Village Idiot

We're still spending way above that cap, the exact figure will be released next month. What happens is that while we're over the cap we have big restrictions regarding signing/resigning players. In order to add 1€ of "new" wages we have to shed 4€ first, which is the reason for our firesale this summer.

In case somebody still wondered why we couldn't afford Messi, La Liga has released its wage caps for the season. It's brutal.

All the Western-related puns in today's Spanish press are probably the nadir of Spanish culture.

UEFA has dropped all action against ESL clubs, including the fines against the clubs that already quit. Yesterday was the last day they had to comply with a Spanish court order to do so, and they blinked. The court had also asked the European Court of Justice to define whether UEFA's monopoly over football complies with EU rules, which I think has UEFA quite scared (that's how the Bosman ruling happened).

Okocha and later Anelka gave me many happy weekends in Fantasy Footie. Fond memories.

It's weird because Anelka was still young (26-27 IIRC) but he was already in the "banished to Turkey" phase of a footballer's career.

Love it when a player of his stature signs for a minnow in his twilight years and still performs. Reminds me of Trezeguet's stint with Hércules.

Fati scored in his comeback game. We played well today for a change, even if Levante were quite trash.

Yesterday was one of the worst games I've ever seen from us in recent years. Utterly pedestrian. We're going to suck this year and the next most surely, and I've made my peace with that. We should still have enough for a Top-4 finish, but not playing like yesterday.

Allegedly they are the top bidders for our shirt, since the contract with Rakuten runs out this year. Wearing a crypto scam on our shirts would surely be a long way from Unicef.

What the bloody fuck man, am I not going through enough already?

Iniesta looked like an old man in his late 20s, not surprising tbf.

Incidentally, he's taking #10 - I love the balls on the lad.

Without a doubt, but he had a very problematic recovery from his knee injury. Let's see how he comes back...

I just realized that now that we've flipped Emerson, all our transfer expense this season is the 500k loan fee for Demir. Everything else (Agüero, García, Depay, etc...) all free transfers. And we've lost half our goal haul from last year in Messi and Griezmann. This is the worst transfer window in living memory, but I guess that's how things are after the Bartomeu mismanagement and Covid.

We've cut a *massive* amount of our wage bill this season (close to €200m, will see when the official figures are released by La Liga), will see if it's enough.

We aren't competing for anything this season, but if the wheels don't come off we should still have enough for a Top 4 finish in Spain. That said, we do have a crop of exciting young players so that gives me some hope for the future. Pity we lost Moriba, though. Him, Pedri, and De Jong would have sorted our midfield for the decade.

Man, we were surely broke. Let me see, if everybody's fit I guess we'll run out with: Ter Stegen Dest García Piqué Alba Busquets Pedri De Jong Dembelé Agüero Depay But the squad is paper thin.

I was hoping than when this happened it would be someone exciting... Like the Wijnaldum talk earlier in the summer. I don't get the signing either. He shouldn't see the pitch with everybody fit (forutnately).

I think this is the fourth time that Real Madrid signs Mbappé. Can't wait for the fifth.

Kinda odd that we'll sell him after just bringing him in. He's been allright so far, I guess we just really need the money. We'll still need a backup for Dest - rags are talking about a Bellerín loan.

Figuratively.

I want to die right now.

Yeah, it doesn't even rain too much down here.

Depay is the first Barça signing to score or assist in his first three games since Fábregas in 2011. He's looked certainly impressive so far. What went wrong with him at ManU?