Village Idiot

Koke supported him very well. That Busquets-Koke-Pedri midfield was very well balanced.

Busquets is 33 and has been playing 50 games a season since he was 20. Hopefully Nico can take over.

I hate "honorable defeats" in football, but given where we're coming from, yesterday we played well and with a little more luck we would've won. Particularly after Pedri and Fati both came in. Time to end the grieving, new avatar it is.

Like somebody stripped the soul from his body. Maybe a change of scenery will help him, dunno.

Well, he's been more passive on the pitch this season, I feel like he's given up. But off the pitch, etc... he's always been a pro. Anyway, he seems Villa-bound at this point.

Our Managing Director said that any further transfer will indeed by contingent on freeing up enough wage cap.

He's a bag of hot air. My worry is that he will indeed put our non-existant money where his mouth is. That said, this time he's surrounded by rather sensible people that hopefully can stop him.

Lots of talk that Morata to Barça is very close to done. Presumably a swap for Griezmann (who's on loan at Atlético). We're not particularly flush with goalscoring talent, but dunno about this one...

We did, but La Liga refused.

Digne was always very reliable for us when called upon, and by all means a class act. During the 2017 terror attack in Barcelona he was in the vicinity and assisted the wounded. I'd love it if you signed him.

We were missing 16 players yesterday, due to both injuries and Covid, and nonetheless managed to sqweak out a 0-1 win against an - admittedly poor - Mallorca side. Despite our awful start we're now 1 point off 4th place, I'll take that. Getting Pedri, Fati and Torres into the side will be a huge boost. Hopefully they all stay healthy.

That's the short of it. He has lots of ability but lacks professionalism (the stories of him being late to training have become a meme, and even his teammates openly joke about it) and he's made of glass. He's also not the smartest player on the pitch but his talent can sometimes bail him out, unlike others. The story with him over the years is that he'll put a promising string of games and then break down. Personally I'd like him to stay, it's not like we're flush with talent at the moment, but not at the money quoted. The story around here is that you're only club that will meet his agent's demands (€20m net wages and 20m sign on fee) but Dembelé doesn't want to sign for a team battling relegation.

Reports that we turned down a sponsorship offer from PIF. We could've been like brothers!

The transfer is now official. Now I hope he doesn't spend the next 6 months training.

Looks like Torres signing is on hold because of wage cap issues. There's a rumor La Liga is going to block us from signing anybody.

He fucked up his knee and he lost a lot of his athleticism. He's a shadow of his former self.

Article in Mundo Deportivo today regarding the Dembelé situation. According to them: - Besides our extension, he has offers from Liverpool, NUFC, and ManU - NUFC is putting the most money on the table - However, Dembelé doesn't want to sign for you unless you secure premiership status, so he might wait this out until summer. They are not the most reliable newspaper, but they aren't 100% BS either, so make of that what you will.

30-year loan against the expected additional revenue (naming rights, hospitality, sponsorships, etc...) the redevelopment will bring.

This past weekend Barça held a referendum for refurbishing Camp Nou and the adjacent area. It passed, and work will begin next season and last two years. I voted yes, because the stadium is really old and it shows, but the €1500 million pricetag gives me pause, given our current situation.

More info coming out about the deal: apparently it's 4 installments and the first one is due this summer, not now. Thanks, Soriano.

If Dembele resigns he's expected to do it for roughly the same amount he's earning now, so not much change there. Regarding Torres, the quick answer is, since we are over the cap, we have to clear 4 times Torres' wages before we can register him. We have already cleared Agüero's salary (6 mil). And I know in some cases you can do 2-to-1 instead of 4-to-1. Securing extra revenue (player sales or sponsorships) would also count. The rules are a bit arcane, tbf.

Our issue (short term, long term we have lots of other problems) is essentially La Liga's FFP rules. We are over the wage cap and we can't register new players unless we free up wages. So I'm guessing the Ferran Torres signing is contingent on us getting rid of people. Coutinho would be ideal, but we'll see what market he has, he's been abysmal this season. There's talk of selling Dest, and while he's not been great, our other only natural RB is Dani Alves... We also have an issue where people like Nico or Gavi have very low contracts (Gavi is on 100k/season!) with very low release fees. We need to resign them before somebody else comes in and buys them. But that will also eat into our wage cap.

Because the contracts have yet to be drawn up? It's just an agreement in principle, Ferran will remain a City player until the window opens.

I hope so, too. FWIW, his current injury is unrelated to his knee issues (pulled hamstring).

We played really well yesteday and if we had an actual senior striker, we would have won. It's the first time we look good against decent opposition in the whole season. Hopefully with Ferran Torres coming in, and Fati and Bratwaithe (yes, him) coming back, we'll get enough firepower to get back in the Top 4. Despite our truly horrendous first half of the season, we're just 2 points off 4th place.