Quite possibly the worst sporting director in the game is finally gone. Adios Zubi! A sad day for all Barca opponents.
I suppose you don’t really need to pay a Sporting Director if you can’t sign players for a whole year…
My man steven grenard is gone? what shit…
^ seems like Rodgers mismanaged the situation.
Jamie Carragher hit the nail on the head saying that Gerrard should not be judged against his former standard from his peak, he should be judged the same as the 20-something new recruits, if you did the latter he’s still in the top 2 players in the squad
I can’t see Rodgers being in the job this time next year.
loving the Messi to Chelsea rumours.
Guilleme Ballague was on Sky Sports News talking about the details of the contract saying that the £200m buyout clause (€250m) is structured so that Messi would have to pay it himself, so a club would have to pay him to pay it and would therefore have to pay tax on the transfer, so at 50% tax they’d have to pay him £400m.
The figure they came up with to buy Messi and pay him for 5 year contract was £690m. Fuck me!
Yeah these are some ridiculous numbers been thrown about. That said, I wonder if they get a third party involved to buy Messi’s contract and have them loan it to the new team, that might get them to avoid FFP restrictions. A bunch of Valencia and Atletico players are signed by a similar type of ownership.
The FA are pretty strict with that kind of stuff and they’d don’t let it fly at all. The club has to 100% own the player or have them loaned from another club that 100% owns the player.
I watched Messi rip Atletico apart last night, great game and Barca and Messi really looked like they were back to their best. Pledged his long term future to them after the game as well.
Similar to Gerrard, Messi is constantly judged against his previous high water mark instead of objectively based on current form. If the latter was true he’d be picking up the Ballon d’Or this evening.
Yes, Ronaldo won the Copa Del Rey and the Champions League but Messi is still playing better, helped Argentina to a WC final with 4 goals and an assist and isn’t far behind Ronaldo in la liga goals despite a few spells out. I imagine his goals per minute record is better.
On a tangent, it’s interesting that so many people are saying that Bale’s underperforming when he’s got a decent scoring record and he scored the winning goals in CDR and CL finals.
I think I’m gonna have to watch that game recorded, not too many times a great player goes ballistic against a top team like AtM. I hope Messi does make the switch, it would be awesome to see him in the PL, but he’ll need to lower his prices.
Also, since when is the Ballon d’Or a thing? I don’t recall people caring about it in years past, but now it’s written into player contracts. Maybe they will try to turn it into an Oscar style thing with awards for Best Leftback…Best Goalie…Best Coach…and ending with the Ballon d’Or…
In other news, Liverpool has a 5 match winning streak?
Messi will never leave Barca because he is Barca. This is just a ruse to get more money, AKA doing the Rooney.
He’ll finish off in the US for heaps of money when his time at Barca runs out.
Sky Sports News have been really hyping the Ballon d’Or. I think with the Ronaldo v Messi thing it’s got more headlines. Did you see Ronaldo’s acceptance speech last year. it was like when Halle Berry won an oscar.
Glad James won the goal of the year, that woman’s goal that everyone was hyping was pissing me off.
From smiles to scowls: Messi’s reaction to Aimar and Luis Enrique vids
http://www.marca.com/en/2015/01/13/en/football/barcelona/1421152511.html
http://www.marca.com/en/2015/01/13/en/football/real_madrid/1421184862.html
lol
I doubt it. Messi would not come to play in a second rate league and I don’t think he’s motivated by money to that degree. He’ll have a coaching position on Barca once he’s retired for a few years.
I think Messi may eventually go play in the premier league. Honestly I think his style of play is more condusive to English football.
The saddest thing was learning that Raul is coming to play on the NY Cosmos, which isn’t even in the MLS. Raul is probably one of the most well respected players in the history of spanish soccer and now he might as well come to play in a US indoor soccer leage.
Some MLS team should be trying to sign Pablo Aimar…come on that guy has more talent in his left foot than 90% of the MLS…
always injured and old. His peak was 10 years ago.
Fernando Torres has a brace in the Bernabeu. LMAO
I have seen it all now.
The fact that both goals were so quick in either half added end to the comic effect. More composure in front of goal than he’s shown for about 4 years. Navas should have saved the 2nd one though
Didn’t think he had that sort of speed anymore. Or is EPL just faster than LaLiga and now Torres is relatively fast again? 
While true generally, Madrid’s backline of Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo, and Carva are quite fast.