Month: September 2018

FC Barcelona, after signing Dembele had their eyes set on adding another big gun to their lineup. They also had to look for someone who could replace the La Masia legend, Iniesta with his departure closing in. There was only player that ticked all the boxes, the Brazilian Beast- Philippe Coutinho.

FC Barcelona were pursuing Coutinho during the summer transfer, but the manager back at Anfield (Liverpool)- Klopp, wasn’t willing to sell his best player yet. Barcelona started their bid for Coutinho very high and they kept going higher with each rejection throughout the summer transfer window, but all in vain.

The new soccer season started on a high for Barcelona, with them winning or drawing every single La Liga game. They were way ahead of all the other teams, but something was missing. Dembele(19) wasn’t experienced enough for the big games, and also got injured really soon. Barcelona pulled through the first half of the season going unbeaten.

The winter transfer window though, was a make or break situation for the board as they still had their eyes set on Coutinho. They started bidding again and according to reports, Coutinho too, expressed his wish to move to Barcelona to his manager. Apparently, Barcelona started contacting the player without Liverpool FC knowing about it, this move deemed very controversial, since it is not in the good interest of the soccer clubs. Liverpool FC kept rejecting all offers from Barcelona and the transfer window was almost over. But, somehow Barcelona raised enough money and Coutinho putting in 11.5 million euros to fuel his transfer were able to pay his buyout clause of 160 million euros, making it the second most expensive transfer ever.

The arrival of Coutinho to Barcelona helped them cruise through La Liga, going unbeaten for 36 games. He played a crucial role in helping Barcelona win the double ( La Liga and Copa Del Rey).

The Brazilian put up a brilliant performance finishing the season on a high. He also played a crucial role for Brazil during the world cup and was arguably Brazil’s best player this time around, scoring spectacular goals and assisting a number of times.

With the departure of Iniesta by the end of the season, a lot rests on Coutinho’s shoulders, playing at the core of Barcelona’s formation. He was also recently given Barcelona’s jersey NO.7 crowning him one of the most important players on the team after Messi.

The 2018/19 season looks promising for Barcelona and Coutinho, he still has a lot to offer that we haven’t seen. It seems like he would stay at the club for a pretty long time, but nothing can be said in today’s world with the number of shocking transfers going up by the season.

 

The transfer of Neymar Jr. sent shock waves around the soccer world, especially Barcelona. FC Barcelona after the departure of Neymar Jr. lacked star power in their line up. They had to bring in a big name on the team so they could compete for the UEFA Champions League.

The transfer window deadline was approaching fast and Barcelona were failing to sign a big name. Seeing Barcelona’s desperation to sign a new player, all the clubs hiked the transfer fee for their players. Barcelona then directed their attention towards the young french sensation- Ousmane Dembélé of Dortmund.

The 19 year old had had a phenomenal start to his career at Dortmund where he was capped 32 times and scored a total of 6 goals and assisted multiple times. He was the perfect player to replace Neymar; young, fast and talented.

FC Barcelona started bidding for him but Dortmund kept rejecting the offers. They rejected offers for $90 million, $96 million. Barcelona was in trouble since they hadn’t been able to sign Dembele. So, they contacted him directly about the transfer and convinced him and his agent that a move to Barcelona would be the perfect setting for someone with raw talent like him.

Seeing Dortmund reject Barcelona’s offers for him, he started boycotting soccer training. He stopped showing up for any team meetings. He started forcing Dortmund to sell him to Barcelona. This had all become really bad and ugly, it also ended up souring up the relations between the clubs. Finally, Dortmund had to give in to this unsportsmanlike behavior of Dembele and they sold him to Barcelona for $125 million. This nine digit price tag for a 19 year old was too high but, as they say, desperate times call for desperate actions.

Ousmane Dembélé had an amazing season at Barcelona where he scored a few times in the league matches. He also scored a phenomenal goal against Chelsea in the Champions League. He is definitely a rising star and his move to Barcelona might just have helped him become better as he gets to play alongside some of the best players in the world like Messi, Suarez, Iniesta, Pique. He had a good start to his Barcelona career, winning the La Liga and the Copa Del Rey in his first season.

This transfer though, wasn’t enough to quench Barcelona’s thirst for big players. His transfer was followed by a few more last minute transfers in the subsequent seasons.

 

 

 

Neymar Jr. is considered one of the best soccer players of this generation. He is rated highly by all the soccer legends including  Maradona, Pelé, Iniesta, Xavi, Zidane as the successor to Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He started his career at Santos FC in Brazil and that is where he attracted the attention of all the big clubs in the world, but he had his eyes set on FC Barcelona in Spain, where he along with Messi and Suarez  was a part of one of the most decorated Barcelona trios- MSN. The trio together won trophies for Barcelona each and every year and they also managed to win the TREBLE (Winning three of the most prestigious trophies in a single year) for FC Barcelona. This trio was a dream come true for all the Barcelona fans but unfortunately, this was just temporary.

The downfall of the team started during their 2016-17 season when they couldn’t clench the La Liga title. But, the worst point of this season was losing the first leg of The Champions League to Paris Saint -Germain 4-0. Though they ended up making a heroic comeback in the second leg, the scars were still fresh and this created a lot of tension within the team.

Messi being the talisman at Barcelona, overshadowed all the other players in the team including Neymar Jr. During the 2016 Balon D’Or (The most prestigious soccer award in the world) Neymar was competing with his teammate Messi, and the award was won by Messi.

These aforementioned reasons along with disagreements between him and a few players on the team, resulted in him wanting a move away from Barcelona.

During the summer transfer season of 2017 there were a lot of rumors about Neymar moving away from Barcelona. But, all these rumors were shunned away by the members on the Barcelona board. Barcelona’s star defender “Gerard Pique” also dismissed the rumor by uploading a photo with the player captioning it ” Se Queda” (He Stays).

But as it happened, the very next day, the internet blew up with news about Neymar’s transfer away from Barcelona to PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN for a record breaking sum of $263 Million. This transfer was criticized by all the legends as it was a sly move but at the same not a sensible one as he moved from one of the biggest clubs in the world to a comparatively smaller club.

 

This move shocked the entire soccer world and especially the Barcelona board as they were kept in the dark about the talks between PSG and Neymar. It created a lot of tension, people started burning his jerseys and posters across the country of Spain and started labeling him “Snake”.

The Neymar transfer saga is considered one of the most controversial soccer transfers is history. This transfer lead to another set of controversial transfers in the subsequent transfer season.