Vidal with that dumb point blank header back instead of to the goal. I want to punch that mohawk off his head.
Rest of the season, start Puig. Fati gets at least 45 mins. Or else, Setien needs to be punched in the face.
Tragic performance by Arthur. Puig really changes the game and our midfield. Hope Pique is ok,he is too important.
Yes, and ter Stegen ties his record of 450 minutes without conceding, 5 straight games, including the win before play stopped.
This is the only potential silver lining of this Arthur-for-Pjanic swap deal. Maybe it clears the path for Puig to step into a more regular role.
That's a nice way to look at it. More opportunities for Puig and other youngsters. It certainly feels stupid to get 7 years older at a position where we already have 3 other important players on the wrong side of 30 (Busquets, Vidal, Rakitic). However, I fear that a decision has been made that Arthur, as good as he is in possession both on the ball and passing, does not have enough of the line-breaking ability (neither the genius forward passes, the take ons, nor enough of the outside shooting - a skill he has but we rarely witness). Nor does he have the defensive tenacity in the high press of someone like Vidal (very few do), plus there have been injuries and fitness concerns (rarely goes 90 minutes), and he doesn't project as a Busquets replacement. So ultimately the new Xavi is not Arthur but might be Puig? And Pjanic is maybe better thought of as a younger Rakitic or younger Vidal; both of them are on contracts which expire June 2021, and at least one (or both) will likely be moved when the season ends. Beyond de Jong, Busquets, Puig, Pjanic if the swap is made, Barca also has Trincao coming in the new season and supposedly project him more as an attacking mid than a forward (which is good when M-S-G, Fati, and Braithwaite are already here, and Dembele and Coutinho are also still on the books and hard to move, so not much room at forward for Trincao). Other midfielders are Collado and Monchu with Barca B and now making each 23 man squad, and Alena out on loan, and Roberto when not at RB. We also still own other loaned out players who can play midfield in addition to defense: Oriol Busquets - DM, Todibo - mostly CB but also DM, Cucurella and Miranda - both LBs who can also play LW or left attacking mid But that's me looking at the bright side. The sadder view is that Arthur has the rare skill set to succeed as a Barca midfielder, but is being sacrificed in a desperate bid to balance our books. And by balance our books it is not like they really balance at all, rather we pretend that they do in a FIFA sactioned manner. So Juve pays us 75M for Arthur (just guessing the number), in turn we pay them 60M for Pjanic (again just guessing for purposes of this example). Barca immediately books 75M in revenue before closing its books June 30th, and this allows FCB to "balance its books". Now you might think that Barca could only book 15M (the difference between 75M for Arthur less 60M for Pjanic), but no, they book the entire 75M for Arthur, for Pjanic they are allowed the amortize his 60M over the life of his contract (which gets both increased and extended out 4 or 5 years, so he will be impossible to move in a couple years), so if he is extended out to 2024 they only take a 15M hit, so their net is 60M plus (but they then record 15M hits for the next 3 years into the future). Here's the funny thing, Juve gets to do the same thing, and with Arthur being younger they'll amortize his transfer costs out even longer, probably extend his contract out to at least 2025. And that, sadly, is why this deal is likely going to be done. Quoting: Both players would move in separate deals, to allow the clubs to include the incoming fee in this season's accounts, thus balancing their books following a tough time financially due to the coronavirus pandemic. The outgoing fees would be amortised over the length of the players' contracts. Barca's need to bring in cash before the end of the month is particularly high. ESPN revealed in May the Catalan club needed to pocket €70m before June 30 based on a revenue plan drawn up at the start of the season which banked on receiving €124m in player sales. SOURCE: https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-...ose-to-arthurpjanic-transfer-exchange-sources