Gundogan off on a free.

[Jerseybean]

Ilkay Gundogan will join Barcelona on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of this month….. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65980397

[AshtonGreat]

I'm very surprised about that. Guess he wanted a bigger payday than what City were offering

[Rocking Red Cyril]

37 minutes ago, Jerseybean said:

Ilkay Gundogan will join Barcelona on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of this month….. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65980397

Get him down the gate to replace scott

[East Londoner]

9 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

I'm very surprised about that. Guess he wanted a bigger payday than what City were offering

Weren’t Barca meant to be £billion in debt?

[AshtonGreat]

6 minutes ago, East Londoner said:

Weren’t Barca meant to be £billion in debt?

Yeah I believe so!

[Gazred]

3 year deal at 32, can't blame him. Key player for them this season but might just be the right time to part ways.

[The Coach]

Fresh challenge too. Done it all at Man City now. So don’t blame him

[OldlandReddies]

How could Man City let that happen????

 

50 million player at least even at 32. Has 3 years left in him easily. 

Edited June 21, 2023 by OldlandReddies

[Mr Popodopolous]

The debt thing, what matters most with debt at this sort of level but I suppose any level is profile of the debt and ability to pay, ratios etc.

Barcelona as well as UEFA FFP also have La Liga FFP hoops to jump through- I wonder if it'll be signed off at that level instantly or if it may drag. Think they must offload certain amounts of wages and players as there has been a rule about ratios and balances.

[Mr Popodopolous]

In layman's terms, unless it has changed for every 4 euros saved, only 1 can be reinvested for clubs beyond a certain point. In the red zone, special measures call it what you want.

[Red Skin]

5 hours ago, OldlandReddies said:

How could Man City let that happen????

 

50 million player at least even at 32. Has 3 years left in him easily. 

Seems odd doesn't it?  I guess the alternative would be to have done the same with him as NP did with Massengo and give him the cold shoulder in the last year of his contract because he wouldn't sign.  However, playing him and securing the treble is much more important that losing out on £50m. 

[Tim Monaghan]

5 hours ago, OldlandReddies said:

How could Man City let that happen????

 

50 million player at least even at 32. Has 3 years left in him easily. 

Mark Ashton 

[BCFCAL]

8 hours ago, East Londoner said:

Weren’t Barca meant to be £billion in debt?

If it's Real Madrid or Barcelona in the Spanish league, a blind eye is turned.

[Silvio Dante]

Out of contract, 32 years old, offered one year (per reports) at Man City Vs 3 years at Barca. Been at Man City 7 years and won everything- nothing left to achieve.

Professionally and Financially for the player it makes a lot of sense. For Man City, it’s a player that they need to replace soon enough and keeping IG until 35 as Barca are doing not on agenda.

Deal just makes sense for all

[1960maaan]

I recently read that Barcelona were around £1.3 billion in debt. They were banned from registering new players last year and I saw somewhere they wanted players to take a pay cut (again?) . They sold of TV rights and some other family silverwear and will be paying for the Stadium until 2047 (though apparently they struck a deal which means this is 5 years earlier than expected) .

Didn't they sell the training ground to the Council who then gave them it back ? I don't follow it too closely so that may not be 100% right, but they have been taking the piss for ages. 

There is some sort of salary cap , not sure how it works (or IF ) as Barca have gone over it but seems to mean nothing. They cannot register Gavi ( and Ronald Araújo ) but according to an article from Jan, he had played 18 times by then. They play as 'B' Team players, so that Cap works then.

Anyway, I'm rambling.
Great way to end his career, looking at one article it said Man C were "now going to offer a long term deal" and that gundogan's representatives had been in contact with Barca. I guess if you wait so long for an offer that doesn't come you think sod it. Plus it's a great place to live. 

[Simon bristol]

2 hours ago, BCFCAL said:

If it's Real Madrid or Barcelona in the Spanish league, a blind eye is turned.

Not really,,, tebas is cracking down with an iron fist, certainly on barcelona, thats why they couldn’t resign messi, and  gavi was re regeistered as a youth player because they didnt have enough headroom to pay his salary. With several high level leavers and retirements like busquets, alba, pique, some salaries should be freed up, but theres still a couple of big contracts around, such as for de jong. This got out of control when some idiot starting throwing money like confetti,,, which sounds broadly familar! Doesnt stop them from securing another 1.5bn of borrowing to redo the stadium though,,, which to be fair while it is iconic, was pretty old and knackered!

[BCFCAL]

9 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Not really,,, tebas is cracking down with an iron fist, certainly on barcelona, thats why they couldn’t resign messi, and  gavi was re regeistered as a youth player because they didnt have enough headroom to pay his salary. With several high level leavers and retirements like busquets, alba, pique, some salaries should be freed up, but theres still a couple of big contracts around, such as for de jong. This got out of control when some idiot starting throwing money like confetti,,, which sounds broadly familar! Doesnt stop them from securing another 1.5bn of borrowing to redo the stadium though,,, which to be fair while it is iconic, was pretty old and knackered!

Agree with you to some extent, but they still get heavy dispensation. Being able to sign Lewandowski when they shouldn't have been allowed, Gavi is now fully registered when technically he shouldn't be allowed, Gundogan will no doubt be registered while he technically again shouldn't be allowed, and some players are still owed money, despite signing these players.

My main issue is Real Madrid to be fair, essentially being owned by a bank, but that's no worse, in fact, probably better than English clubs being owned by countries.

Phenomenal stadium Nou Camp, had a tour round there as a teenager and been to a couple of games there, but again some money to throw at the stadium, whilst losing out on revenue on a weekly basis and still signing more players, spending more money. I'd love to see them sort themselves out, huge club and we're the best footballing team when I was growing up, but they're in a state at the minute financially and administration wise, and when they keep getting bailed out by the league, they just keep looking worse and worse. Big wages off the bill with the departing players, I hope it sorts them out

[Simon bristol]

35 minutes ago, BCFCAL said:

Agree with you to some extent, but they still get heavy dispensation. Being able to sign Lewandowski when they shouldn't have been allowed, Gavi is now fully registered when technically he shouldn't be allowed, Gundogan will no doubt be registered while he technically again shouldn't be allowed, and some players are still owed money, despite signing these players.

My main issue is Real Madrid to be fair, essentially being owned by a bank, but that's no worse, in fact, probably better than English clubs being owned by countries.

Phenomenal stadium Nou Camp, had a tour round there as a teenager and been to a couple of games there, but again some money to throw at the stadium, whilst losing out on revenue on a weekly basis and still signing more players, spending more money. I'd love to see them sort themselves out, huge club and we're the best footballing team when I was growing up, but they're in a state at the minute financially and administration wise, and when they keep getting bailed out by the league, they just keep looking worse and worse. Big wages off the bill with the departing players, I hope it sorts them out

Sounds like me,, been over to watch games etc, obviously the “economic leavers” allowed the last round of signings, but presumably thats now spent? But selling off future tv and image rights to sign raphinia? How could that ever have been reasonable!! They have to get back to the best youth system around,, and there’s currently 4 future world stars playing, and if they are going to sign players then make it world class players, like lewandowski, not 70 million on a leeds player or 50 million on ferran torres.. kimmich could have been an option for that kind of money, or alphonso davies?? Or haaland? i can only see this being resolved by being bought out by an oil state or billionaire to allow them to wipe the debts? 

[BCFCAL]

1 hour ago, Simon bristol said:

Sounds like me,, been over to watch games etc, obviously the “economic leavers” allowed the last round of signings, but presumably thats now spent? But selling off future tv and image rights to sign raphinia? How could that ever have been reasonable!! They have to get back to the best youth system around,, and there’s currently 4 future world stars playing, and if they are going to sign players then make it world class players, like lewandowski, not 70 million on a leeds player or 50 million on ferran torres.. kimmich could have been an option for that kind of money, or alphonso davies?? Or haaland? i can only see this being resolved by being bought out by an oil state or billionaire to allow them to wipe the debts? 

Even lewandowski was what, 32 or something when he went there? Not the typical Barcelona signing and a short term fix rather than long term.

[Simon bristol]

1 hour ago, BCFCAL said:

Even lewandowski was what, 32 or something when he went there? Not the typical Barcelona signing and a short term fix rather than long term.

Yeah, unless theres a top striker coming through why would you spend that much on a striker at that age,,, a free transfer like gundogan is low risk though!

[Mr Popodopolous]

I think they would be better served restructuring some of the debt repayment with levers or cost savings, and then perhaps paying down some of it faster as they are a naturally high revenue club which will reflect itself when debt and interest burden reduced. This approach seems rather risky.