Village Idiot

Why hasn't he gotten games over Masch? because Masch is better maybe? Then why all the hype about Bartra? I've seen loads of fans say that he's a future starter but if he's 24 and he can't beat out Mascherano, who isn't that good, then there doesn't seem much hope of him ever becoming good enough to start for a team like Barca Is there hype about Bartra? He's been under 4 different managers and none has deemed him a starter. Nobody around here considers him nothing but a decent backup. Certainly not gonna get better than Mascherano, who's really great.

Aye, definitely less than the sum of its parts.

Good signing for Milan, imho. Even if he's already 28.6 years old.

Aye, Mascherano is first (well second) in the team sheet for Luís Enrique.

A good box player wouldn't be bad for you, in my humble opinion. Most of the squad seem terrified of the box.

Sterling on Benítez's list for Real Madrid, according to As, alongside Kondogbia, Reus, Vidal. They want a right winger and a holding mid.

You're one year of age when you are born in Korea. IIRC they also don't add one year of age at their birthday but at the beginning of their year. So you can be 2 years older in Korean years than in "Western" count.

Bartra hinted that he might leave B'lona yesterday. It's not like we have a treasure throve of CBs...

It happens all the time, to be honest; it would be silly to enter a protracted transfer fee negotiation only for the player to tell you to fuck off at the end of it.

I think he's a decent player with a good upside. He's been steadily improving these past two years and he's still quite young.

Get out

Yeah, I didn't actually read the article until after posting He's nippy, for certain. Wouldn't say searing pace... he's small, so he's usually played on the wing whenever I have seen Málaga play. He's scored 8 goals for them, which is pretty good given how stupidly goal-shy Málaga are, plus he's not a centreforward. He's pretty good off the ball, always seems to make good runs and getting into positions.

Was a hot prospect when he first broke through; I think he was La Liga's youngest ever goalscorer at some point. He stalled a bit after that, but he's slowly been making strides. He's still young so he can still develop further. Small, quick, good feet... not a box player; usually deployed as secondary striker or on the wing. Sometimes plays with the blinders on, but he's young.

It would be so, so wrong if he ends up at Stoke instead

There's got to be a better Brazilian forward than a 30 year old hasneverbeen plying his trade in the Chinese league.

Funnily, the scout that pushed for his signing (Carles Reixach) would later manage Barça and is universally considered our worst manager ever. All is forgiven now. He tells that during the trial, he put Messi to play against boys two years older than him, and when he ran circles around them he saw that we had to get that little Argie lad.

Sporting slapped with a transfer ban in La Liga, due to outstanding wage debt.

Yeah, weren't they supposed to pay a huge fine to the football league if they got relegated?

Whenever I have seen Konoplyanka he's been top drawer. Probably a bit of a ball hog, but massively entertaining. I guess that with the new TV contract even unfashionable PL teams can offer massive wages to bring in real talent.

You really should, scrap that Gold Cup farce. I hope the Centenario Copa América goes ahead. The f***ing Gold Cup. I would love it if we just had one massive America tourney. Yeah, that would be tastic.

You really should, scrap that Gold Cup farce. I hope the Centenario Copa América goes ahead.

For Brazilian standards, that's not good at all imho. Tardelli and Firmino upfront? Dat midfield too... Defence looks good, though, even taking into account you're missing the likes of Silva or Marcelo. It's probably your strongest line. I saw that Rafinha is on the standby list. Given the season he's had, he has no business being near the Brazilian team.

No. Inter's interest came in many years later, when he had already played for the first team even. Messi reportedly refused because he thought he owed it to Barça to stick with them. There was a story about Messi's then manager getting a job at Madrid (the city) while our chief scout was still trying to convince the board to pay for Messi's treatment, but that's all there was to it afaik.

Interview with him up at Short List. http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/sport/lionel-messi-talks-champions-league-copa-america

The way I see it Ashley sort of promised to leave if he won something, right? So two reasons to celebrate.