Everyone's broke and no one knows wether Newcastle will have big funds available. Juve and Barca have done a weird player swap to balance their funds. Bayern look likely to sign Leroy. Schalke are probably in a terrible financial position, no one but me cares, but why else am I starting the thread. Should be a more calm transfer period than the last ones, oil-based buys might happen but above that, no one really knows what the market is. Have fun!

Ok, I misspelled the title and apparently I can't edit it, so if there's any mod left, just delete it

this arthur - pjanic deal that is soon taking place is probably the worst in barcas history and thats saying something. how the **** is it possible to be this incompetent in the transfer market?

Sancho plz. Badly need a left back whose not Shaw and a CB partner for Maguire. CM will depend on Pogba.

Meunier on a free transfer seems pretty decent.

Just discovered we're releasing the player regarded the richest in the world. Didn't even know we had him. I'd of stuck him in a few first team games in exchange for a few hundred million...

i feel like arthur was hyped up way too much so now people have to be extra upset about him leaving. the truth is he has never really done much. there's some talent there, but he's also about to turn 24 which is too old to be all talent and potential. and he doesnt seem to take his football all that seriously

i guess ive just always been lower on him than most people. that said maybe the juve lab and grim and grey turin will get more out him with less distractions than barcelona

Barca are broke. They wasted the Neymar money.

They need money. This works out great for them on paper. They won’t be paying out to juve right away, it’ll be over the course of 5 years. So bringing in all that money this summer, evens out the book.

After securing top players in Ziyech and Werner, I feel what we need to be top tier (at least on paper) is a world class CB, a new LB, Kai Havertz, and possibly a world class GK but I'm not greedy

theyre not broke and theyre not getting any real money for arthur anyway

it’s probably something like 40% they’re tired of him 60% weird accounting tricks

but all my life people have said barca are broke and it’s never been true. it’s not true this time either

He is no Cedric Soares, but I'll guess it is alright

To play the devil's advocate, on some level, I can understand Barca (Barto).

Arthur isn't setting the world on fire, and they are far more in need of someone who can open up defenses than someone who passes the ball around well. And I think Arthur has failed to show he's capable of being an offensively minded midfielder. He's good at distributing and deep lying playmaking, but he isn't really making any Iniesta-esque incisive passes to open up compact defenses which is exactly what Barca have been needing ever since Iniesta left.

I also think a midfield of FdJ + Arthur is fairly passive. I mean, I really rate FdJ, and Arthur is solid, too, but neither of them are huge assets going forward. In possession they're good at retaining under pressure and distribution, but Barca desperately need someone from the midfield who can pair up with Messi and Griezmann and make their offense flow.

And for that purpose, Pjanic might not be a terrible idea. Pjanic is after all still "only" 30 and he was legit world class a few years back. If he can find that form again, I can see him being a great success.

Granted, this is still an extremely short sighted move by Barcelona. And that's what I refered by mentioning Bartomeu in the first bit here. There is 1 year until election, and if Barca don't dramatically improve, I cannot imagine that Bartomeu won't be gone. And whilst a big risk, I think going YOLO for Pjanic is still more likely to potentially turn the ship around immediately (for Bartomeu more than anyone), than to keep Arthur and make a rebuild that might take a while. Not to mention that due to Messi's age, they do need to act now, or else it will be rebuild on the menu.

Ultimately I in no way agree with what Barcameu are doing, but it does make "sense" from this perspective. Arthur could easily become a world beater, and Pjanic could continue to be bang average, but in the name of idiotic shortsightedness, that's a risk Barto is willing to run; he knows his legacy will be poor if he loses next year, no matter if it's due to things remaining the same or due Barca ****ing up majorly with a transfer like this. This transfer is essentially him going all-in with a below average hand, imo.

Not trying to be a dick here but you're completely clueless when it comes to finance.

As I said it's paid over 5 year and any profit on sales is instant. Arthur sold for 80m would mean with his book value Barca are roughly 60m in the green. Likewise Juve are going to be earning around 50m.

Basically it works out perfect for both parties and players. A swap deal and 10m cash (which is the difference in price) is nightmare for both clubs.

It's basically a piss take.

And yes, Barca are struggling financially.

Priorities:

- Renew Hendo loan given permanent is wishful thinking
- Wing back cover, particularly RB
- Centre back cover. Hopefully not JOC replacement
- General depth improvements

Looking through the PL released lists I wouldn't hate going in for Clyne (although it'd require a substantial wage cut)

i love the "Not trying to be a dick here but you're completely clueless" and then youre wrong

it's not like juve are paying 80m today and then barca are paying them 70m back over 5 years. that's not what's happening. the only cash money that's changing hands is the 10m or whatever the difference is

they're not getting any real money out of this

it's true it will help them live up to whatever financial regulation rules they have to fulfill, because income is booked today while expense are accounted for over the length of the contract, but that doesnt actually give them any extra money

and again, no, they not anywhere near broke or any real financial trouble. they're probably still going to end up spending 150m net this summer. they just have to do these accounting tricks to live up to whatever rules it is they have to follow

Seriously, round in circles again. Similar to your lack of understand with Burney.

Have a read of this;

https://twitter.com/swissramble/stat...396373504?s=21

that thread is backing what im saying, not you

(if they were actually broke they would be selling arthur for cash, not pjanic + 10m)

I agree.

Especially when considering that Arthur's wage (according to a few admittedly questionable sites I just googled) is considerably lower than Pjanic's. Arthur is on €95k per week and contracted until 2024, so he is cheap to keep, whereas Pjanic is on something like €230k per week, and I can't imagine Pjanic is going to take a wage cut, at least not one big enough to make it a financially beneficial deal for Barca.
They get a relatively small cash injection, but they could get that from selling off a couple of youngsters/B-team players if that was what they needed.

Very few if any transfers are paid in 1 lump sum.

It's profit in the book, it's 60m in the green this summer doing it this way. Rather than simply going swap and 10m

It's beneficial to both clubs. They can then spend more in the summer and still be fine for FFP.

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Anyway, anyone expecting a big summer or just loads of swap deals like the above?

I suspect that City, PSG and potentially Newcastle could clean up. Whether they go out and buy players or just hoover up all the youth.

I imagine fees will be a bit lower than they otherwise would've been, but that it sort of evens out because not as many clubs can afford to turn a good deal down.

A couple of big transfers we might see imo are

- Havertz (come to Chelsea, bitte). We'll probably get fleeced by Leicester for Chilwell, too.

- Milinkovic-Savic, had a good season, is 25, I think he's ripe for a move into an elite club. As impressive as Lazio has been, I think it has/had to be this year if they wanted the title in the foreseeable future.

- Koulibaly. It's now or never imo, but it's going to be down to how absurd a valuation ADL comes up with.

- James Rodriguez has to be moving on. One year left on the contract and he's nowhere near the first team. About to turn 29 and he's obviously still talented, I can't imagine Real won't try to offload him.

-Thomas Partey also seem likely to leave, judging from rumors.

- Pogba will probably also be a topic of discussion, but I can see him staying if United get UCL which I think they will, they have both the EL and top 4 (or 5) option.

- Sané looks close to being a done deal.

A hot take I kinda wonder about is Danny Ings. I kinda doubt he'll leave because 1) not a lot of top clubs are in desperate need for a striker and 2) he'll surely want to go somewhere where he knows he'll be a starter. Could maybe see him going to Arsenal if they have a proper clear out, although that depends a lot on whether Arteta thinks he fits his philosophy which I'm not sure about.

I kind of think Sancho will stay another season.

Bound to be some Mbappé/Neymar rumors as well, but difficult to say where they stand personally until the UCL is done imo. If they flunk out against Atalanta I can see (one of) them wanting out. Both have 2 years left on their current contract, so it's getting closer to the time they have to make a decision.

£100m please. Then we'll buy another Söyüncü for £15m.

Yeh, might be changing to a buyers market.

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Surprised we aren't in for Chilwell as well, need a LB.

Yeah I think the heavyweight clubs + most English clubs will be fine, might even be able to take advantage of the situation.

The losers will be the sub-top clubs around Europe, especially those that end up missing out on Champions League. I read somewhere that Leverkusen's decision on Havertz heavily depends on whether they get UCL or not. If they do, they won't have to sell and can thus ask for much more money, but if they don't, they'll likely have to sell and they will have less leverage. I heard something similar about Valencia, that their financial situation is going to look very poor and they'll be forced to sell if they don't get top 4. To be fair, that probably also happens to some extent in a no-corona scenario, but it's obviously something that made the situation even more dire for these clubs.

there's a big difference between "they're doing this (in part) to make their books pass ffp and other regulation" which is probably true

and "they're doing this because they're broke and need money" which is not true and they're not even getting any real money from this

They do need the money actually otherwise the club directors and that clown Bartomeu are ****ed.