs don't have the romance of Barca, the lifestyle, the weather, the stadium. Bringing Barca back to the top would make him a bigger legend than he would ever be in the EPL.

 

[Barcaman]

God you guys are depressing, why would he be smart going to Liverpool or City? If you are a player like him you don't want to join a team that's already winning, because it is closer to the end of that cycle. You want to join a team before they start winning so you can become the catalyst for the return to the top and be remembered for doing something spectacular.

Be a Cruyff or Maradona not a Fabregas or Thiago.

Those clubs don't have the romance of Barca, the lifestyle, the weather, the stadium. Bringing Barca back to the top would make him a bigger legend than he would ever be in the EPL.

Agreed with you. Building a new legacy with Pedri an Fati by your side in a historic club and beautiful city is great incentive.

I am not too optimistic but fact is we do need a center forward desperately.

 

[serghei]

1) Nesta - Maldini
2) Ferdinand - Vidic
3) Puyol - Pique
4) Ramos - Pepe
5) Carvalho - Terry

Also, Barcelona - United 2009 was arguably the most star studded CL final ever. Prime Messi and CR7. Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Alves, Henry, Eto'o, Pique, Rooney, Tevez, Scholes, Giggs, Ferdinand, Vidic, Carrick, Evra, Van Der Saar.

Pretty insane...

Too bad Alves and Abidal missed it.

 

[Birdy]

God you guys are depressing, why would he be smart going to Liverpool or City? If you are a player like him you don't want to join a team that's already winning, because it is closer to the end of that cycle. You want to join a team before they start winning so you can become the catalyst for the return to the top and be remembered for doing something spectacular.

Be a Cruyff or Maradona not a Fabregas or Thiago.

Those clubs don't have the romance of Barca, the lifestyle, the weather, the stadium. Bringing Barca back to the top would make him a bigger legend than he would ever be in the EPL.

That's an aspect, but it's not only about that.
It's about where football is being played at the highest level. And that's EPL since a few years back.

Plus, we are seeing already how City changed their game-style and are coming back on top after 3 years, when people thought their cycle is over.
Something similar might be at work in Liverpool.

Plus, it's more tempting to join Chelsea or United, and try to be the star of the era when they are going to be winners again, than go to Real/Barca.
Because they are in a far superior league/environment.

The only edge there is for Real/Barca is i)weather/climate/culture (which will play no role for a Norwegian like Haaland), and ii) prestige/history.
It's really only ii) in the end of the day and I doubt that's enough

 

[KingLeo10]

That's an aspect, but it's not only about that.
It's about where football is being played at the highest level. And that's EPL since a few years back.

Plus, we are seeing already how City changed their game-style and are coming back on top after 3 years, when people thought their cycle is over.
Something similar might be at work in Liverpool.

Plus, it's more tempting to join Chelsea or United, and try to be the star of the era when they are going to be winners again, than go to Real/Barca.
Because they are in a far superior league/environment.

The only edge there is for Real/Barca is i)weather/climate/culture (which will play no role for a Norwegian like Haaland), and ii) prestige/history.
It's really only ii) in the end of the day and I doubt that's enough

Here's a data point that severely dampens your argument.

CR7 couldn't wait to leave the best team in the world in the best league in the world (from 03-08 at least) to join a RM that had been the laughing stock of Europe the last 6 years with perennial R of 16 exits.

Barca and RM have a special allure to generational players.

But of course, the self professed "I let the data do the talking" won't actually consider this data in this instance.

 

[ebc_99]

That's an aspect, but it's not only about that.
It's about where football is being played at the highest level. And that's EPL since a few years back.

Plus, we are seeing already how City changed their game-style and are coming back on top after 3 years, when people thought their cycle is over.
Something similar might be at work in Liverpool.

Plus, it's more tempting to join Chelsea or United, and try to be the star of the era when they are going to be winners again, than go to Real/Barca.
Because they are in a far superior league/environment.

The only edge there is for Real/Barca is i)weather/climate/culture (which will play no role for a Norwegian like Haaland), and ii) prestige/history.
It's really only ii) in the end of the day and I doubt that's enough

EPL is better right now but not far superior, besides that can change quickly, but what won't change is Barca and Real being the two biggest draws in the world which they have been for decades. Why would Lifestyle, culture and climate not be important to a Norwegian either, of course it would, who doesn't want to live somewhere where it is sunny most of the time, I am from Ireland the cloudiest place in Europe and I would love to live in Barcelona.

You are selling Barcelona short, Man Utd are a comparable club but Chelsea aren't, why would anyone care about being the star at Chelsea. If I had the choice, it would be a no-brainer, the only question is, can Barca afford him, if the answer is yes then I think we have as good a chance as anybody.

 

[Yannik]

People overestimate what we know about Barca's finances. At the moment, there's no way to tell whether we're able to afford him or not.

Makes more sense to speculate whether he'd come.

What we do know is that

• Barca are 1,173bn in debt, including transfer related fees with 730m of that sum due in the short term while 266m is owed to the banks by 30 June.
• We have a pandemic, revenue was already lower than costs for a long time, but it's particularly bad now.
• Messi alone earns 139m a season including bonuses and an image rights contract.
• Take Messi out and Barca is still the highest payer in wages in Europe.
• Players accepted voluntary wage reductions, still apparently the club was unable to pay squad wages for December and January.

So without acting like some sort of financial expert I cannot imagine how in the right mind Barca could liquify >100m of anything right now. Even if that works, it will likely just be through more debt and in one year we will read about Barca now being at 1,4bn in the red. Just delaying and further worsening the problem. Next season you would again have the same problems, but the number would be even higher.

I cannot really grasp why people just chose to ignore it and speculate about Haaland, like that is even a priority. To me this all sounds like a very dramatic situation.

 

[slicknick]

What we do know is that

• Barca are 1,173bn in debt, including transfer related fees with 730m of that sum due in the short term while 266m is owed to the banks by 30 June.
• We have a pandemic, revenue was already lower than costs for a long time, but it's particularly bad now.
• Messi alone earns 139m a season including bonuses and an image rights contract.
• Take Messi out and Barca is still the highest payer in wages in Europe.
• Players accepted voluntary wage reductions, still apparently the club was unable to pay squad wages for December and January.

So without acting like some sort of financial expert I cannot imagine how in the right mind Barca could liquify >100m of anything right now. Even if that works, it will likely just be through more debt and in one year we will read about Barca now being at 1,4bn in the red. Just delaying and further worsening the problem. Next season you would again have the same problems, but the number would be even higher.

I cannot really grasp why people just chose to ignore it and speculate about Haaland, like that is even a priority. To me this all sounds like a very dramatic situation.

THIS. As much as I would love to speculate on us pining for Haaland, the financial reality makes it look impossible..Not to mention that other clubs interested in him are run much better than we are

 

[Raketa10]

What we do know is that

• Barca are 1,173bn in debt, including transfer related fees with 730m of that sum due in the short term while 266m is owed to the banks by 30 June.
• We have a pandemic, revenue was already lower than costs for a long time, but it's particularly bad now.
• Messi alone earns 139m a season including bonuses and an image rights contract.
• Take Messi out and Barca is still the highest payer in wages in Europe.
• Players accepted voluntary wage reductions, still apparently the club was unable to pay squad wages for December and January.

So without acting like some sort of financial expert I cannot imagine how in the right mind Barca could liquify >100m of anything right now. Even if that works, it will likely just be through more debt and in one year we will read about Barca now being at 1,4bn in the red. Just delaying and further worsening the problem. Next season you would again have the same problems, but the number would be even higher.

I cannot really grasp why people just chose to ignore it and speculate about Haaland, like that is even a priority. To me this all sounds like a very dramatic situation.

Good post.

 

[Bobo32]

The club was said to be headed toward bankruptcy when Rosell took over, too. After giving away a couple of players, suddenly there was a lot of money to spend.
I think Haaland is the type of player where the alternative cost of not buying might show to be larger than the transfer fee. I wouldn't be surprised to see him come.