El Barça es mes que un club!

[shottah_crew]

Ter Stegen arrives, Pinto leaves

Marc-André Ter Stegen is one of the new signings for the 2014/15 Barça squad. Football Director Andoni Zubizarreta and the Board of Directors announced the news this afternoon after the extraordinary Board meeting scheduled for earlier this afternoon. In addition to the news regarding the German keeper, the Board announced that José Manuel Pinto will no longer defend Barça’s goal now that his contract has expired.

“The Board of Directors want to publicly thank the professionalism and dedication of José Manuel Pinto throughout his time at the Club.” Therefore, the Club thanked the keeper for his six and a half years of service as a Blaugrana. Pinto arrived in January of 2008 as Albert Jorquera’s replacement. He played a total of 73 games and won 16 titles (4 Ligas, 2 Champions Leagues, 2 Copas del Rey, 2 European Super Cups, 4 Spanish Super Cups and 2 Club World Cups).

Welcome, Ter Stegen

Born in Mönchengladbach on April 30, 1992, Marc-André Ter Stegen is considered to be one of the keepers with the highest potential in European football. He made his first team debut with Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2011, at the age of 18, and since then he’s consolidated his starting keeper status with the first team. He was crucial to his team in the last three seasons and in the 2011/12 season he was named best keeper of the Bundesliga.

Standing 189 centimeters tall, he dominates areal play and is known for his natural ability and quick reflexes. Despite his young age, he’s a player with a lot of personality and experience thanks to his three years in the Bundesliga and with the German national team. After a long career in Germany’s youth teams, in May of 2012 he made his debut with the national team against Switzerland.

108 in the Bundesliga

His performances, in which he demonstrated an aptitude in goal and on-the-ball precision, made him crucial in Borussia Mönchengladbach’s fantastic season. His team finished sixth and qualified for the Europea League. Ter Stegen featured in 34 league games, conceded 43 goals and made 138 saves.

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/detail/article/ter-stegen-arrives-pinto-leaves

[Halfbreed07]

See ya later Pinto, he had loads of character but no skill.

[RASC]

Did Barça just sign a player we actually NEED O.o

[noshownogo]

I swore Pinto was a fete match keeper at times.

[Halfbreed07]

I swore Pinto was a fete match keeper at times.

well he only ever got to play in kings cup matches, to his credit his on pitch hours were limited cause Valdez never got injured.
Always sad to see these long standing players go.

[Trini Hookah]

[Swisha]

so wam for that? d man GT

[kurpal_v2]

With the sheet season these guys had, tgats their silver lining

[LikaStick]

Club evaded €9.1 million in tax
Barça risk €54.6m fine over Neymar-gate

Barcelona could be fined up to €54.6 million after the Spanish public prosecutor ruled that the club had evaded some €9.1m in tax due from the signing of Neymar.

The issue revolves around the €37.92m Barça paid Neymar - €10m in 2011 and a further €27.92m in 2013 - to keep him sweet on the deal. According to the Spanish tax authorities, these sums should have been subject to withholdings, as they were effectively signing-on bonuses, which are taxable in the same way as employment income.

Once the investigation into the deal had gotten underway, the club submitted a €13.5 million payment to the tax authorities to "cover any potential interpretation made concerning the contracts signed in the transfer process", but the matter has not gone away.

Article 305 of Division XIV of the Spanish Penal Code stipulates that these sorts of offences carry a prison term ranging from one to five years and a fine of up to six times the amount of tax avoided.

The case is complicated by the fact that this is the first time that a legal person (i.e. a corporation), specifically a football club, has been charged with this sort of crime. "This is a new situation, so there is no precedent as to sentencing", stated the lawyer Xavier Albert Canal, a sports law specialist.

Canal added that Sandro Rosell had been "the instrument used by the club in order to commit the tax offence in question".

http://www.marca.com/2014/06/04/en/foot ... 01869.html

[<=xjemler=>]

Barcelona could end up paying a total of 169.9 million euros for the signing of Neymar, according to AS.

On Tuesday, Spain's tax office submitted its report to High Court judge Pablo Ruz, concluding that Barca committed tax fraud totalling 9.1 million euros.

AS.com reports that Barca now face a potential fine of up to 54.6 million euros, which would come on top of the following payments: federative rights (17 million euros), compensation (40 million euros), bonus (10 million euros), commission paid to Neymar's father (2.7 million euros), Ballon d'Or (2 million euros), sponsors (4 million euros), social projects (2.5 million euros), first refusal on Santos players (7.9 million euros), scouting in Brazil (2 million euros), friendly match (4.5 million euros), voluntary tax payment (13.5 million euros) and unpaid tax (9.1 million euros).

Former Barca president Sandro Rosell has been summoned to appear at the High Court.

On Jan. 20, three days before his resignation, he had appeared at Barca's Auditorium 1899 facility to present the club's project for the remodelling of the Camp Nou but spurned any questions on the Neymar case, which on that same morning the High Court had agreed to hear.

At the time, Rosell said: "Neymar cost 57.1 million, full stop. We've spoken about this issue quite enough."

The then-Barcelona president challenged Ruz to summon him to testify; he has now received that summons and will appear on June 13, along with Barca director general Antoni Rossich, who will act as a representative for the club.

The day after Rosell left Barcelona, with Josep Maria Bartomeu installed as his replacement, the official figures changed, AS said. While Rosell had insisted the deal totalled 57.1 million euros, the club then announced that the actual cost had been 86.2 million euros. Barca's director for football management, Raul Sanllehi, then announced that the numbers had been "put together carefully."

For the moment, the High Court has set aside five days in which to extend the case to other individuals.

http://www.espnfc.com/barcelona/story/1 ... lion-euros

[RASC]

Stueps...

[noshownogo]

The irony of who posting Barca info in a Barca thread eh

[idlemind]

Cesc off to Chelsea..

[Morpheus]

Now see that yes.....

[Halfbreed07]

Valdez deal falls through, what next?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2118283-barcelona-transfer-news-victor-valdes-monaco-move-off-due-to-injury

[noshownogo]

Bankruptcy?

Breadline?

Food stamps?

[shottah_crew]

Suarez to Barcelona for £63m. Speculation is that Sanchez would make the swap to Anfield to offset the cash.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/07/04/liverpool ... z-4787174/

[RASC]

Oh good grief...

[Swisha]

Hope they include ah "no bite" clause in he contract

[shottah_crew]

Not sure why we paying so much for him when he has this 4 month ban which apparently precludes him from everything football related which extends to training and quite possibly FIFA 15.


Not sure how he gonna fit in, be it in the side or in the club... should have spent that money on defenders.

[Swisha]

Should have spent that money to get thiago silva

[Morpheus]

Defenders!!!

[X_Factor]

Silva still too short, get some of those tall strong MOFOS from holland!

[RASC]

WTF is going on at my club?
No defenders.
No Xavi replacement.
No Valdes replacement.
No holding midfielder.

But you spending £63M on a player who's serving a huge ban, suspect decision making skill and courting a core of players who just got their arse handed to them at the world cup. TiKi Taka is dead and we're doing nothing to rectify the issue.

[Swisha]

apparently they still think if they play possession football they don't need defenders.

meanwhile, PSG pays 30 million for a defender who can also score long range free kicks...

[shottah_crew]

Them hadda get they act together... either that or the plan is to score goals and hope for the best in the back.

[Ronaldo95163]

irdk what going on with Barca nah
Fighting up to buy rat face

While they have no defense

David Luiz would have been a better buy tbh

Bravo is the new GK btw
They could have tried with Ochoa like what Atletico is doing atm

[rfari]

So wham? Term stegen not going by ollur again. And Suarez jersey go sell. Dsi

[Swisha]

really dunno who is the first choice keeper, Ter Stegen or Bravo.

and who is Rakitic meant to replace? Cesc or Xavi? (i assume Cesc since he wearing #4)

[shottah_crew]

Claudio Bravo is already 30 something so I figure he gonna be there like a mentor to Ter Stegen and play a backup role like Pinto did.

I don't believe David Luiz was a solution to a our defensive problems. He too attack minded and can't concentrate in the back. We need a traditional defender. A Thiago Silva, a Chiellini or someone of that mould. Luiz and Pique wudda be bag ah goal.

Cess and Xavi out means it's most likely gonna be Rakitic, Busquets and Iniesta in the middle. If one of them get injured/suspended we gonna have to dip for Jonathon or Sergi Roberto since like Song on his way out too. That for me is not good enough. Ideally we need a player like Vidal or Pogba in the middle, able to play pretty attacking but also able to do the dirty work defensively. Either one of them can challenge for a starting place and let's face it, Busquets has no competition in his position.