Village Idiot

Neymar's reps have paid the money straight to Barça and we've accepted it. The farce is over.

16 different senior clubs at 25. Still will probably fall short of Burridge's record.

I don't think getting the actual money now or Aug 31 will have any material effect on the transfers we can or cannot make. I'd expect this to be resolved soon, anyway. La Liga is being difficult because they aren't happy at all at how UEFA ruled on the Javi Martínez case - which made it far easier for foreign clubs to trigger release clauses - and will stir up trouble at any occasion on this issue. Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

Don't see how they can refuse something on a contract. They can't. The long game here is to revise the release clause system entirely. It's pretty significant that La Liga is refusing payment for one, even if they will get overruled by UEFA.

Now talk is that we would use part of the money to buy Iñigo Martínez - which would be uncharacteristically sensible from us.

Yeah but they are reportedly asking 160m

Aye I feel so f***ing sorry for you. #Championsleaguetears Hath not a Barça fan hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as other fans are? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If we have a bad transfer window, do we not whine?

So we'll blow all the Neymar money on him, he'll end up being overhyped, and that will be it. Typical us.

Bale's great. His injury problems mask the fact he's been very good for Real Madrid these past 2 years when he's been available. Still think Neymar has much more to his game than him, but if Bale can put out a 40+ game season, he'll be up there.

Thiago to Bayern.

Aren't they asking 180m for him? Utter madness. Rather use the money to get two more proven players.

He's not.

Also there's talk that PSG wants to throw Di María in to sweeten the deal and free up wages. I despise him

Dybala/Dembelé are the names thrown around at the moment. Dybala looks the better player to me, but Dembelé would probably more useful as a complement to Suárez/Messi.

They might've just been forced to sell a top 5 player in the World. Unless they buy Cristiano they're not improving their attack, with that said, Barcelona has looked so horrible defensively for a few years now that maybe they can do something about that. We're signing some Colombian CB from Palmeiras this January. Yerry Mina, no idea if he's any good. Umtiti I have a lots of hopes for. Him and Piqué are a good partnership, we lack depth though.

It's Spanish law. Over here an employee can always break his contract and leave his employment, and this too applies to footballers (or any sportsmen, I seem to recall the rule was actually made following a basketball transfer). Release clauses are a band-aid so players are forced to pay a penalty for breaking the contract. And yeah, it hurts small clubs the most, since they have less bargaining power and any player that breaks out can then get scooped up by a relatively low price by bigger clubs.

Besides the fact they obviously want to help us and force PSG to bargain with us directly (although La Liga's president is a self-admitted and vocal Real Madrid fan), Spanish clubs have been making noises about how discriminatory the mandatory release clause system is vs. other European clubs, and the Neymar case is seen as a way to push the issue.

With Iniesta on the wane, we need somebody like Coutinho as the most attacking-minded midfielder. The plan is to sign both a midfielder and a left-sided forward with the Neymar money.

I just don't trust our board with any money to be frank. Our transfer record speaks for itself. That said, if that money buys us Coutinho+a good left sided forward, I'll be happy.

Neymar's transfer fee is about €1500 for every Barça member. I want my cut!

That was filthy. Maybe they won't be taking so much risks in a real game, but I'll add Napoli to the teams I should be watching this year.

Rafinha is being hawked around and he wants to leave to boost any chances he might have to go to the WC. We're asking €30m-€40m but knowing us, we'll be lucky to get half that. He's a more than good #10 if he keeps fit. Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

He signed a new contract last summer, but it seems that the new release clause was undisclosed. So I really don't know about the price... half a Morata? A bit less?

Also, Depor are going all in trying to get him back. Promised captaincy and all. But you can easily outbid them, I guess. Or could.

Lots of work-rate, makes himself a nuisance all game long and covers a lot of ground upfront. Good hold-up play, although he isn't the strongest. Good pace, nothing great technically but not a slumbering oaf. I mean, he has lots of good attributes so I'd be surprised if he were not an useful player to you, but I'm skeptical of his scoring record outside that season at Depor. I have also a natural mistrust of players' in their late 20s-30s that sign for smaller clubs after failing at a large one. But that has nothing to do with him in particular.