Barcelona spending £142m to get Coutinho from Liverpool. How many times Barnsley's annual turnover is that?
Surely this madness has got to stop soon. Rarely do I get political, but people sleeping in cardboard boxes while footballers are changing clubs for £142 million??? Where did we all go wrong?
Quite obscene, but with the money floating about due to television rights and the endless supply of people willing to buy surplus amounts of official merchandise and subscription packages, transfer fees like this one are all too affordable to the top clubs. The fans still hold the key to it all of course, at least where ticket prices are concerned. Non-attendance would seriously damage the 'product'. Investors won't be as excited about El Classico played out to an empty Bernabeu or a huge Champions League game at an empty Parc-de-Princes. But fans keep paying the money and keep attending the games. I understand why, we're all supporters and want to follow our teams. A ticket to a match often enables us to have a day out and so the whole thing is irresistible. But I maintain that the supporters DO still have the power. Ticket revenue might not be much to the elite clubs, but the perception given of full stadia and vibrant atmospheres is still crucial to selling the 'product' worldwide. If this was damaged, if the grounds were empty or even half empty, I'm sure action would be taken to reduce ticket prices at the very least.
Just keep buying the default we need to stop taxing for investors to invest . It’s a lot easier for govts to reward their friends and paymasters that way.
I'd question if Barcelona need him and couldn't have waited until the summer. He can't play for them in the champions league and they have already pissed the league.