FC Barcelona

[jayramfootball]

Joao Felix took a massive pay cut to move to Barcelona agreeing to £345,000 (£6635 per week) a year until Barcelona can afford more.

As it turns out they now can and he’s getting £66,345 a week but it’s still not very high for a player of his quality.

Admirable to see a player prioritising the move over money and recognising his career hasn’t been a big success recently and trying to get back on track.

Think this is an amazing rare and an interesting contrast to Havertz who somehow managed to get more than he was getting at Chelsea. I find the whole concept of reward failure something which isn’t unique to football but exists at the higher levels in the world of employment very strange and ridiculous.

Lol , engineering another Havertz post.

Perhaps the people far more knowledgeable than you about the game decided Havertz wasn't quite the total disaster with 3 shit years at Chelsea that your narrative suggests... probably more likely than people being knowledgeable than you by far deciding to give a shit player a pay rise.

[Salibatelli]

Or maybe they were being pretty a stupid.

Felix is a good player with great skills, would have preferred him to Havertz, interesting to see he was happy to take a pay cut whilst Havertz asked for a payrise!

His finishing hasn’t been that great (though he shoots a lot from outside the area) but then neither is Havertz and Felix is far more talented.

[Zenith]

FC Barcelona Could Lose $273 Million In Olmo Registration Debacle

FC Barcelona can lose up to $273 million (€263 million) thanks to the debacle surrounding Dani Olmo's registration, or lack thereof, as explained by SPORT.

Barca received terrible news late on New Year's Eve in Spain, with La Liga releasing a statement detailing that it would not allow the forward to be registered for the rest of the 2024/2025 season as things stand.

"La Liga informs that, as of today, December 31, FC Barcelona has not presented any alternative that, in compliance with La Liga's economic control regulations, would allow it to register any player from next January 2," the correspondence read.

Those choosing to remain positive believe that Barca can turn things round by January 3, but pessimism is the general vibe among Culers and the "entorno" that engulfs the club.

Olmo is technically a free agent as things stand. And though his agent Andy Bara said to Fabrizio Romano that the decision made by the player is to "stay at Barcelona" while they are "not considering any other option", the huge amount of money that Barca would lose if he does end up walking cannot be ignored.

First there is the $50 million (€48 million) Barca is obliged to pay up for the rest of his contract until 2030 - even if the Euro 2024 winner is no longer on its books.

Add that to the $57 million (€55 million) it still needs to cough up to his last club RB Leipzig, and the potential, non-existent transfer fee that the Catalans would also forego.

According to German transfer market expert site Transfermarkt, Olmo is currently rated at $62 million (€60 million).

Furthermore, Barca sold its VIP boxes for the Spotify Camp Nou - still yet to be reopened while a renovation runs past schedule - for ($104 million) €100 million. Yet it is believed that this could have been done for a figure of $208 million (€200 million) instead meaning that an additional ($104 million) €100 million was missed out on.

Throw this altogether, and we're talking about a roughly huge $273 million (€263 million) sum which a financially-challenged club like Barca really can't afford as a black hole in its accounts.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomsanders ... n-debacle/

[UFGN]

That’s an insane amount of money to lose over a player, although if you read the article it’s a lot of supposition

[alexafc12]

I get players want to play for Barca but surely there comes a point when they start having a bit of self respect

The way they've treated some legends is shocking , players forced out , forced to take wage cuts , getting rid of legends (Xavi) in poor taste etc.

Olmo could benefit massively if Barca can't register him. You'd think he'd be able to command a huge signing bonus or salary and still have the possibility of having a salary from Barca. He needs to take them for everything they have promised. No reason to feel sorry for them - they would dump him on the side of a street in a heartbeat.

[Ach]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/ar ... eweq97gego

How do they get away with everything?

[Gordon Bennit]

I can only assume in the way when Real were in the shite and suddenly sold their training ground to the Spanish government for the sum they owed. It could be political to avoid a Real monopoly or could even be one of those weird self respect things where the Spanish couldn't tolerate the humiliation of such a sporting behemoth going to the wall.

The whole situation is a joke though. In 5 years time, they will probably announce plans to build the first stadium on the moon and will raise a trillion pounds by selling season tickets for 2050/51.

[UFGN]

I think there’s a lot of Catalan / Spain political schnizzle involved when the football authorities or Spanish Government are dealing with Barca.

You punish Barca, you alienate most of Catalonia. And that has political consequences.