Considering they're going to be fined £50m for failing to meet FFP, I don't think spending 164m on a single transfer would be a great idea tbh.
If the bid for Messi is true is just goes to show what they think of £50m. They'll probably recoup that in merch alone if they sign Messi.
Money is no object to the Sheikh. The only thing they care about is either a transfer ban or European disqualification.
This one is for Luke if you have missed it you may enjoy watching this: [video=youtube;DBAqGhqZq_M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBAqGhqZq_M[/video]
Silverware doesn't equate to an individual being good though. Silverware is won by "Teams". For example someone could score 2 goals a game but be in a team with a **** defence & never win anything.
That's a load of tosh. This season La Liga has been the best League in the world. Just look at the La Liga's top 10 clubs. They'd absolutely rinse the Prem's head to head. Even lower down La Liga, they worse teams are still very capable of producing good results. So the argument for "overall league quality goes out of the window". Furthermore, a Spanish team will win both European cups this season too. If any League is a "(substitute number here)-horse race" it would be Ligue 1, Bundesliga & Serie A. PSG, Bayern & Juventus are set to dominate their leagues for at least the next 5 years.
Really? So if I have this right, you are saying it is teams as a group that win trophies and not single, individual players? So a team with a player that scores, let's say two goals every game, could yet still not win anything because the rest of the team are rubbish? That is so deep.
New contract at 384K a week. Which means his nose will not now be out of joint given what was awarded to Neymar. I expect Cristina will now demand an improvement in his contract. It's all a bit petty and obscene. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/16/lionel-messi-barcelona Form is temporar, class is permanent is the old cliche but it holds true. Messi has been a bit off colour this season scoring just the forty odd goals while playing at a fraction of what he can. I think he has been saving himself for the World Cup which he is desperate to win along with the Copa next year. The best passer, dribbler and finisher still. Just a reminder of what he can do: [video=youtube;PuGGDYWZP5U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuGGDYWZP5U[/video]
They should have won. Had enough chances. So much for the German wonderteam blitzing them apart. Lionel, Gonzalo and Crapacio should be ashamed of themselves. Such chances don't come around very often. They let down all the other players like Garay, Zabaleta, Mascherano, Perez and Biglia who were brilliant. The fans and those that paid extortionate prices to watch and the coaching staff and Sabella. Barcelona's medical team and Manchester City for bringing back two key players prematurely from injury. Messi has not been the same since playing with the injury against PSG. A fully fit fantastic four would have demolished Germany. That said he does not deserve the Golden Ball although it is a tinpot award. James Rodriguez deserved it. And to say they can hold their heads up high on return to Buenos Aires ? It was a fantastic opportunity to win the title. He certainly cannot hold his head up high along with those two other pillocks considering the magnificent effort from the rest of the side. He will never be as good as Maradona. Maradona would have taken that final and won it by sheer force of will let alone skill.
Simms I bow down to your enormous knowledge of the game. The fact is I thought he may have been saving himself for the World Cup. It is quite clear that he is affected by some problem. As for bottling it.......he missed a gilt edged chance, should have released Higuain earlier a split second to be in on goal, released Aguero only for him to slip over. He did what he could and he is far from being a bottler. Just that he and the other two pillocks could not finish their chances.
Hardly when they were outplayed for the first half (aside from the Howedes header) and the opening minutes of the second. And even then what did they come up with. A weak Schurrle effort and another tepid effort from Kroos. The fact is Argentina blew it badly. Germany also did not have to contend with sides throwing ten behind the ball at every other opportunity aside from Nigeria, Belgium to an extent and even Holland were terrified of what might happen when they played Argentina.
The problem for Messi was that he was not fit, hasn't been for at least a year now and he has sort of been found out to an extent now. Defenders are getting better at sending him down the line and stopping him cutting in on his left foot so much. He seems to be forced to play wider a lot more in formations now when really you should just let him run teams ragged down the middle. I suppose it's the problem of having Neymar at Barca and Lavezzi and Di Maria for Argentina on the left. By the way, there was only one team who deserved to win or looked like doing it and that was Germany. Better on the day and better throughout.
So taking your chances whilst the opposition wastes theirs doesn't constitute a fair and square victory in your book? Argentina didn't even have a shot on target in the 120 minutes.
Why should I take it so well nascot ? Did you watch the game ? They should have won it and not winning a major title for 23 years with the talent they have produced is mind boggling. This isn't England we are talking about. Germany were fortunate to win. Low now praised for his tactical mastery was out thought by Sabella. Not surprising considering Sabella out thought Guardiola when Estudiantes played Barcelona at their height.
Who had the best chances ? Two one on ones versus a header against the post not to mention a chance Messi normally tucks away in his sleep ? Yet you consider the shots on target a valid statistic ? Even if a shot is just wide or hits the corner flag it counts as not on target ? Quite a few of the German fans conceded they had fortune on their side along with several former players. They are from the great wunder team they have been made out to be.
They were so impressive against Ghana and Algeria. Came up against one of the weakest Portuguese teams to get to a finals with an unfit Ronaldo. Messi is not fully fit for some unknown reason. And it is not a consequence of having Lavezzi or di Maria that he plays out wide. In fact he did play centrally for much of the World Cup but a lot deeper than he had in qualification. Part of the reason being Gago who was also coming back from a poor season with injuries was much deeper than in the qualifiers. It was a shame Lavezzi was injured at half time as he was running their pitiful defence ragged out wide and Messi should have been left there to do the same. Maxi not an unfit Aguero should have replaced Lavezzi. Nonetheless even well below par he still produced the pass of the tournament, scored one of the only two free kicks of the tournament, created the most chances ie the miss by Maxi against Holland in extra time etc etc. It's a deep disappointment the magic four were carrying injuries coming in aside from di Maria. Fully fit they would combined with the defensive unit (behind for just 5 minutes in the whole tournament) would have had more than enough to win. If they couldn't contain Lavezzi I can only imagine what di Maria would have done.
Time will tell. Let's revisit this thread in 8 years. I bet the Germans will pull up more trees than your island stealers.
An assessment of Messi at the World Cup and why he deserved his tinpot award: http://babb.telegraph.co.uk/2014/07...ll-because-he-was-brilliant-at-the-world-cup/ And was he tired ? http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/was-lionel-messi-tired/ Seeing him score in pre-season along with Aguero, Higuain and di Maria's performance in the Super Cup first leg gives me a hollow feeling. Kun and Higuain are back to full fitness just at the wrong time.
Messi called an opponent a "son of a *****". http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spai...lled-me-a-son-of-a-whre-weligton?ICID=HP_BN_5 What a tw*t. Classless.
Are you serious simms? I've been called far worst playing football and I don't play very often. The amount of abuse that players will give each other in a game will be nothing on that, and they will say a lot worse things to each other.
