Barcelona

The footballing world was shocked when Messi departed Barcelona last year, with the Catalans being unable to renew his contract due to the financial situation.

The relationship between Messi and Laporta has not been at its best due to the manner of the former’s exit last summer. PSG, for their part, plan to keep hold of the 35-year-old global icon and want to hand him a new contract. He has made a fine start to the new season, scoring a stunning goal for Les Parisiens against Clermont Foot recently.

FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi have opened negotiations for the club legend to return to the Camp Nou in 2023.

Right at the time he appears to finally be finding his feet with his French employers, however, Messi is being linked back to his first love and boyhood club. Aged 36 by the time he becomes a free agent again if not putting pen to paper once more with PSG, Messi could sign for Barca for a year or two it is said and therefore retire at the club he spent over two decades with after arriving at the La Masia academy as a teenager from Argentina. On June 30 next year, Messi's contract ends with his current club Paris Saint Germain with whom he is said to have the option of extending for another 12 months should he wish.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has extended an olive branch to De Jong to publicly invite him to stay, and says he is confident he will.

This week they have to fix both of them.” He has told Martin Braithwaite and Samuel Umtiti to find new clubs. With him and his teammates we have a very powerful midfield.

Frenkie de Jong showed why Manchester United are so determined to sign him by displaying his world-class quality during Barcelona's 6-0 win over Pumas UNAM ...

Running at breakneck speed with the ball at his feet, De Jong got his head up and played a delightful pass with the outside of his boot to Aubameyang. Meanwhile, you can watch De Jong score Barcelona’s sixth goal of the night here: Video: De Jong’s stunning run and pass vs Pumas Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted a fifth goal for the Catalan outfit shortly after the interval before De Jong added gloss to the scoreline in the 84th minute. But Xavi sent De Jong on, possibly for his final appearance at Camp Nou, at the start of the second half. However, De Jong is reportedly owed a fortune in deferred wages from his current employers and is likely to stay put at Camp Nou unless the issue is resolved.

Barcelona legend Lionel Messi did not make the cut in four of Franck Kessie's greatest players of all time to ever grace the pitch; Kessie instead showed he ...

He is expected to play a key part in Xavi Hernandez's revolution and rebuild at Barcelona. The Ivory Coast international once said that he is not afraid of running and putting in the work on the pitch. Kessie is expected to play a key part in Xavi Hernandez's revolution and rebuild at Barcelona. The Ivory Coast international once said that he is not afraid of running and putting in the work on the pitch. Kessie completed a move to Barcelona after failing to agree to a new deal with AC Milan. He has penned a four-year contract in Spain and will be unveiled officially on Wednesday, July 6th.

Lewandowski scores on Camp Nou bow as Barca rout Mexican side Pumas 6-0 to win Joan Gamer Trophy.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Frenkie de Jong completed the rout in the second half. Pedri added the second and fourth goals in the fifth and 19th minutes, sandwiching a strike from Ousmane Dembele. Robert Lewandowski scored his first Barcelona goal in a 6-0 rout of Mexican side Pumas in the Joan Gamper Trophy pre-season clash on Sunday.

This news was first reported by Catalunya Radio on Sunday evening after Barcelona thrashed Mexican side Pumas UNAM 6-0 in the Joan Gamper Trophy.

Meanwhile, Messi has had a promising start to the Ligue 1 season with the Parc des Princes club. We will do our best to have Messi ending his career with Barcelona.” Now is not the best moment to talk about it since he is a player of PSG and he has one more year on his contract. We have to respect it.” “I feel a moral debt to the best player in history. “I would like to do it.

The standoff against Mexico's Pumas UNAM saw Polish striker Robert Lewandowski score his first goal in the Barcelona colours in a friendly match at Camp Nou ...

Barca was leading the game 3-0 as early as ten minutes from the kick-off. The third goal was scored by forward Ousmane Dembele. The Pumas were a sorry sight and it seemed as if their defence was purely theoretical. Barca scored another goal before the break – thanks to Lewandowski assisting Pedri the second time.

The Blaugrana take on Mexican side Pumas UNAM at Camp Nou on Sunday in the annual Joan Gamper Trophy, with the Liga MX squad making the overseas trip to face ...

Today's match will be about the performances on the field, but there is much work to be done off it if Barcelona are to take full advantage of their summer overhaul. It figures to be a busy day for the Pumas shot-stopper between the sticks. 4th min: GOAL, BARCELONA! It's a fast start for the hosts as Robert Lewandowski gets Barcelona on the board first with a spectacular opener. 55 mins to kick: The Barcelona lineup is in. There is just a week left to go before their campaign begins, and the club's wage bill is unsustainable as-is, La Liga has determined. 24th min: Chance, Barcelona! Every Barcelona attack seems to produce a great opportunity on goal, and this time only fate keeps the ball from finding the back of the net. It was total and complete domination from Barcelona in the first half, dominating possession and carving the Pumas defense to shreds. Even when Barcelona took their foot off the gas and sat back, Pumas had to fight hard just to string a few passes together. 49th min: GOAL, BARCELONA! After a furious start to the first half, the hosts have begun the same in the second with reinforcements on the pitch. It rolled to Memphis on the end line, but the Pumas goalkeeper is there to stop the chance. 46th min: The second half is under way, with a host of changes for the home side. The ugliest goal yet in a litany of defensive nightmares from the visitors at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona have its final preseason test of the 2022 summer as the Catalan giants gear up for the coming La Liga campaign with a friendly against Liga MX ...

— — Sun, Aug. 7 — Sun, Aug. 7 Sun, Aug. 7

However, as per the same report, one of the Barcelona players was on the receiving end of boos and whistles from the fans when he stepped onto the pitch during ...

To that end, the 31-year-old has been pushing Barça to terminate his contract which still has two years left. And fans in attendance cheered and clapped with joy at the sight of their favourite players. But he continues to drag his heels and remains a Blaugrana despite the club’s best efforts to move him on.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that midfielder Frenkie de Jong has received offers to leave the club amid Chelsea interest.

He said: "I think if we can add to the squad we add. It remains to be seen as to whether Chelsea can convince the midfielder to join them or if he will remain a Barcelona player this summer. Barcelona precedent Laporta has also dealt Chelsea a blow, admitting that the club want him to stay, despite offers on the table for the Dutch international.

In an impressive second half cameo in the Joan Gamper Trophy against Pumas UNAM on Sunday evening, Frenkie de Jong showed why FC Barcelona would be foolish ...

He knows what I think and what the club wants and needs. "Until August 31, anything can happen. On the Catalans' recent tour of the US, he filled in at center back without complaints despite harmful reports that Barca had ordered him to leave the club and had even threatened to take him off the plane over the Atlantic.

Barcelona star Pedri has been impressed by the immediate impact of Robert Lewandowski on his arrival in Catalonia.

The veteran striker netted the opening goal in the 6-0 victory over the Mexican side at the Camp Nou and laid on a pair of assists for Pedri’s two goals and the Spanish teenager was full of praise at full time. Lewandowski joined up with the Barcelona squad on their preseason tour of the United States before finally getting his first goal in the Joan Gamper Trophy win this weekend. Despite the Bavarians initial insistence on keeping Lewandowski at the Allianz Arena, Lewandowski’s determination to join Barcelona proved crucial, with a deal eventually wrapped up.

After the departure of top players, the Spanish football club is back in the transfer business. Here's how the numbers are adding up.

Barcelona have told the Manchester United and Chelsea target that they want him to revert a previous contract.

Bazunu started for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side in their 4-1 defeat against Spurs on Saturday, with McCarthy left on the bench. He has joined City as a youth scout for the northern area. The other reason for players applying water to their boots — and some do it regularly — is to feel mentally engaged. That could be perceived to reinforce comments by Evgeniy Levchenko — chairman of the Dutch players’ union — that De Jong might be a victim of extortion, a notion current Barcelona president Joan Laporta denies. A sports psychologist says: “Lots of players do it. They like the close-touch feel between foot and boot, believing it enhances performance. Barber represented Brighton throughout the process, with owner-chairman Tony Bloom on a family holiday in Australia. Cucurella wasn’t the only transfer deal rooted in Boehly’s dinner invite last month. Though there’s no logical “performance” advantage to wetting a boot, it does help if there’s some pain or discomfort, sometimes caused by over-heating. Other players were seen doing similar at different games in England. New boots also mould better when damp, and there were a wide variety of fresh styles on show this weekend, with green and yellow a popular theme for the new season. The letter sent to De Jong last month is thought to inform the Dutchman that Barcelona think they are in a position to initiate criminal proceedings to establish what happened in relation to the signing of his contract and ascertain where responsibility resides for the supposed wrongdoing.

MADRID (AP) — Barcelona surprised many in the offseason by making several high-profile signings despite enduring a difficult situation financially.

“We did what we have to do to make Barcelona a reference again.” “Spectacular,” said the front-page headline of the Sport newspaper, on top of a Lewandowski photo. After a trophyless season in which it didn’t have Lionel Messi for the first time in nearly two decades, the club went to the market and quickly became the top offseason spender in Europe. Barcelona recently sold 25% of its Spanish league television rights for the next 25 years for nearly 670 million euros ($682.1 million), and sold a 25% stake of its production hub for 100 million euros ($101.8 million). On Sunday, it played its first game at the Camp Nou since it was renamed following a sponsorship and naming rights deal with Spotify. The new signings showed plenty of promise in the preseason that ended Sunday with a 6-0 rout of Mexican club Pumas at the Joan Camper tournament at the Camp Nou. A crowd of more than 83,000 saw the team’s top signing, Robert Lewandowski, score his first goal for the Catalan club and connect well with young playmaker Pedri González. They also saw new defender Jules Koundé make his debut, and new forward Raphinha and returning forward Ousmane Dembélé play well again.

(Bloomberg) -- One of the biggest falls from grace in European football has been the financial meltdown at Barcelona. Yet, the club that global star Lionel ...

The club expects to generate 200 million euros of additional revenue annually after the revamp, and is planning a 35-year funding for the plan. The plan will pay off only if the team performs well on the pitch and keeps qualifying for the Champions League, Europe’s top tournament, said Dan Plumley, a sports economist at Sheffield Hallam University. That would bring in up to 100 million euros annually. Both facilities are in a precarious condition, forcing the club to fund regular repairs and pay fines for not meeting European competition requirements. The club is expected to record a profit of about 100 million euros for the 2021-22 season, according to people familiar with the matter. “One could argue that Barça is betting on short-term gains at the expense of long-term financial growth,” said Achille de Rauglaudre, investment manager at Rebel 54, a London-based company that invests in sports and technology. For the agreement to go through, Barcelona had to repay 125 million euros to bondholders to compensate them, the people familiar said. Management plans to sell another stake of the same size as soon as possible. Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia reported it was worth 280 million euros, one of the most expensive sponsorship deals in the world. After a change of leadership in March last year, the club started to take more drastic action by offloading players and looking for extra sources of income. There are also plans to sell as much as 49.9% of Barça Licensing & Merchandising at a later stage. Instead, the club went solo and agreed to a 25-year deal with another finance company that didn’t dictate how much it could spend on players, repaying debt or investment. The pandemic and an uncontrolled surge in costs for three years left the Catalan club teetering.

Frenkie de Jong is refusing to lower his salary at FC Barcelona, despite the club now wanting him to stay.

He knows what I think and what the club wants and needs. As part of an agreement struck on the watch of Laporta's predecessor Josep Bartomeu, De Jong is set to earn €18mn ($18.4mn) this season and €88.58mn ($90.2mn) over the last four years of his contract. Yet due to United's lack of football in the mentioned elite European club competition, and a desire to succeed in Xavi Hernandez's promising sporting project at Camp Nou, De Jong has insisted on staying put at his current club.

It had been reported that this was down to La Liga not accepting the capital gains on their economic levers. Cope say that this is in fact part of the sale of ...

That difference was allegedly provided by Logskley Investments S.L., a company created by Sixth Street and Barcelona for the exclusive purpose of this deal with each owning 50% of the entity. It had been reported that this was down to La Liga not accepting the capital gains on their economic levers. According to Cadena Cope, Barcelona have falsely inflated their accounts using their own money.

De Jong arrived at Barcelona in the summer of 2019 after a €86 million deal was agreed with AFC Ajax earlier in January that year. The midfielder initially ...

De Jong arrived at Barcelona in the summer of 2019 after a €86 million deal was agreed with AFC Ajax earlier in January that year. But they have not been successful in their endeavours, forcing them into taking drastic actions. As per the terms of the new deal, de Jong agreed to reduce his salary for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons by around €18 million, which would be paid to him across the remaining four years of his contract.

MADRID (AP) — Barcelona surprised many in the offseason by making several high-profile signings despite enduring a difficult situation financially.

“We did what we have to do to make Barcelona a reference again.” “Spectacular,” said the front-page headline of the Sport newspaper, on top of a Lewandowski photo. After a trophyless season in which it didn’t have Lionel Messi for the first time in nearly two decades, the club went to the market and quickly became the top offseason spender in Europe. Barcelona recently sold 25% of its Spanish league television rights for the next 25 years for nearly 670 million euros ($682.1 million), and sold a 25% stake of its production hub for 100 million euros ($101.8 million). On Sunday, it played its first game at the Camp Nou since it was renamed following a sponsorship and naming rights deal with Spotify. The new signings showed plenty of promise in the preseason that ended Sunday with a 6-0 rout of Mexican club Pumas at the Joan Gamper tournament at the Camp Nou. A crowd of more than 83,000 saw the team’s top signing, Robert Lewandowski, score his first goal for the Catalan club and connect well with young playmaker Pedri González. They also saw new defender Jules Koundé debut, and new forward Raphinha and returning forward Ousmane Dembélé play well again.