The Football Thread 2020/21: Mods plz lock thnx bbz x

[Preezy]

Come on Woody, get your chequebook out!

[Jenuall]

Maguire has now been dropped from the England squad.

Good, shouldn't have been picked in the first place.

Hopefully United don't try to handwave things away either, he needs to suffer the consequences of his actions

[Igor]

Looking at this Maguire thing, I can see that after being taken to the police station and getting arrested, Maguire said "I am the captain of Manchester United. I am very rich. I can give you money. I can pay you. Please let us go". His legal team are saying that this was lost in translation and that he was merely offering to pay some sort of 'fine'.

But why, if what Maguire says happened, really happened, would you need to offer an excuse for attempted bribery? As a very famous and rich footballer, if I find myself in a foreign country and I see someone attempt to kidnap my sister and instead of helping, the police arrest me(!), I'm going to assume that I'm in a very precarious situation and that the authorities aren't to be trusted. Like how you can be charged with resisting an unlawful arrest despite fighting back in that situation being perfectly reasonable, it's also perfectly reasonable to try and pay off what you strongly perceive to be a corrupt arrest.

[Jenuall]

Also regarding the Messi transfer request on the one hand I can't blame him as Barca look to be in for some more testing times, but on the other hand it doesn't do his "best player of all time" claims any good that as soon as the club that has raised him up all this time gets into a spot of bother he decides to strawberry float off instead of showing how good he is and pulling them up

[Return_of_the_STAR]

So Messi thinks a clause allows him to leave for free but Barca believe he has a €700m buy out clause

[Hypes]

Arsenal to come in with a bid of £1

[Photek]

Also regarding the Messi transfer request on the one hand I can't blame him as Barca look to be in for some more testing times, but on the other hand it doesn't do his "best player of all time" claims any good that as soon as the club that has raised him up all this time gets into a spot of bother he decides to strawberry float off instead of showing how good he is and pulling them up

He’s ‘pulled them up’ for 20years.

He deserves to play for a better team, the owners have destroyed Barca, not him.

No one can afford his wages.

[Tomous]

Also regarding the Messi transfer request on the one hand I can't blame him as Barca look to be in for some more testing times, but on the other hand it doesn't do his "best player of all time" claims any good that as soon as the club that has raised him up all this time gets into a spot of bother he decides to strawberry float off instead of showing how good he is and pulling them up

He’s ‘pulled them up’ for 20years.

He deserves to play for a better team, the owners have destroyed Barca, not him.

No one can afford his wages.

I remember his debut at 13 years old like it was yesterday.

[Jenuall]

Also regarding the Messi transfer request on the one hand I can't blame him as Barca look to be in for some more testing times, but on the other hand it doesn't do his "best player of all time" claims any good that as soon as the club that has raised him up all this time gets into a spot of bother he decides to strawberry float off instead of showing how good he is and pulling them up

He’s ‘pulled them up’ for 20years.

He deserves to play for a better team, the owners have destroyed Barca, not him.

No one can afford his wages.

LOL, he's spent his career surrounded by a huge amount of talent at a club that did everything for him

[Photek]

Well he’s sacrificed a lot too, yes they gave him growth hormones but hes been at Barca as a kid, he’s not always been surrounded with talent. This argument is boring tbh, if he wants to leave or not has nothing to do with his talent or if he’s the best player in the world or not.

[Jenuall]

Like I say I can understand his position but I do think an assessment of greatest players has to take into account things like this.

Either way it's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out and if he does leave where he ends up

[Wedgie]

Apparently Messi will stay if the current president resigns and call for an early election.

And he says he’s not running things at Barca(!)

One thing is that Messi has gave his whole career to Barca, and it would be a shame if Barca refuse Messi to leave by dragging this to the courts.

You can’t make a player play for a club he have no desire to play.

Let’s hope Barca have some sense and let him leave.

[Drumstick]

Looking forward to seeing Messi play in a non-tinpot league.

[Jenuall]

What's the next step up from tinpot, farmers league?

[Drumstick]

What's the next step up from tinpot, farmers league?

He's probably on his way to Paris as we speak.

[Corazon de Leon]

Why is the Spanish league tinpot again?

[Wedgie]

Can’t be that bad considering most players want to play in Spain.

Just ask Bale. Oh wait.

[Drumstick]

Why is the Spanish league tinpot again?

Barring minor miracles the league title is off limits to teams that aren't Madrid and Barca. Since Valencia won it in 03/04 the only other team to have won is Atletico who managed it once and once only. It's boring.

[Cuttooth]

A tinpot league shouldn't be dominating European competitions though?

[Moggy]

Since football began in 1992, there have been 5 different La Liga winners and 7 different Premier League winners.

I'm not sure that means Spain is tinpot.