Josep Maria Bartomeu

[DonAK]

Fake news as Barca already knew about him and made an approach but wanted him for B team initially.

Barca B of course

Barca competing with other top teams in Europe for big talents. Them offering 1st team football while Barca be like "Come and play for Barca B in the 3rd division and prove yourself first bro".

 

[Raketa10]

Surely fake news?
Bar?a legend Hristo Stoichkov spoke to Bartomeu about Alphonso Davies months before Bayern came on board. Bartomeu's response was "he is Canadian, no thanks." [@LuisOmarTapia] https://t.co/AEgJbwCSVt

Davies was indeed scouted by our scouting team. We could have signed him for 6-7 mil. Former Barca scout Vucevic told in interview today that they recommended him 3y ago but our top management refused.

Here is an interview. Unfortunately it's only in Croatian.

https://sportske.jutarnji.hr/sn/nog...r-razgolitio-barcelonu-nakon-debakla-15013692

 

[ronniecro]

i'm sure he didn't meant his nationality but the league he was playing in,i can definitely picture him rejecting him because of that

 

[Gaudi]

I would say it's likely fake news, but it wouldn't surprise me either. Barto only knows big name players he'll have to pay 100m+ for.

I honestly hope this is fake, no one can be this stupid.

 

[JamDav1982]

Davies agent said Barca wanted him but for B team.

They knew about him and wanted him just did not push to make him a first team player as Bayern did.

It is fake news.

 

[Mitchell1978]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/barcelona/story/4160357/barcelonas-champions-league-humiliation-by-bayern-was-their-own-faultyet-they-didnt-see-it-coming

This era of Josep Maria Bartomeu's club presidency, and the previous one, appear to have been on a mission to root out every trace of common sense, existing wisdom, identity and any of the other elements that once made FC Barcelona the greatest team in the world. And, boy, they've put their heart and soul into it.

But the absolute nadir of Blaugrana headless chickenry arrived in Lisbon on Friday night, exactly two decades after the club and fans felt as helplessly humiliated and embarrassed as they do now. Bartomeu and his acolytes were wholly unprepared for Neymar leaving them for Paris even though the warning signs were there for months. Honestly, a child could have deduced what was happening when he turned down both a wage increase and the club's wish to raise his buyout clause. Barcelona just carried on blithely and were caught with a sucker punch that had been telegraphed for about nine months.

Once Neymar stomped off, this board not only failed to re-assess their performance, their priorities, their decision making or their football manual, but they made things significantly worse by handing out fat contract renewals to players who, frankly, needed to be either replaced or feel challenged rather than ultra-secure. Just FYI, Busquets and Alba, who look dog tired and are in their very late autumn years athletically, have contracts for three and four more years respectively.

Institutionally, the past three years have, literally, been a re-run of the years between 2000-2003 when Barcelona alternated between being a figure of fun, a trophy-less desert and an institution careering toward a desperate cash-flow problem. More lessons that have gone unlearned. The key difference is that the football era Bartomeu and Co. have squandered and complacently misused benefited from players who were talented, tough-minded and determined enough to keep winning trophies. While the wheelhouse was overtaken by terrible decision-making and faulty strategy, the sailing line was maintained because the crew was worth a thousand of the commanding officers.

The thing Bartomeu's reign wanted to be famous for was their financial turnover. Would they rate higher than Real Madrid in the rich lists? It became an obsession. It's the kind of cart-before-horse nonsense where the overall lust for cash quickly obscures the real football values, corrodes the health of the relationship between a club and its squad, and ignores the delicate micro-climate in which the local fans' love for the club exists.

This board used Messi. Forgive the animal metaphor, but instead of thinking of the best way to protect and support their "G.O.A.T." (greatest of all time), they viewed Messi as a cash-cow, no more than a part of the Barca brand and a means to global marketing nirvana. They piggy-backed on his greatness, wondering not how they could support him, make him greater still, prolong his excellence but how much they could make out of his fame and global adoration while he was still active. It has been disgusting.

 

[Wambo]

Any idea why this guy never tried to sign a big name coach and instead went for literal whos like Valverde and Setien (he got lucky with Enrique in the first season tho) ?

 

[Andrew M]

Any idea why this guy never tried to sign a big name coach and instead went for literal whos like Valverde and Setien (he got lucky with Enrique in the first season tho) ?

To me it's not so much about the coach having big name but more about the personality profile.

 

[Total-Football]

To me the death certificate of this team was the highline played by bayern. They basically told us : "look.. Why not put everyone upfront when you old fucks can't even bust a run behind us without our fit defenders catching u"
They knew they were playing "names" and no actual athletes.

 

[Wambo]

To me it's not so much about the coach having big name but more about the personality profile.

I am not really sure what personality type are you referring to? What was the last time we had a coach that had passion, energy and charisma in the likes of Simeone, Klopp, Conte? We need someone who has actually balls and is not afraid to push player's limits.

 

[fergus90]

To me the death certificate of this team was the highline played by bayern. They basically told us : "look.. Why not put everyone upfront when you old fucks can't even bust a run behind us without our fit defenders catching u"
They knew they were playing "names" and no actual athletes.

Yup, my first thought exactly. At times there were about 15-20 yards between Lewandowski and the Bayern back line. They knew they could afford to take this approach and we were there to be mauled, our counter attack is basically non-existent.

Many teams have played us off the park despite us winning the game in the last 4 years. In fact on another day, Napoli would of buried their chances to be there last night in place of Barca. Setien had one moment in that game went it went to 2-4 and we had more control of the ball to bring on Fati and Puig to provide dynamism and the ability to run into the box. At that stage if you knick another, it's a different game the last 25 minutes.

Instead he sat back, looking like a fish out of water and made a sub 20 minutes too late.

 

[Horatio]

Is he dead yet?

 

[messi2140]

To me the death certificate of this team was the highline played by bayern. They basically told us : "look.. Why not put everyone upfront when you old fucks can't even bust a run behind us without our fit defenders catching u"
They knew they were playing "names" and no actual athletes.

Yh spot on, at first I thought that Bayern's highline might be suicidal , but after like 15-20 minutes it was clear that it wouldn't be the case.. The ironic part is that Bayern in 14/15 started with that same approach aswell , but quickly had to change because Barca was actually a threat that season.

 

[Gaudi]

To me the death certificate of this team was the highline played by bayern. They basically told us : "look.. Why not put everyone upfront when you old fucks can't even bust a run behind us without our fit defenders catching u"
They knew they were playing "names" and no actual athletes.

EXACTLY! Prime Barca would demolish that setup, so many spaces, but yesterday it was like come on, try it, even if you score 5 we'll score 10!

 

[Birdy]

Came across this on goal:
"Barca disregarded Stoichkov's Davies reccomendation
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu turned down Hristo Stoichkov's recommendation of Alphonso Davies, reports Univision.
The former striker told Bartomeu about Davies months before Bayern Munich made the move to sign the former Vancouver Whitecaps star.
However, the Barca president said that he was not interested because Davies was from Canada."

Very likely to be true.
Shows what is the problem when you have a person who does not have a clue about footbal running the club and taking decisions that should have never been his responsibility to take