Here is your all things Barca/Messi here.

The Other Teams Thread was being dominated by Messi for a while.

jocamryn created this thread to recognize Messi's greatness

 

What in the world? Those types of crazy transfer gambits can be left to the PSGs and Man City's of the world, not to Bayern. First, Messi would cost crazy money (not that it wouldn't be worth every penny), second, Messi is happy at Barça, with a system that is built around him, the footballing genius that is Xaviesta feeding him, no major locker-room disputes as far as I can tell, and where he is loved, adored and feared all around the world, not just by Barça fans. Why would he trade that for anything else? As much as I'd love to see Messi in a Bayern shirt (a frontline of Ribery-Messi-Shaqiri/in-form Robben with Kroos, Schweinsteiger and Martinez would be enough to make anyone drool at the awesomeness), I can never imagine him ever leaving Barça. Let me break down the options:
1. Stay at Barcelona until retirement, then become abit like Zidane at Madrid or Figo at Inter, chance: 75%
2. Stay at Barça until start of inevitable decline in prowess, then spend rest of days at PSG, City, or MLS for crazy money, chance: 24.99%
3. Go to Bayern, chance: 0.01%
Heck, it is even hard to get Messi on FIFA 13.

 

Just a note: the article wasn't about Bayern buying Messi, is was about 1) Messi's general transfer fee being in the range of 250 mil (being paid by some Russian club), and 2) Bayern being interested in Lewis Holtby. Two different stories.

I seriously doubt, however, that Barca would sell Messi for any price.

 

I thought you loved German NT players! Especially up-and-coming ones like Holtby....

 

M

My apologies; I don't read (or speak) German and I was too busy overreacting prematurely to use a translator. I agree; Messi is literally priceless for Barça right now. About the Holtby transfer, why not? He's young enough to still be moulded into a CM, Bayern needs a long-term replacement for Schweinsteiger now that Kroos is basically morphed into a full-time AM (wouldn't want another MF pairing of Martinez-Gustavo), and he has documented and guaranteed skill at the highest level, something I cannot say of, for example, Can or Goretzka. On top of that, he has a high ceiling, (and would help the NT, added bonus ). I'd do it for the right price and under the right conditions.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50138328n

Here's a very interesting story from 60 Minutes regarding FC Barcelona. Very cool stuff about their youth program, culture, etc. Even the Barca haters would find it worth watching.

 

What do you mean? Did you expect it to be longer?