Barcelona Update

📰 — Messi is facing the most difficult challenge of his career:

If he wants to retain the Golden Boot he has to overcome Lewandowski's ten goals and if he wants the Pichichi he must reach, as soon as possible, the six goals of Gerard Moreno.

[as] https://t.co/IghIUi8fZf

Bartomeu: "Neymar can't come in January."

"Yes, we negotiated with PSG for Neymar. They opened the door for Neymar and we then started negotiations to see if we could integrate him. In the end, we couldn't meet PSG's demands."

"Neymar is extra, because it was not planned. When Leonardo opened the door to negotiate, we joined the negotiations. Signing Neymar was a sports decision of the coaches."

"Barça have done everything possible for Neymar to come this summer. A lot of board members worked on it."

"No, Messi didn't ask me to sign Neymar. The dressing room have no say in signings, they don't think about it. We make decisions for signings in the sports area."

"PSG asked for players and money. They talked about players on loan with an option to buy. Without saying names, it was 'you pay money and you send the players on loan this season, we pay their salaries'. We saw it as unassuming, Barça haven't offered players to PSG."

"Neymar told PSG only to negotiate with Barça. He did what he had to do, but in the end he and PSG have decided for the player to continue in Paris. He wanted to leave, but this year he will play at PSG.."

"I can't rule out that we sign Neymar in the future if there is a possibility but we haven't started planning for next summer. There were 3 or 4 clubs interested in Neymar and one of them was Real Madrid."

🗣[] | More twists. Dembele does not want to leave Barcelona. Catalan club have been told by Laliga that they have to get rid of one of their big wages if they want to bring Neymar to keep up with FFP. Rakitic offered. Till now he has said he doesn't want to move. https://t.co/scWlEkTaaD

PSG sporting director Leonardo has tried to convince Ousmane Dembélé in a deal that would see Neymar return to the Camp Nou, but the Frenchman has said no as he is happy in Barcelona – especially now his friend Antoine Griezmann has joined the club. [l'equipe via md] https://t.co/cEV7yjRxS5

PSG have accepted Barcelona's proposal of including a player as part-exchange in a deal for Brazilian star Neymar, but the French side want two players and at least 100 million euros in cash. [l'equipe via sport] https://t.co/eHRSSoYTXj

Three of Messi's biggest competitors (Van Dijk, Mané, and Mbappé) have all publicly said that Lionel Messi deserves the Ballon d'Or this year.

Won't be surprised if FIFA still decides to hand it over to someone else. Messi has set the standards for himself too high. https://t.co/By17xXCTkU

🗣 [] | Bayern Munchen are in talks with Kia Joorabchan (Coutinho's agent) for Philippe Coutinho. Barcelona have already agreed on loan with option to buy. Bayern will have to pay the player's wages of €11m a year plus bonuses. Also PSG are interested in Coutinho

🗣 [] | Junior Firpo is now in Barcelona having his medical tests as new Barça player. Then he’ll sign his contract until June 2024. https://t.co/y05HneaQUt

Dani Alves has not given up hopes of a return to Barcelona. The Brazilian, who is currently without a club, and therefore free, has a plan to fulfil his dream of dressing in Blaugrana colours again.

Barcelona are negotiating with Real Betis and the intention is to seal a deal for Firpo for between 15-20 million euros. The Andalusians want more but Barça believe a deal can be reached.

It's official!!!
Antoine Griezman is an FC Barcelona player!
Welcome Antoine Griezman 💪

🔵🔴

Image credit : Bleacher report football

‼️ Valencia have agreed on terms with Rafinha, and have sealed a deal which would lower his price & give him a €2M salary. They hope to close the deal with Barça in the coming hours for a lower sum [than Barça ideally want], so VCF's pre-season can start.

OFFICIAL ‼️
Barcelona have completed the signing of Neto from Valencia for €26M + €9M. The Brazilian will sign a 4 year contract at Barcelona with a release clause of €200M.

♦️'Neymar wants Barca move but there has been no contact' - Barca VP confirms

♦️“The correct thing is to say that Neymar wants to return to Barcelona, but I do not agree that Barcelona worry about signing Neymar, this is not on the table.

♦️“There are many things about his departure that I did not like, many things.

♦️ “There are claims that we have signed Neymar. We have not signed anyone. We have not kept in touch with him. He and many more want to play for Barcelona.

♦️ “It does not surprise me that Neymar wants to come back, it has already happened before with others and sometimes they have returned – Cesc [Fabregas], [Gerard] Pique.

♦️ “Neymar is a great player, but the circumstances of how he left also have to be evaluated to see if this can become a reality.”

🇮🇳 Fans celebrate Messi's birthday in Kolkata, India 🧡💚

ARTHUR MELO.
A guy no one was expecting that he would become soo crucial for the team. A starter. The way he controls the tempo of the game. His ball control. Vision everything is spectacular. And the most important thing is that he is young. He has alot of time to improve more and more.
I like the way he passes , the way he controls the game. Dominates the midfield.
But there is a weakness in him that sometimes he just takes too long to pass the ball. Sometimes he just holds on to the ball too much. Other than that he is a pure gem.
What are your thoughts on him??

I LOVE BARCELONA

Antoine Griezmann will sign for Barcelona this summer, Atletico Madrid’s CEO, Gil Martin, has confirmed.
According to him, the club knew Griezmann would be joining their LaLiga rivals since March.
“We know since last March that Griezmann is going to Barcelona,” he told to Sport.
DAILY POST reported last month, that Griezmann informed Atletico that he will deposit his €120m release clause in July.
The player’s release clause is currently €200million, after he signed a new contract with Atletico just last summer.
However, that figure drops to €120m euros from July 1.
Griezmann is expected to sign a five-year deal at the Nou Camp.

No one asks why Maradona or Ronaldo didnt win a UCL, no one asks why Cristiano or Di Stefano never reached a WC final, no one asks why Pele never left Brazil, no one asks why Cruyff never won a WC.

Because none of them has a bigger claim than Messi to being the greatest ever.

~share it

Barça will not improve on their offer for Ajax player Matthijs de Ligt as they don't want to enter an auction for his signing. De Ligt will now have to decide.

❗️ Valverde will resign tonight.

May 1st 2005: Messi scores his first goal for Barça

May 1st 2019: Messi scores his 600th goal for Barça

The GOAT… https://t.co/qyfyC5BjyG

Real Madrid has lost two games against Barcelona in the league this season,while Barcelona has lost only 2 matches in the league this season, overall and only 3 matches if we count the last season too.
Levels are staggering.
?
-DeDoe

"Liverpool are going to press hard. Barca stands no chance against Klopps' systematic press" - typical Liverpool fan.

It is expected that Liverpool are going to press the hell out of Barca at the Camp Nou while looking for the all important away goal. However I feel that it's going to be easier said that done mainly because of the following.

Firstly the pitch size of the Camp Nou is notably bigger than that of Anfield. We have seen team's come to the Camp Nou and try and press Barca but they run out of gas very soon mainly because of the extra yards they have to cover while pressing in such a huge ground.

Secondly Barca have press resistant player's like Busquetes, Arthur, Pique and Roberto ( all four of them are expected to start ). Pique and Busi have been handling press ever since the day's of Pep Guardiola so this isn't something new for them.

Thirdly, with a striker like Suarez who can hold up balls so well, Barca will pose a threat through accurate long balls of Rakitic and Lenglet. Although Van Dijk is expected to deal with long balls pretty comfortably, with a striker like Suarez, you never know.

Fourthly, it must be said that Liverpool themselves haven't been subject to quality high press that much ( except the Man City game ). So if Valverde decides that Barca are going to press, it will be interesting to see how well Liverpool deal with a quality press.

Lastly, Messi. While pressing, if the likes of Pique and Roberto find that through pass to Messi in between Liverpools' midfield and defense then not even Van Dijk stands a chance. Yes, this is not me being overconfident, but me being realistic. Lad's been doing it for years, whereas Van Dijk ( with full respect to him ) is a newcomer.

On Paper it is a 50-50 but realistically you have to belive it's more Barca's game than Liverpool's. Epl teams are known to struggle against quality La liga sides and even though Liverpool are the best of the Premiere League, let them not forget that the team they are facing are the best of Spain. So take it easy man.

-DeDoe

Messi
Messi
Messi

Messi need a rest please

[BREAKING NEWS]
Nelson Semedo has tonsillitis and is out of the game against Real Sociedad.
His place in the squad is taken by Aleix Vidal.

Leon Goretzka (22) has already made the decision to join Barcelona when his contract expires at the end of the season.[MD]

-

Cesc Fabregas: “I never miss Barca, I am happy here at Chelsea, my family is happy here and have adapted around.”

"I just miss my family and my friends in Barcelona."

"Without a doubt, I’d like my Children to play at Barca. It is the best place in the world to grow as a person and as a footballer."