soccer
Last week at a restaurant, a fan questioned President Laporta about the Nico deal. Laporta replied, "We’re not agreeing to his agent’s request for a free agent clause. We’re not going to pay €60M and then let him leave for nothing, that’s not happening."
Discussion
Last week at a restaurant Mrs. Krabapple and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and the baby looked at me.
Both things totally happened.
The baby looked at you?
How about this week at the barber? Football journalism are so ass and people still eating it
Yes its fair we didnt sign him. 60m would go to waste if we didnt register him.
cant even blame nico
Particularly since such a clause has been in the contract of a few recent signing (Dani Olmo for example, he just chose not to lift the clause), so it wouldn't be the first time they agree to such a clause, the fact they refuse it is because they know there's a non negligible risk they have issues registering him, so it's perfectly fair for Nico's side to not be ok with that risk without protections.
I think it's understandable for both parties. It makes sense that Nico demands this, and it makes sense that Barcelona refuses the demands.
Source: trust me bro
How dare a player wants to be assuered he gets to play. The audacity I tell you
I mean, I have been annoyed by the hurr-durr from barca fans in this saga, but it is also understandable, that the club doesn't want to do this and that they are treated differently by the league, a least if the leak about them giving inside information to Bilbao is true.
Obviously a club doesn’t wanna fork out 60m just to let a player walk. But here’s a thought… maybe don’t sign players if there’s a chance that you can’t register them then.
But here’s a thought… maybe don’t sign players if there’s a chance that you register them then.
Yeah, I already went past that "thought" and alluded to the rumor ,that the party, that is responsible for determinating if a player can be registered or not forked confidantial information to a competitor and might thus not be impartial, wich would quite obviously impact the "chances" of signing players or not...
Okay but is it actually a fact that that happened or
It was reported by several outlets, I think we would have to wait how that unfolds and see if its (entirely) true or not, so far the reports seem credible.
Sure, but things get picked up by multiple outlets all the time. So saying “the fact that” when it’s, as you said, a rumor, makes no sense. More likely that Nico wanted assurances, and Barca couldn’t outright provide them. Far less likely that Tebas leaked financial data to Bilbao, who then informed Nico, who then demanded assurances.
In the first post I clearly stated "a least if the leak about them giving inside information to Bilbao is true", this is the premise of the point I'm making.
There's no point in having that conversation if you assume, that this is not true, since this is an entirely different premise.
The money of the sale of the VIP seats was not recorded in the intern financial statements. Barca hired a dubious auditor to certify that the money was there when it never was. They commited fraud to register Olmo. They absolutely are treated differently in that they get away with breaking the rules while the other clubs have to abide by them. Any competent president would severely punish Barca for that
This is not true. They hired an auditor who counted that money as income the year it was received, while the league wanted it prorated over the course of the deal.
No it is true. There wasn’t any money present from the sale in the interim financial statement.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Barca/comments/1jpl5ag/la_liga_regarding_the_corporate_transaction/
The matter is quite obviously to complex to summerise in 5 sentences. Barca obviously played the rules, cuz they were badly implemented, Barca argubly even broke the rules multiple times and should be punished accordingly, if found guilty by an independent investigation.
None of that justifies the president of the league leaking confidental internal information to a competitor to the disadvantage of the club. This is a major blow to the integrety of the league and can potentially collapse the entire FFP, if they fight through the court system.
Same with Laporta not bending to his demands. Laporta was taking care of Barcelona's interests and Nico was taking care of his own. Nobody to blame, just two sides that didn't agree on some terms. At the end of the day, Nico got a huge improvement on his paycheck and Barcelona continues to pursue their original targets.
Barcelona continues to pursue their original targets.
Lol
Nico reached out this summer, not the other way around, that's what he meant.
Not that our "original targets" were much better, I seem to remember Luis Diaz being name dropped a lot before the Nico saga.
Maybe just put in some effort and perform, and it won't be a problem? Players today basically want guarantees of being starters in their contracts - how about instead, if you think you're hot shit, you'll earn it automatically like everyone else 🙂
I don’t think you understand the context . This is about him getting registered to play and if they can’t register , he gets to leave as free agent . He can’t even be in the team if barca can’t register him
you dont even understand what the topic is about dude. go try reading again
So turns out the story from last week wasn’t fake. The guarantee registration was an obstacle to the deal.
If you believe this ridiculous story, at least
Is it really ridiculous?
Why should Nico risk not being registered?
Why should we risk losing that transfer fee for nothing?
This story about Laporta saying this to a fan at a restaurant is ridiculous.
It's true. I was the fan.
So just run the club competently enough that you don’t need to worry about registering players, as far as I’m aware that is exclusively a Barcelona problem.
Nico being ostracised for wanting such a clause, when he’s 100% correct to do so.
The registration problems are a consequence of years of mismanagement during Bartomeu's tenure that was fueled further by the COVID pandemic. It was never going to be an easy fix considering the rigorous rules La Liga's FFP has. Technically Laporta could do a fire sale of all the remaining club assets and fix the registration problem but then everyone would attack him for doing so. Also, it's not exclusively a Barça problem. Teams like Real Betis have struggled with FFP too where they had to sell players they didn't want to just to comply with the rules and be able to register new players. You just hear more about Barça because of their status and the fact they tried a different route, which was done to be able to keep a competitive team.
The sane fans never ostracized Nico and his agent for wanting an escape route if things didn't go as planned. They are perfectly fine to ask that considering the fuss about Olmo/Victor case, while at the same time it's perfectly fine for Barça to say no to that and not risk flushing €62M down the toilet.
The real question is why Laporta insists on following this galatico policy of yearly big signings, when it isn't necessary and financially irresponsible.
You won the league. The elimination in CL wasn't due to lack of quality in the squad, but bad luck (and possible lack of mentality).
The wings have plenty of quality in Raphinha, Yamal and Olmo. Get lower priced veteran backup/rotation options for ST, LB & CB (unless Romeu is passable there, in which case RB). And save up some money for next season when you might need a long-term replacement for Lewa.
What yearly galactico signings? Since after the summer of 2022, Barça has only spent above €50M on just 1 signing, which was Dani Olmo last summer.
It's not like they wanted to sign Nico for the sake of just signing a player. They wanted a left winger because Flick's plan for next season was to move Raphinha into a more central role with a LW signing occupying Raphinha's previous position. It was also identified by Flick as one of the team's weak spots alongside GK (addressed) and a backup RB (I guess Eric Garcia will occupy that role going forward)
Also, the team doesn't need backup options for any of the positions you mentioned. Maybe LB can be seen as the weaker position in that sense with Gerard Martin but it's not like there is a gaping hole in there that needs to be addressed ASAP.
If you've been following the story, Nico's side initiated the contact this time. Laporta didn't insist on signing him.
This restaurant story is likely fake anyway because why would Laporta be this transparent with a random fan?
I don't think Barcelona fans blame him. And no one has ostracised Nico more than Athletic Bilbao fans and media when it looked like he was headed to Barcelona, with hatred all over the media.
I'm not happy that he didn't come, but I'm happy that Laporta didn't bend to the demands, which is something it wouldn't have happened a few years ago. It was Nico who contacted Barcelona to sign him, we can move on without him.
I’ve popped over to the Barca sub quite a few times since the whole Nico saga started, along with Diaz, and there’s been quite a many posts about how Nico is a money grubbing sell-out who just wanted a bigger contract and good riddance and all that so I think it’s accurate to say a good bit of the sub’s fans do, although we can all agree Reddit fanbases are hardly representative of the whole
We have a lot of loud reactionary fans over there. What happens a lot of the times is low quality toxic posts like those get removed or rightfully called out in the comments.
Some people can't help being overly dramatic.
Si
We can kove on without him
We are looking at Rashford Diaz Nusa Yildiz and the Monaco whizkid
Also we have 4 really talented wingers in the academy I think we will be fine
Would any of those signings not have a potential registration problem compared to Nico? I'm not really following it and just seeing headlines, first time I've dove in to one.
I'm talking sporting wise i don't think anybody besides the club and laliga actually know about the registration cause we heard 8929 different things idc that much to actually investigate
I’m pretty sure all of them earn less than Nico.
The issue with Nico may have been not just the registration guarantee, but that the deadline was allegedly July 19th. I think Barca would have been able to ultimately register him without too much drama, but they're going to have to make some moves first, and getting it done by the 19th would have been a challenge, especially since Tebas likes to play calvinball with the rules, making up new ones or trying to enforce rules that don't exist yet, to prevent Barcelona from registering players.
You can’t afford Diaz
"Ostracised", "hatred all over the media".... Lol. That's just wishful thinking on your part. Some fans didn't like that he "seemed" to want to go (emphasis on seemed, now I doubt all reports and especially anything Deco/Laporta said) after a great season, brother appointed captain, mum has a role as club ambassador, CL spot, squad more competitive, huge wages etc. But a guy with a spray can and his friend holding the ladder does not reflect the wider Athletic fandom's feelings.
And yes, some Barça fans are saying all sorts of things about Nico now. But it's also to be expected.
I agree you can and should move on. I've liked what I've seen from that guy Virgili, for one.
He's 100% right to do so and so is Laporta 100% right to not bend over and include a exit clause in the contract . Sad that he didn't come but happy The club didn't bend over to the demands
We move on
Exactly. Players can have demands now too and if it doesn't work out then it's not unprofessional to just take your business and talents elsewhere.
I’m unfamiliar with contracts in Spanish football. Is such an exit clause common in La Liga?
not really
Is he not doing that? The club was fucked financially when he was elected and he’s been doing a great job.
Nico being ostracised for wanting such a clause, when he’s 100% correct to do so.
No one is doing it except mostly Barcelona fans.
So just run the club competently enough that you don’t need to worry about registering players
He is running fine. Club problem should be solved in the next two years once renovated camp nou will be completely open.
most barca fans arent ostracising nico
And you know that how exactly?
Mate you also said it yourself, literally in this thread lol
I don't think Barcelona fans blame him. And no one has ostracised Nico more than Athletic Bilbao fans and media...
Mate, do you have the reading comprehension of a cat?
I really hope this is self reflection!
This guy gets it
Why would a player sign for a club that can't even guarantee he'll be registered?
He has all the right to not choose that option, the same that Laporta has to not accept his demands.
Jokes apart I think it’s all due to Laporta. He just keeps eating junk food and has fat belly. See Parez(Not that rb driver) he is fit eats healthy food and has done wonders.
Laporta should hit the gym and at least lead from front. I rest my case here and I mean it and Im not sarcastic here. Unhealthy lifestyle and eating junk food hampers cognitive decline in an individual. Useless president who even after 1940505055 seasons goes on splashing money like he uses his inflated salary for junk food. He is worse than Barto because at least Barto didn’t plan coupe against innocent and cute Messi.
This is why Florentino is better than that glutonous pig you guys have
W take.
Of course Nico and his agents should demand guarantees of being registered - but people forget he is the one who initiated all this and wanted to come ”at all costs” until he didn’t. No one is to blame here and so we move on.
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Really dont want to deal with this again next year. He closed the door with 100m buyout, he is simply just not worth that money. Also it is rather pathetic to go after him for third year when he used you twice before to get better contract
Regardless how good friend he is with Lamine. Rather get Rashford on loan and save up to sign top striker next season
Tbh. This transfer saga did show that he does not want to play for the club at all costs. If he really wanted to play for us he would have waited or done anything possible like Olmo did. I prefer we have as many players are possible who actually love the club and want to fight for it.
I was the biggest supporter of Nico to Barca. But that's done. If the player really wanted to come he could have had a little patience, could have at least do the polite and professional thing of talking to the Barca people and telling them he changed his mind. The way he went on to sign an extension during the night and revealing it in the morning without telling anyone was unnecessarily spiteful.
It's tough to believe Barça supporters are this lunatic. "He wanted a clause in case we couldn't register him, we said no, why was he so unprofessional by renewing with this club???"
As if Barça wasn't the peak of unprofessional clubs by not even being able to guarantee they can register their signings. I'm not sure there are any other big clubs with these doubts about such a simple thing.
I'm gonna be gracious and assume you aren't up to date with how things proceeded which is why you are so insulting now. Nico told his friends from the national team that he wanted to come to Barca. Nico sent his agent to talk to Deco after Barca showed they didn't want him anymore which convinced the board tp give him one more chance. Barca players were excited and were posting and showing off their friendship with him. And then what happens? Nico doesn't let anyone know, not Barca board, not his friends, and signs for 10 years with Athletic. I don't care about him using Barca to get more money. I care about him involving the Barca players in it.
That's not entirely how it happened but if it helps you cope, go right ahead
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How when we know for certain on thursday people close to him still believed he was signing for Barca and on friday morning Athletic was uploading the video of him announcing he's staying with them?
when we know for certain
We know nothing for certain when it comes to transfers. This is a giant game of telephone and controlling public perception.
Sounds like he was patient and talking to you, but said if I can’t play football this season I don’t want to be made to hang around. The issue is that you guys are constantly hanging on the precipice of buying players who won’t get to play football. Until players don’t have real world concerns about this, agents are gonna be asking for a way out if the worst happens.
Basically you guys fuck up the financial side and it’s you guys who should suffer not the player. At the end of the day, if it isn’t really at risk of happening, then it isn’t really a risk to the club to agree to such clauses, if there is really risk, then you can’t expect players to be chill about it!
No Barca player was ever left unregistered.
Exactly, so if there’s no risk, why not agree to the clause? If there is risk why should a player be made to own it.
If he asked for a clause saying if pigs fly I can leave for free, it would be weird but a total non-issue. This isn’t that, there’s much more real risk and Barca want players to own that risk not them.
I'm so confused how people think a clause letting a player leave for free if he isn't registered is ok. If you buy a PC but your Wifi doesn't work, you'll just put the PC outside letting anyone just take it? I know it sounds bad but that's how it is, players are products. They cost money, they generate money, they bring money.
And another thing, we were 4 days into the transfer period. The financial situation for Barca for 25-26 wasn't even out officially by the time Nico gave up waiting. Which is why I cannot be convinced that he truly was gonna sign for Barca. Nobody gives up after 4 days without having all the information.
It's hard to say why, given that we don't know the details of the clause, but allegedly Nico's agent wanted the registration deadline to be July 19th, which would have taken a herculean effort in terms of moving money off the books. They're making moves to free up money, but that takes time, and a deadline like that would put them in awful negotiating position, likely requiring them to sell someone they'd rather keep. And of course, there's the fact that we don't really know what Tebas will do when we try to register players, since he has wrongfully made up rules to prevent registrations (like with Gavi) or enforced rules that did not yet exist (like with Olmo).
Tell that to Olmo
Tell what?
I think he received a lot of pressure for him to stay and it worked. Just look at his face during the contract renewal video, does he look like a happy dude who just got a massive upgrade to his paycheck? He had seen how everyone in Bilbao, fans and media, turned against him when it looked like he was gone, with hatred all over and even in the streets. Everyone put a kind of pressure on him that he wasn't able to cope with.
We've got the reddit psychologists out now
He could work for el chiringuito reading emotions and making drama.
Lol, here we go again. You dreamt this. The guy with the spray can... "Hatred all over". Lol
Can somebody explain to me why they were signing Nico anyway? I know he’s a great player however Raphinha is coming off the season of his life so was the plan to play Yamal in the 10 and Raphinha on the right for next season?
He did PR with the barca spanish players and his agent did PR with the board.
The initial news at the start of the summer was that the door was closed for Nico to barca so they did their bit to get us interested then backtracked under pressure from Athletic and the promise of a gigantic contract with a more desirable release clause
Raphinha would go more central
Raphinha and Yamal played an insane number of minutes last season (you can find a million comments about how stupid and short-sighted Barca is for overplaying Yamal), and they needed a top player to be able to rotate. If they sit Yamal for Pau Victor or Ansu Fati, the attack really suffers. Adding Raphinha means all these guys can start 40-45 matches instead of 50+ and still needing to make do with inferior players a lot of the time.
Because we are one Lamine injury away from a disaster up front. Why is it so hard for people to understand that in today’s football, you need squad depth. The schedule is so congested. It’s also mostly a profile thing; none of our attackers in the first team can play the touchline winger role like Lamine does. Lewy is a striker, Rapha plays as an inside forward (he was used as a wide man in Xavi’s system and he wasn’t as comfortable with that), Ferran is way better as a striker than a winger, and again, if he plays on the wing, he drifts inside, and same goes for Pau Víctor.
God forbid both Lamine and Baldé get injured, we have absolutely zero presence out wide. And if the opponent decided to play a mid block or a low block. (which they absolutely would), we’d struggle HEAVILY. That’s why we went for Nico, he’s good at 1v1 situations, he’s great when isolated, he’s the sort of winger that puts fear in the defender when he gets the ball. And we need that. He would also solve our LB issue as he would actually stay on the wing and Baldé/Martín wouldn’t have to carry that side all by himself. Baldé actually plays that role very well, but Martín is way slower and worse at both defending and attacking, so he struggles heavily. He needs support. And Nico would offer that.
Personally, I wanted him the most. The only player on his level who also fits the profile and is somewhat realistic is Leao. The only worry I have with him is his pressing/defending.
Because having as many good forwards as possible is a good thing.
Lamine wanted his tik tok friend so bad
Nico left, Raphinha 10, Lamine on the right. Whenever Olmo gets the green-light you can rotate them all (since Raphinha can play all 3 positions). Right now its quite an issue because if one of them gets injured (Raphinha/Lamine) we are left with nothing on the wings and have to start cooking weird stuff like Balde winger, Gavi/Fermin or hope one of the kids does a good enough job (Dani Rodriguez or Pau Victor).
We really need some depth on the trident.
It's pretty rare to wish for this but I really wonder if Clubs shouldn't become more litigious toward fake stories. Where are we heading, just Breaking News:"Laporte stated hed have accepted payments in virgins" all day long.
As a neutral barca fan we don’t care. Huehuehe
Considering barca's financial struggles, and considering that Dani Olmo did exactly the same thing, the agent was within his rights to demand that the player leaves for free if the club cannot register him. If barca can register him, then that wouldn't have been an issue for the club. The player simply wanted assurances. However, I also understand the club's point of view. Should they not be able to register him, they would loose 60 million. This simply means the club is still struggling financially and shouldn't be buying players until their finances become healthy
The thing with Olmo was that it was Barca who wanted him first. So he had the leverage to ask for that clause. But in Nico's case, it was him who contacted Barca that he would do anything to join them. You can't blame Laporta when Nico suddenly wants a clause out of no where.
Barcelona presidents always print the best memes
How stupid is FCB
Why would you try to sign a player, he asks to for a guarantee to be REGISTERED TO PLAY or leave with a clause, and then say ARE YOU CRAZY? NO WAY
Why would you pay his release clause and sign him if you unsure at all?
Oh its Barca, look at last year. Let's sign some players illegally and then get the courts to force Liga to let them play
No fuking way he tells all that to a fan . Spanish media just cooks always . Next week they'll talk about how the goldfish in his house said that Nico was not ready to play for barca .......
That fans name?
Javier Tebas
It's true I was the table of the restaurant.
But he is already a Madridista.
He'd have to be lord of the plastics and a masochist to be fan of both and screw them both over.
The dark side of the force gives you power many considers unnatural.
Goldfish: Blurb blurb blurb blurb
Some journalists: Rodrygo to barca here we land
Fabrizio Fraudmano : "HERE WE GO"
"We are unable to quote the goldfish at this time because he couldn't remember what he said."
Oh don’t worry, since it’s about Barça the idiots here will take it as gospel anyway.
It the same shit with the million wingers and CAMs being linked to Bayern. The media these days(maybe always and I just took notice) just make complete nonsense up and throw it at the wall.
Then, they have all their bases covered, get plenty of engagement(negative or positive, a click is a click) and can claim they broke some story when 1/25 reports ends up hitting. It is honestly exhausting.
On the other hand, it is Laporta...
(/s)
What if the other team planted hidden microphones inside the goldfish?