Will Lionel Messi leave Barcelona?

[Mamoon]

Messi has too much power at Barca, when he sulks so does the team. Barca's manager hasn't been in the job for even a season but when he wanted to instill new tactics, Messi lead the revolt.

You cannot have a player bigger than the club, even Kenny Dalglish was a GOAT when player/manager but didnt have the power to change the culture of the club.

Poch was sacked long time ago bro, Jose has been in charge. Poch is close mates with the President of Barca so he might still be in the running.

As great as Kenny was, he was not comparable to Messi by any measure. When you have a player of Messi, Ronaldo, Pele, Maradona etc. stature, then at times they do become bigger than the team in some aspects.

Plus more importantly, in modern football, players hold way more power than they did in the 80s. Hence the comparison with Kenny is pointless.

Besides, Messi is the one trying to preserve the culture of the club which is being destroyed by Bartomeu.

They sold Neymar and then replaced him with Dembele who is highly talented but far from a finished product. Barcelona needed a finished product to replace him. That severely weakened the side.

They bought two extremely expensive but misfit players in Coutinho and Griezmann and hired mediocre, defensive managers.

Barcelona’s traditional playing style and penchant to give youth chance diminished. They swapped one of the best young CMs in the world ( Arthur) for a 30 year old Pjanic who will be done in a couple of years.

They keep playing finished midfielders like Vidal and Rakitic without giving young players like Puig a genuine shot.

Ansu Fati is incredibly talented but he has been underplayed because the manager does not have the guts to trust youth.

The so-called new tactics of Setien were to play 4-4-2 and use Vidal as an offensive midfielder. Messi is not going to sit back and let his last few years go down the drain because of some mid-table clown manager who doesn’t have a clue.

Look at Bayern and how they have reaped the rewards of giving chances to talented youth. If Alphonso Davies was in Barcelona, he would be sitting on the bench for Alba, but at Bayern, he has become one of the best in the world in his position.

The signs were there for Barcelona for 2-3 years now but they didn’t act because Messi kept dragging them to the league title year after year. They needed this humiliation to finally realize that they needed to change things.

Even the 4-0 at Anfield last year didn’t seem to wake them up.

It is fine if Barcelona want to sell Messi because he is too powerful and will be finished in 2-3 seasons, but they will have to reinvest very wisely because without him, they will turn into the new AC Milan. At least Messi will keep them on par with Real Madrid.

 

[Mamoon]

Oh yeah my bad. Thought Spurs still had Poch. forgot they have Mourinho at the helm.

Indeed. Messi has had the opportunity to carry his team on his own however he hasn’t been able to do that... think he needs a break.

Barca is morally down. They need to analyze where it has gone wrong. Perhaps inject some new blood in the squad. One Ansu Fati isn’t enough to change the fortunes of the team.

To be honest if I was able to choose between Poch and Koeman - I’d choose for Poch.

Wouldn’t mind him as the Dutch coach however reports are coming that Wenger has contacted the board...

Messi is carrying the team and has done so for 3 years. Take him out and watch what happens to this rotten club.

The only criticism is that he is not a good captain, but that is a separate issue.

Barcelona’s problems stem from the top. As I explained in my previous post, it all started in 2017:

- Neymar was sold and an adequate replacement was not signed. Dembele is a brilliant talent and no one knew that he was so injury prone, but Barcelona needed a player at his peak to replace Neymar.

- signing misfit players like Coutinho and Griezmann.

- persisting with old, finished midfielders like Rakitic, Vidal and Busquets. PSG made a huge offer from Rakitic last summer which they should have accepted with both hands.

- swapping Arthur for Pjanic.

- not giving adequate chances to Fati and Puig.

- Suarez should have been sold last summer.

Messi has every right to put his foot down. If Barcelona are going to waste the last 2-3 years of his career than he better leave.

 

[KingKhanWC]

As great as Kenny was, he was not comparable to Messi by any measure. When you have a player of Messi, Ronaldo, Pele, Maradona etc. stature, then at times they do become bigger than the team in some aspects.

Plus more importantly, in modern football, players hold way more power than they did in the 80s. Hence the comparison with Kenny is pointless.

Besides, Messi is the one trying to preserve the culture of the club which is being destroyed by Bartomeu.

They sold Neymar and then replaced him with Dembele who is highly talented but far from a finished product. Barcelona needed a finished product to replace him. That severely weakened the side.

They bought two extremely expensive but misfit players in Coutinho and Griezmann and hired mediocre, defensive managers.

Barcelona’s traditional playing style and penchant to give youth chance diminished. They swapped one of the best young CMs in the world ( Arthur) for a 30 year old Pjanic who will be done in a couple of years.

They keep playing finished midfielders like Vidal and Rakitic without giving young players like Puig a genuine shot.

Ansu Fati is incredibly talented but he has been underplayed because the manager does not have the guts to trust youth.

The so-called new tactics of Setien were to play 4-4-2 and use Vidal as an offensive midfielder. Messi is not going to sit back and let his last few years go down the drain because of some mid-table clown manager who doesn’t have a clue.

Look at Bayern and how they have reaped the rewards of giving chances to talented youth. If Alphonso Davies was in Barcelona, he would be sitting on the bench for Alba, but at Bayern, he has become one of the best in the world in his position.

The signs were there for Barcelona for 2-3 years now but they didn’t act because Messi kept dragging them to the league title year after year. They needed this humiliation to finally realize that they needed to change things.

Even the 4-0 at Anfield last year didn’t seem to wake them up.

It is fine if Barcelona want to sell Messi because he is too powerful and will be finished in 2-3 seasons, but they will have to reinvest very wisely because without him, they will turn into the new AC Milan. At least Messi will keep them on par with Real Madrid.

Messi at Liverpool would never hold so much power, this is the culture of Anfield. The team and fans are very loyal to stars but they cannot look down on anyone or try to implement their own ways.

Barca simply dont have any decent defenders along with no real system of play. They look to move the ball around at pace and wait for their attackers to do the damage. Barca always feel they can outscore the opponent but this doesnt work against the big teams as they realised when mauled by Bayern.

I dont think Messi will leave, he wants more money so kicks up a fuss after a poor result or poor season.

 

[Mamoon]

Messi at Liverpool would never hold so much power, this is the culture of Anfield. The team and fans are very loyal to stars but they cannot look down on anyone or try to implement their own ways.

Barca simply dont have any decent defenders along with no real system of play. They look to move the ball around at pace and wait for their attackers to do the damage. Barca always feel they can outscore the opponent but this doesnt work against the big teams as they realised when mauled by Bayern.

I dont think Messi will leave, he wants more money so kicks up a fuss after a poor result or poor season.

Very, very few teams have had a player of Messi’s caliber and stature and Liverpool isn’t one of them. We don’t really know how Liverpool would have reacted if they had Messi, especially if he had come through their youth system like he has at Barcelona.

The comparisons with other stars is pointless because they are not comparable to Messi. Only 4-5 players in history are, and none of them played for Liverpool or even in England.

It is easy for fans of other clubs to state that Barcelona should not let Messi influence the direction of the club because they cannot think from the perceptive of Barcelona and what Messi means to them.

Messi obviously doesn’t want to leave. If he wanted to, he would have left already. But he will also not let the board waste his last years with their awful decision-making.

 

[Mueez]

Messi is carrying the team and has done so for 3 years. Take him out and watch what happens to this rotten club.

The only criticism is that he is not a good captain, but that is a separate issue.

Barcelona’s problems stem from the top. As I explained in my previous post, it all started in 2017:

- Neymar was sold and an adequate replacement was not signed. Dembele is a brilliant talent and no one knew that he was so injury prone, but Barcelona needed a player at his peak to replace Neymar.

- signing misfit players like Coutinho and Griezmann.

- persisting with old, finished midfielders like Rakitic, Vidal and Busquets. PSG made a huge offer from Rakitic last summer which they should have accepted with both hands.

- swapping Arthur for Pjanic.

- not giving adequate chances to Fati and Puig.

- Suarez should have been sold last summer.

Messi has every right to put his foot down. If Barcelona are going to waste the last 2-3 years of his career than he better leave.

I agree with the problems you have stated. It was really weird to see Barca getting annihilated by a team which they used to beat so easily however Bayern has become a great team since then.

Even though I’m a Real Madrid fan, it felt bad to see Barca perform like this.

First of all what Barcelona needs to do is sell Griezmann, Suarez, Vidal and Rakitic. Don’t know what they are going to with Pique as Lenglet won’t go anywhere so there is a chance he might leave Barca too...

Think rest of the Spanish players and Semedo will stay at the club.

Koeman will most probably play 4-3-3 so Barca needs to buy:

- a striker (e.g. Lautaro Martinez)

- an attacking CM (think of Donny van den Beek)

- a defender (maybe it will be Stefan de Vrij...)

With Messi, Frenkie and Fati - FC Barcelona has a pretty decent core and they could build a great squad around them.

It will be interesting to see how they start the new season.

 

[Mamoon]

I agree with the problems you have stated. It was really weird to see Barca getting annihilated by a team which they used to beat so easily however Bayern has become a great team since then.

Even though I’m a Real Madrid fan, it felt bad to see Barca perform like this.

First of all what Barcelona needs to do is sell Griezmann, Suarez, Vidal and Rakitic. Don’t know what they are going to with Pique as Lenglet won’t go anywhere so there is a chance he might leave Barca too...

Think rest of the Spanish players and Semedo will stay at the club.

Koeman will most probably play 4-3-3 so Barca needs to buy:

- a striker (e.g. Lautaro Martinez)

- an attacking CM (think of Donny van den Beek)

- a defender (maybe it will be Stefan de Vrij...)

With Messi, Frenkie and Fati - FC Barcelona has a pretty decent core and they could build a great squad around them.

It will be interesting to see how they start the new season.

Barcelona need an explosive winger and move Messi back to the false 9 role. They have no width at the moment. They should target Sancho.

It is highly unlikely but Bernardo Silva in an advanced midfield role would be absolutely brilliant.

 

[Firebat]

Lionel Messi: PSG boss Thomas Tuchel expects forward to stay at Barcelona

Paris St-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel says Lionel Messi is "very welcome" at the club - but expects the forward to remain at Barcelona.

Tuchel's French champions lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in a tightly contested Champions League final on Sunday.

"What coach says no to Messi?" Tuchel told BT Sport. "I think Messi finishes his career in Barcelona. He is Mr Barcelona."

It is thought Messi, 33, has never been closer to leaving the Nou Camp.

The Spanish giants' season ended in a humiliating 8-2 Champions League quarter-final defeat by Bayern.

Messi is Barcelona's all-time top scorer with 634 goals in 731 games and has won four Champions Leagues, 10 La Liga titles and six Ballons d'Or.

Qatari-owned PSG are among the few clubs in world football with the financial capacity to meet his buyout clause of 700m euros (£627.96m).

"We decided not to talk about transfers in this period," said Tuchel. "We will sit together in the next days. We have many things to do to keep the level of the squad."

PSG have won the Ligue 1 title in seven of the past eight seasons, but it is in Europe's elite competition where owners Qatar Sports Investments measure success.

They had not previously gone further than the quarter-finals of the Champions League since their takeover in 2011 - despite spending a combined 402m euros (£362m) on forwards Neymar and Kylian Mbappe alone.

Neither Mbappe nor Neymar were able to find a way past Bayern, but Tuchel said he was "proud" of the Brazilian for playing "a match with an incredible capacity" - adding it was "a miracle" Mbappe was available at all following an ankle injury.

Speaking on PSG's plans for the summer transfer window, Tuchel added: "We lost lots of players for this campaign and we lose now Thiago Silva and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting [who are out of contract].

"We need to use the transfer window now to make the squad wider. The campaign will be very demanding without any breaks. We need to build a strong, strong squad."

PSG play their first game of the new Ligue 1 season against Lens on Saturday, after the French top flight made its return on Friday - 167 days after the 2019-20 campaign ended early because of the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53885051

 

[ishtiaq_ctg]

Barcelona need an explosive winger and move Messi back to the false 9 role. They have no width at the moment. They should target Sancho.

It is highly unlikely but Bernardo Silva in an advanced midfield role would be absolutely brilliant.

I dont think Messi has any desire to put the work required to be a false 9. He's just too laid back & lazy to do that.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Like Van Gaal I am sure Koeman will buy some mediocre Dutch players and have his own group. A few of them turn out to be handy but most of them are overrated. He did the same at Everton and brought in some mediocre Dutch players like Klaassen, Stekelenburg etc.. It's a Dutch thing to do.

Also Koeman's natural style is a more defensive one compared to some other Dutch managers, the reason he did better as manager of The Netherlands against strong sides. It won't be appreciated by Barca fans and especially Leo Messi. With time the football DNA of Barcelona is diminishing and changing with every new manager since Bartomeu got in.

I don't mind Koeman doing his thing as it would allow Real Madrid to breathe another year with its mediocre squad before the next 'big' Los Galaticos project in 2021.

 

[161]

He's submitted his request to leave.

Barto has destroyed Barca !

 

[Saj]

Lionel Messi makes his 767th appearance for FC Barcelona in all competitions (659 goals and 262 assists), equaling Xavi Hernandez’s record for the most apps for the club.