At times he was instrumental, forging a solid defensive record out of Eric Abidal’s injury woes in the 2009-10 season. Yet he was also often forgotten. Once dubbed an honorary Brazilian on Twitter by a friend when taking a picture with the CL trophy alongside Dani Alves and Adriano, he’s the one that you might not be able to name if you were listing off the squad. And yet when he was on the field, there was never much doubt about his quality. Sure, he’s not the fastest guy on the planet, not the guy showing off his footskills all the time, and not the guy slamming the ball into the back of the net.

No, Maxwell was the guy doing the little things behind-the-scenes: getting in the way of passing lanes, being an outlet for a teammate in a tough spot, sweeping his hair out of his eyes while winking. Every team needs those things. And every team consistently under-appreciates them, as do the fans.

But why now? Why offload him? He appeared in 41 matches last season and even scored in the Club World Cup against Al-Sadd this season. One of the reasons is because he’s 30 and not getting any faster. That’s for sure. Another reason is the purported interested in bringing in another, younger left back to become Abidal’s understudy for a couple of years and eventually replace King Eric when he retires. The name currently on everyone’s lips regarding that position is Jordi Alba, but it could be any of several different defenders, really. It’s just rumors. Adriano also covers the LB position for the time being–in FIFA12 I sold them both to make way for Gareth Bale and Gregory van der Wiel–and is just 27. Now we get to speculate wildly, though! Neymar for LB!

MAXWELL!!!! (February 26, 2010 - Photo by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images Europe)

Also, big apologies if my Portuguese in the title is just jibberish. I put it into Google Translator since I speak not a lick of that fine language.

Arsene Wenger: “I love Fabregas and I want him to stay, that is basically it.”

This Fabregas transfer business is officially at rock bottom. It doesn’t work with soon to be ex-wives or girlfriends, as any guy will tell you. It didn’t work for Mars Blackmon, either. “Please baby please, baby baby baby please!”

Will it work for an attacking midfielder?

As astute Twitter follower, mesqueunprofile, notes: Both sides are acting as though its about proving that Cesc loves them more instead of thinking of what is best for the teams.

Exactly. It’s also incredibly stupid, not just Wenger’s declaration but the whole business.

And the life-affirming beauty of stupid is that there is always enough to go ’round. And in consideration of the Fabregas transfer affair, which looks set to end this summer and resume the next, it’s worth having a right smart look at what is enough stupidity to power a small country, were jackassery electricity. Two clubs don’t want to lose face, so they face off and bray like jackasses over a player. “Cesc should come home.” “We love him, and think he should stay.” Stoo-pid.

Let’s start with us, since we’re the home team:

–We’re stupid because we refuse to come sufficiently close to Arsenal’s valuation to even raise the possibility of a deal.

–We’re stupid because we’re putting all our eggs in one wishy-washy basket, and whistling past the graveyard of a back line that is old in key positions. But we’re so busy chasing a player that we don’t need right now, and are, in my opinion, ignoring other needs. Some will say that we’re a deeper squad than last season because we have better players at all positions, who are also versatile. Whatever.

–We’re stupid because we’re playing a game of brinkmanship, betting that Arsenal won’t want to keep a want-away captain, thus facilitating a deal on our terms, or as close to them as possible. But Arsenal is happy to keep him, because this isn’t just business, it’s also personal, made so by comments and other blather about tapping-up, hijacked young’uns and other silliness.

–We’re stupid because we aren’t exactly making ourselves known as a delight to deal with in the footy world. Will teams really want to dance around with us if the player a club is trying to sell has other options? Gijon didn’t, and Roma now have one hell of a left back for a very fair price that they set, rather than our “We’ll give you 1.5m, some Barca Xips and a squirrel. Deal?”

–We’re stupid because we look stupid for letting this thing drag on and on and on and on. We also look cheap. Arsenal’s valuation of Fabregas, in the current transfer market, is very fair. This is a statement which, it must be added, has nothing to do with my personal valuation of Fabregas to the club. We’re looking for a bargain, which is stupid, particularly since the other party has made it very clear what the price is.

–We’re stupid because we’re frittering away a dwindling transfer window, even if Guardiola has said that if we don’t sign Fabregas, we aren’t signing anyone else.

And now for Arsenal:

–They’re stupid because this matter is not strictly business for them, just as for us. And it should be. This is like a 2 million dollar house sale being scuttled because of not being able to agree on whether a 9k fridge stays or goes. Fabregas wants to leave. What is the point of keeping him? But they don’t want to “lose” in this deal. So it’s X number or get lost, which is their right. But that right makes them no less stupid.

–They’re stupid because they’re standing pat with a lineup that finished fourth in the Prem last season, while all around them have improved. 38m, or whatever in the hell we last offered, buys a hell of a lot of talent, talent that could improve a club to the extent that gets it over the hump. Instead, they let this thing drag on, missing the Juan Mata “sensible price” deadline. And now they pretty much have to keep a player who doesn’t want to stay, to have any shot at all.

–They’re stupid for adhering to their valuation of a player who doesn’t want to stay, taking a HUGE risk that he is going to be every bit as excellent and fully committed as he has been in the past. No matter someone’s intentions, can he be, really? Good question. There are some consummate professionals who, after mentally quitting a job, continue to perform at the same high level as when they started. Yup. There must be, somewhere. Fabregas could well be one of them.

–They’re stupid for not taking the money and running to improve the club. Wenger ‘as zee ‘ope that doing the same thing the same way will bring about a different result this time. Because it always does in the rosy glow of footy pre-season, right? Fans are full of hope that this season, it will all be different. Gervinho really will be the cut-rate Henry that everyone thought Chamakh was going to be. Yup. You betcha.

And Fabregas doesn’t get off easily here:

–He’s stupid because it’s only his future. If he wants to help resolve it, he’s stupid for sitting on the fence. So as it is, two clubs are haggling for the rights to pay him millions of dollars for his services, each one thinking it’s negotiating from a position of strength, because it knows what the player wants. Maybe Fabregas doesn’t really care, and would be fine with either club.

–He’s stupid because he’s taking fans and their love for granted. Yes, some fans will embrace him and the lack of a deal because they will delude themselves into thinking that he will stay because deep down, he loves Arsenal. Whatever. Were I an Arsenal fan, I would boo him until I fainted. Upon revival, I would continue to boo him.

–Is he injured or not injured? Travel with your damned teammates. Or are physios afraid to fly? If you’re injured, tell me that a football club worth hundreds of millions of dollars doesn’t have the wherewithal to continue your treatment at any location on the planet. Go ahead, so I can call you a liar.

–He’s stupid because he has a contract. That he signed. A long-term contract that gives his scads of money and security. It’s a contract that I believe he should honor. In the last year of it, all bets are off. But right now, he is under contract to Arsenal for at least two more seasons. Even if he honors the contract to its full term, he still leaves Arsenal while in his prime as a player.

All of this is why everything, everyone is stupid. What would I do to make this less stupid? I would remove the antagonists from the affair, and have a neutral party ajudicate the matter, as with mediation in a labor dispute. When both sides are too riven to continue negotiating in good faith, it’s time for a third party, who might say “This is what I would do to resolve this,” or “You people are just too stupid to be helped.”

And that’s what I (don’t) know. What do you know?

His list of personal accomplishments is shorter than Tom Cruise without his platform shoes. And that’s the weird part, given how fast, how brilliant, and how just damned good he obviously is. Yet, like his most recent moniker alludes, he’s constantly in dry dock because he wrecks himself. It’s been the bane of his career: every time he does something good, an injury occurs and he is forgotten about on the sidelines.

Imagine Pedro, but with injuries. Imagine Jesus Navas, but with injuries. Hell, imagine Bojan, but with injuries. It wasn’t always so, though: he made more than 30 appearances in a season for the B squad twice before being promoted to the first team and featuring just 34 times in all competitions over the last 2 years and almost all of those as late subs rather than as a starter. Again, imagine Bojan, but with injuries.

And yes, some of those substitutions ended in manitas that we celebrate to this day by replaying them in our heads while we giggle and coworkers, their PowerPoint presentations interrupted by chortling right when they’re getting to the zinger their significant other wrote for them and which makes no real sense, look at us confusedly. Or…well, you guys do that too, right? I mean:

And then of course:

He’s got the ability—his goal in the U-21 European Championship is somewhat indicative—but so many are split over whether or not he’s really good that it’s hard not to question the wisdom of keeping him around. I personally believe he’s immensely talented, as talented as Pedro, but it hasn’t worked out for him, for whatever reason. In this purported Year of the Cantera Exodus (but don’t forget that an equal number of players have stepped in to replace the departed), it makes sense to trim the leaves of those who Guardiola thinks simply won’t bear fruit. Bojan are but the most well-known Jeffrén entities.

And it is sad. Very sad. Because, as a fan of the club, I’m ever hopeful that our little ones will come through and blossom into superstars, not simply because I like winning things with homegrown talent (though that is certainly true), but because I actually care about them in a sort of “I’ve seen you since you were a wee tot” kind of way. Bojan has been around for so long that it’s hard to imagine a team without him—even though my memory, which still functions on occasion, tells me otherwise—and the same is becoming true of Jeffrén. If asked before writing this, I would have said Jeffrén joined when Guardiola was promoted to first team manager. And I would have been right, but what I would have been wrong about is that I would have said that was in like 1998. It’s been a long 3 years.

So I’m emotionally attached to these canteranos in that my daily life revolves around the team they’re apart of and, as sad a statement as that may be on my life, this causes me to wish they were better than they are or that the club would simply repay their loyalty with continued contracts. Yet I want to win—or, at this point, I want to keep Madrid from winning and I want to end up farther in every competition than the merengues.

Here, without further rambling, are Jeffrén’s career statistics with FCB:

Appearances: 35 (23 Liga, 6 Copa, 4 CL, 2 Other)
Goals: 3 (3 Liga)
Times Isaiah sucked in his breath after a magnificent play…only for Jeffrén to lose the ball on the subsequent touch: 8,203

Compare these stats to Ibi Afellay, who has been around since January:

Appearances: 29 (16 Liga, 6 Copa, 7 CL)
Goals: 2 (1 Liga, 1 Copa)
Times Isaiah has gone “hijo de su madre santa, that was a a great assist to beatMadridin the CL semifinal”: 1

You can see from this why Jeffrén is on his way out. The rumored fee of €5m only makes sense if you consider a buyback clause over the next 2 years for €8m and that his contract only had 1 year to run, making him far less valuable to the club. Afellay came for €3m, after all, with 6 months remaining on his contract. I’m on the fence about this one because it strikes me as a terrible deal, but perhaps I’m overvaluing him in the market. After all, his highlight package is basically what I’ve shown you above and that ain’t much. It’s like pointing out in a job interview that 4 years ago I did some volunteer work and that’s why an NGO should hire me as director of international development. Which they should, but you can see why the interviewer might be a bit hesitant.

Goodbye and good luck, Jeffrencito…and your awesome hair. I hope you become amazing at Sporting Lisbon and prove us all wrong. I hope we buy you back in 2 years and you light up the world. I hope you and Bojan are reunited and scored so many goals for us that we all put our hands up and say “Well I didn’t see that coming. Except the hair part.”

"Wait .... how many zeros is this?!"

Get used to it, Sanchez, rich people in the background, not caring a whole lot about what you do. Welcome to Camp Nou!

Alexis Sanchez is, after all the crap, nonsense, posturing and bluster, officially here. And there are some damned funny pics to have a party with, so ….

"This is how you wear your shorts, Fresh Meat!"

"Whoa! We got a mascot! Cute! Moc moc."

The full text of the machine at lower left is “Little MVP.” Pique is telling Sanchez that we bought it for him, but really, it’s the case we use to carry Messi around in.

"This. Is. SO! COOL! I made it, dad."

"I might not have a butt, but I'm still good .... really."

"Wonder if they can hear it if I cut one?"

That loud “thunk” that you heard was the sound of the other shoe dropping. With an arrival often comes a departure, and when Alexis Sanchez’ transfer was announced, it was widely assumed that Bojan Krkic would depart, to Roma.

And so it happened.

The deal, announced officially today, is a 12m transfer with an “obligatory” 13m buyback fee. If Roma want to buy the player and block our buyback, tack another 28m onto it, and he would then become a 40m player. Whether this is a good deal or not, depends upon one’s view of economics.

What we do know is that Krkic will link up with a coach who likes and wants to implement aspects of our system, and he will get a lot more playing time than he is getting with us. All of these things can only help his development. And the stern whetstone of Serie A will also force him to develop as a strong, direct, aggressive player, as the defenders in that league don’t brook any nonsense.

The “we hardly knew ye” is apt, as we still don’t know him and what kind of player that he is and can become. Is he the brilliant, slashing striker that he showed signs of being, or a dynamic second striker who pairs with a more traditional 9 to raise hell. Dunno. And this makes the move in many ways a bittersweet transfer, because the Boy of 1000 Goals was supposed to amount to so much more. He was promoted to the first team, came out like gangbusters and began to immediately show some of the immense promise that he offered. As his career progressed, he even became the pick over Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And unlike Gai Assulin, another wonder who is now gone, people really came to like Krkic, and there is disappointment in a lot of cule hearts today at news of the transfer.

For me, the change of venue can’t be a bad thing. The pressure of being in the club must have been so intense for him, as well as the pressure of having to live up to that stellar B Team promise. Perhaps those things contributed to his downward spiral. I can’t imagine that the decision to let him go was taken lightly, and it could certainly be assumed that the structuring of the deal is such that it’s very easy for him to come back if he pans out at Roma. Whether it’s simple confidence or setting will become apparent as the next two seasons progress. For now, all that we are left to do is wish him well, and program the DVR for Roma matches, to see how he does.

Sánchez has been playing professionally since he was 17 when he joined his local team, Cobreloa. Udinese snatched him up just a season later and he spent a year on loan at both Colo-Colo and River Plate. At the former he won both the 2006 Apertura and the 2007 Clausura and came in runner-up in the 2006 Copa Sudamericana. At the latter he won what has turned out to be the most recent trophy for the now-relegated Argentine club: the 2008 Clausura. In the middle he also ended up 3rd at the 2007 U-20 World Cup. All of that combined to earn him a spot at Udinese.

Let’s get this out of the way first: he is not a goal scorer. He has, in his club career, scored fewer goals than Messi scored last season. In 3 seasons at Udinese he has scored 21 goals in 110 appearances, 12 of them last season in 32 appearances and all but 1 of them in Serie A despite 16 non league appearances. Granted, he has a stellar record on the international level (14 in 36), but he is not going to arrive and produce 30 in a season. Adjust your expectations accordingly, please.

Where he slots into the squad is as a winger in a center-dominated system. We need players capable of shifting deep into the middle as the opposite flank heads to the sideline or crosses up. Pedro and Villa may be good at that, but there are only 2 of them and there are enough matches in the year (60+ if last season repeats itself) that Sánchez will get proper playing time. His defensive tenacity should also mean that there is no letup from subbing. That will be a welcome addition to the squad, which has a paucity of first rate subs (though I would claim Jeffren is only “substandard” because of injuries and Bojan is played out of position).

What you’re all waiting for: the money. Yeah, we overpaid. Of course we overpaid, we’re Barça. We’re buying a nearly finished product in the middle of a crazy market and we’re one of the richest clubs in the world. Of course we overpaid. I dislike it as much as anyone, but then, I can either rail against the price or the lack of reinforcements. Feels a bit absurd to rail against both when Coentrao costs 30m, Ashley Young is worth 15m and the asking price for Samir Nasri is around 20m. And no, I don’t know if Niño is better than Nasri, but I do know that potential says he could be and that’s worth a premium when you show up to negotiations wearing FCB gear. It’s just how it is.

The cost is, according to the official site, €26m + 11.5m in variables. We can debate the merits of that, but if we win the league and one of the cups we’re in (CL or CdR), how many of you will really argue that for slightly more than what Ibrahimovic brought in from Milan this year (€24m) we got ourselves a handy dandy winger?

So, benvingut Alexis, you should do wonderfully here, though your speculative pricetag could be terribly inconvenient for you when you don’t score 12 goals in your first game. Yeah, we expect that out of you. So come on, have a great time, but be sure you listen to Xavi or you will end up under a bus named Carles Puyol. And you do not want that.

So depending upon who you read and believe, we’re going to buy Alexis Sanchez, or not, for some sum of money that again, dependent upon who you read and believe, will come out in total to anything from 38 to 40 million Euros. But as we wait for news, the debate has been going on, and I’ve suddenly realized that we’ve not yet had a public airing on this matter, just snippets within various posts, so ….

To start with, before the season starts and the accusations of me hating Sanchez and wanting him to fail start, I don’t. I, like everyone else, think that he is an immensely talented player with gobs and gobs of potential. The question, for me, is what is potential worth?

We can discuss Sanchez’ potential until we’re blue. Fact of the matter is that to me, that potential isn’t worth a prospective 40m. Potential is worth 20m, tops. Because it’s a risk. And whether it’s a skewed market, sunspots or the price of squirrel carcasses doesn’t negate the fact that it’s an incredibly risky deal. Euler says that it’s also a risk for Udinese, but I don’t agree. They’re still getting 26-28m cash money for a player they bought for 2m.

Does Sanchez have talent? Absolutely. Oozing from every pore. So does Krkic, who has many, if not all of the attributes that Sanchez has, yet we’re giggling as we pawn him off to Roma for 12m. Is talent alone enough to play and succeed for FC Barcelona? Ask Zlatan Ibrahimovic, or Bojan Krkic, or Gio Dos Santos, or Dmitri Txigrinski, and they will tell you “No.” You need a head, a heart and thick, spiny skin to deflect all of the crap that, at some point or another, is going to head your way. “The next Messi.” Some have brought up Ronaldinho comparisons. That’s a heavy load to carry.

No, Sanchez isn’t Krkic, so put those “You’re comparing a bright, shining star to a player we’re unloading” notions out of your head. Sanchez popped in 12 goals in the land of catenaccio, a higher annual total than Krkic has ever done in the first team for us. But Krkic wasn’t a regular starter, either. Could he have had similar totals in the same number of matches? Fair question.

We don’t know what Sanchez is going to develop into, but he is descending into a cauldron of pressure that is completely different from anything he will have experienced. Ever. So potentially we get to see how his head and talent are because if he doesn’t meet expectations, as we all know, Camp Nou denizens will turn on a player in a heartbeat — particularly an expensive one. And no, they won’t parse it by “Well, it’s only 26m in cash, etc, etc,” just as Ibrahimovic’s price was his sum total of money + Eto’o.

Talent isn’t enough, and the price that we’re paying is a hell of a risk, is my point. It isn’t an argument against the player, it’s a quibble about the price.

Mind you, there are also the attendant issues of playing time and development, as in what happens when the (widely rumored to happen at the end of this season) departure of Guardiola comes? Another good question. By rights, Sanchez should work his way into the lineup in Copa matches, early-season Champions League matches and Liga matches that are already decided, so that he can get a feel for the lineup, the way the club plays and a different level of competition in a different league. Immense patience will be required as the player develops.

Sometimes, a purchase price argues against patience, even if it shouldn’t. Yes, Guardiola is immune to such things. We’ve seen it time and again. Let’s hope he doesn’t leave. If he does, will his successor be as stalwart?

To me, we’re in the same boat as whoever will be stupid enough to pony up 45m for Neymar: taking an immense fiscal risk, based on hype and talent. We know that Neymar is a character risk while Sanchez has been a model citizen. Absolutely. Does the character difference make Neymar even more of a risk than Sanchez, for 5m more? Arguably. But from the view of pure talent and hype, there isn’t a ton of difference.

In 2005, EE bought Robinho for about 24m. Then in a bit of alchemy, three years later, they sold him to Citeh for 42m, a truly amazing bit of business. Precious little that Robinho has done has justified the size of either fiscal outlay, but boy, was his talent and hype colossal as he came out of Brazil. And no, I don’t mean to ignore the possibility that Sanchez might turn out to be the next Messi, in which case 40m will seem the bargain of the millennium.

But at the end of it all, we are playing in a stupid market that forces teams to overpay for players. That is the reality of which we are all too keenly aware. And it’s worse for us, because a signing that another team would crow about, we’d be considering for the Segunda side. Our minimum quality level is very, very expensive.

Another reality is that if this acquisition happens, we will have signed a deal that, on paper if variables are met, values a 22-year-old player who is still developing, the same as a 20+goal per season, World Cup winner. We’re paying more cash for Sanchez than we did for Mascherano.

To my own personal worldview, that is madness, irrespective of the conditions that force said actions.

It's Kiko!

It hasn’t been announced by BFB for some reason (maybe because he’s signed for the B-team) but Kiko Femenia is offically a Barca (B) player. He was bought for 2m + 1m in variables from Hercules and signed a 4-year* contract. According to ZubiZa, he’ll mostly reside in the B team but will also play some games for the first team (as per usual for B-team players). He has passed his medical tests and is good to go. I’m not sure when he’ll sign his contract officially, but he’s ours now. Bwahahaha!

*Technically, it’s 3-years with an option for a fourth, but I say 4 anyway.

Five things about Kiko:

• He speaks Catalan.
• He is hot but also looks like a stoned surfer plays attacking midfield.
• He suffered a panic attack in his Liga debut for Hercules. His coach kept on yelling at him, but was walked through the match by teammate Rufete on the sidelines.
• His finest memory was subbing into that game in the Camp Nou.
• His biggest attribute is his speed according to stats from Football Manager via Jnice (all scores out of 20).

Welcome Kiko! May you do well and not suffer any anxiety attacks!

In other news (not of this world. Hehehe), Sergi Busquets believes that with Thiago and Fontas being definitely promoted, our squad is complete [BarcaTV via barcastuff]. To which I say: Child please. We need another CB. Milito does not meet our needs.

Windmill hands (Pedro!!) has extended his contract to 2016 and has increased his buyout clause from 90m to 150m.

Gerard Pique is white water rafting. He blames Shakira’s lack of synchronization for the fall. I blame him if he gets himself injured.

Our Juvenil A squad will be compete in the European U-19 club competition called the NextGen series [fcbarcelona.cat]. However, Javi Espinosa, Gerard Deulofeu, Rafinha Alcantara, and 5 other players won’t be in that squad because they have been promoted to Barca B! Yay!

Barca returns to the football pitch in less than two weeks (13 days as of now) to play Hadjuk Split in Croatia. Move faster, time. (Please don’t remind me of the US tour. I was priced out of the Man Utd game in DC. Sigh…).

Diego Maradona told Argentine newspaper Ole* in an interview that “we [Argentinians] are being very unfair to Messi. If he wins the Champions League, he’s the best of all time. If [the Argentina NT] can’t win two games, it’s all his fault.  The Argentine people shouldn’t treat the best player in the world like this. We don’t have Xavi, Iniesta, Pique…it’s impossible imitate Barcelona. We have to play as Argentina.” He goes on to criticize the lack of Pastore and the midfield. Wow.

*English translation by AFP [via Xingxian in the comments].

Transfer Watch:

Udinese has confirmed to the Italian media that we’ve offered B-team hot shot Jonathan Soriano as part of the deal for Alexis Sanchez. It is unclear who “the Italian media” are. Marca has their own agenda and say we’ve offered Henrique, Hleb, or Keirrision. Other people (like tribalfootball) believe that Soriano is off to Austria to play for Red Bull Salzburg, having agreed to a 4-year deal. I wonder who to believe? (Hint: None of them matter).

David Villa says Cesc Fabregas is a weakness. I agree. He and this whole fiasco is slowly weakening my grasp on reality.

(He actually said that Fabregas is a weakness for him and that he has a preference blah blah blah hopefully will be added to the team bleh bleh bleh. On a different note, he also wants to win more titles and enjoy many more minutes).

And Sport can just go to heck for this comic. You’re part of the reason why it seems that way! (Translation for comic: Close, far, close, far, close, far, close. Fabregas: Because of this whole soap opera, what I’m close to is insanity).

——————-

Hehe. Credit Jose for the ‘y-u-no’ idea. I forgot how much I loved that meme.

Hug it out

Thiago has just turned 20 and is legitimately considered the best youth product for the club and one of the best under-21s in the world. He will be expected to play a lot more for the parent club next year, filling in for Xavi/Iniesta, giving them breaks, and hopefully making his break. Now before you ask, we have no idea how this will affect the pursuit/lackthereof of Cesc Fabregas. Currently, Thiago’s father, former Brazilian world champion, Mazinho is saying all the right things as reported on Twitter, that he’s not worried about Cesc possibly coming in because they play different positions. It may still be possible, I am not sure.

However, this brings up one tiny fact that a lot of people are overlooking: Sandro Rosell is damn good at doing businessperson. Please note this giant, huge, Puyol’s-hair-sized warning: I do not endorse him as a good person, I think he’s xenophobia regarding outsiders among Barça socios and ideas about Catalan independence are wrong. Remember this when you misquote me on your witch hunts. Let’s go through his business decisions:

-Signing Afellay for 3m
-Signing Adriano for about 9.5m
-Signing Mascherano for 19m
-Signing Villa for 40m (Ed. note: This was a Laporta signing according to Isaiah)
-1 starter, 1 spot starter/fill-in at CB, 2 for depth
-Loan of Ibrahimovic, with sale-option this year: Pep said he had to go and we had limited buyers, did the best with a bad situation
-Toure to Man City for 24m: Yaya wanted to go, his agent made that clear, he made that clear
-Gaining the highest shirt sponsorship deal in the world: not arguing the merits, just the business, good deal.

Granted, this does not include the Chygy debacle, which I stated my opposition to at the time, and which Pep was not fond of, but I think the rest speaks for itself. Not all of these deals were popular, but they were all helpful for either goals, depth, or behind-the-scenes issues that we don’t all know about. Also, the commentary about how he’s handled deals this summer isn’t useful yet, since we do not know how they will come out or what the actual parameters are, since it’s all being reported by third-party rags.

Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images Europe

This is how it all began, in GChat:

Isaiah: You’re the journalist, make us some news. Print something in the trib that we can cherry pick.

Kxevin: I got nothing except a head full of bile regarding this Sanchez/Fabregas business and player happiness. There’s probably something in there kicking around. Jeffren, Krkic, Sanchez, Fabregas will all leave/not leave. None will be happy.

Isaiah: Right. I mean, there’s nothing. We’re like an empty wasteland and I’m pretty happy with that right now.

Kxevin: Because there’s nothing. It’s just that time of year.

Isaiah: Yup. And I don’t have the time or energy to do a research piece.

Kxevin: I think at this time of year, the only things to really react to are money-grubbing scumbags named Pozzo.

And then we started chatting.

Isaiah: What’s wrong with him holding out for extra cash? As I understand it, players get a percentage of the transfer fee too (and certainly agents do), so it’s in everyone’s best interest except Barça’s.

Kxevin: The number keeps changing, and it doesn’t have his player’s wishes at heart. We could have held out for a Ronaldinho auction. He wanted Milan, so we sent him there. But for this player, it isn’t about money, it’s about wanting to play for a specific club, right?

Isaiah: So say the baseless rumors.

Kxevin: Well, there’s the story about the promise to the now-dead father figure, that isn’t at all baseless, and probably counts for a lot with the player.

Isaiah: I haven’t bothered to read those. I figure a deal will get done if the club really wants him and won’t if they don’t. If they say €28m and some incentives and ManC offers €40m cash, well, he’ll be in light blue next year. I’m sure ManC will pay Sanchez a higher salary too.

Kxevin: For sure. They have offered more cash, and a higher salary. And the player doesn’t want it, even if the club wants the higher fee.

Isaiah: Then Udinese will come around after some time of pressuring Sanchez and if Sanchez really wants Barça over money, he’ll go to Barça.

Kxevin: Yup. But it doesn’t keep the whole process from making me sick. The price was 30, then 35, then 40, now it’s 50 and not a penny less. NOBODY will pay 50 for Sanchez.

Isaiah: Of course not. But given that Ashley Young is worth 20m, Sanchez being worth 28 makes no real sense. Or if Andy Carroll is worth 35mGBP, or if Torres is worth 50. I don’t mind Udinese playing hardball. They’re a little club struggling to make cash off a huge empire. Fine with me so long as it has Sanchez’s blessing (which it probably does)

Kxevin: I just have a problem with naked greed. They bought him for less than 2m. Selling for 35 is an amazing bit of business.

Isaiah: It’s true. And were we fans of Udinese, we’d be cheering like no tomorrow. We bought Toure for 9m and sold him for 24m. That’s a good bit of business too.

Kxevin: I wouldn’t be. But that’s just how I am. Toure is an excellent bit of business. And he flew out the door for 24. What if we’d said “He’s worth 60, and not a penny less.” We’d have just been greedheads.

Isaiah: Except if someone was willing to pay it. If someone came and said “we’ll offer you 70m for Messi,” we’d say hell no…how about 170?

I don’t disagree that money is kinda ruining the game, but in these circumstances, Udinese is fine to do this. Now, if Sanchez is making daily calls to Pozzo saying “Doood, sign the contract” then yeah, that’s a problem. Player’s rights are stomped on constantly.

Isaiah: We paid £2.25m for Figo and got £37m for him 5 years later. (I just wondered how much we’d made off him–has nothing to do with this conversation)

Kxevin: True, but I don’t ever recall us holding an auction, and changing the price weekly. Set the price, try to honor the player wishes, and off you go. Seems like we have a post right here, with just this conversation.

And so we do. For the record, I’m all for capitalism. Buy low, sell high if you can. Rock on. Nobody will be holding any tag days for FC Barcelona anytime soon. But even as I am not a fan of any individual player, I do think they’re human beings, who have wants and desires. If Sanchez were down with playing for Citeh, this deal would have been months ago. And whether you believe the news stories out of Chile that he refused to get on a plane to meet with them, the fact that this deal isn’t done, with him being presented at Eastlands makes it clear that he wants to come to Barca.

We see other issues with player happiness, again depending on who/what you believe. Does Fabregas want to come “home,” and that mean ol’ Wenger is keeping him against his will? It probably depends on whether your club of choice wears red/white, or Blaugrana. And there’s the matter of asking price, as in “If you want to talk, bring 60 million pounds,” a number that says they aren’t interested in selling.

And that’s fine. But as his contract continues, his value drops until he reached the last year of it (unless he renews), in which case Arsenal won’t even get what we’re offering now. I think the player’s wishes should be respected.

Krkic didn’t want to be a makeweight in any transfer deal. We honored that request, dealing him to Roma. Jeffren didn’t want to be a makeweight in any transfer deal, and now he isn’t. Where will he go? Good question. But we honored the player’s wishes by not forcing (not that we could) the Udinese thing.

At some point for me, it becomes about honor and respect, from both the buying and selling club as regards each other, as well as the questions about what the player wants.

But enough from us. What say ye?