@FCBarça what are your views on the current situation and how does it effect deulofeu
Won't impact Deulo, Rafinha or Bojan - which are the 3 loanees out atm
Well, to put things into perspective, albeit without all the very specific details of the violations, a few things
- The TMS is a new sub-committee of FIFA (2007) and this is the their first big ruling, a test case if you will - regardless of the anonymous club that initiated the investigation (*cough*, RM)...And in a test case, what better way to start out than hitting the best football academy on the planet
- According to the rules of the appeals process, going to the CAS will not only give the club a chance to defend their position from a ban but it will also suspend the ban until a ruling is made...Which means not only will the Ter Stegen & Halilovic signings not be affected but Barcelona should be able to still sign players (Hopefully Hummels)
- Bartomeu's recently audacious, if not infantile, claim that the club had 120m to spend this summer probably suggests they knew a ban was looming - some rumours say FIFA has known since November they were going to come down with a ban...Still, if there's anything positive to take from this fiasco is that it should be the final nail in the coffin of Rosell's catastrophic board...Bring on new elections which has been my hope since Day 1 of his tenure
- Personally, I'm more concerned about what happens to these 10 players in the cantera than I am about the transfer ban...Especially when you consider Barcelona rarely work in the winter window so it's effectively just this summer where they'd take the hit which will already be complicated (i.e. expensive) in a WC year...Talents like LSW, Chendri, Paik et al are vital for the club going forward and preserving the image & continuity of La Masia is far more important in the bigger picture than a short transfer ban, IMO
- The spirit of the rule (Art. 19) is well intentioned but the application of which is entirely arbitrary considering how well and comprehensive the club's cantera is run...Getting a well rounded education and healthcare on top of football, what other academy can offer better and how exactly are the kids being exploited?
- This is FIFA which is about as dirty as it gets in professional sports so it feels a bit like they're merely looking for a piece of the massive money pie that are International youth talent as evidenced by January 2014's report from the TMS on the 5 big European leagues
Among the revelations was English clubs accounting for a whopping 26 per cent of the global market spend (USD 885m). French, Italian and Spanish clubs accounted for 12 per cent (USD 399m), 11 per cent (USD 363m) and ten per cent (USD 337m) respectively.
Spanish clubs earned more on sales (USD 497m) than the spent on signings.
Meanwhile German clubs’ spending on international transfer fees rose by USD 26m to USD 252m, representing seven per cent of the global market spend (USD 3.4b)
In other words, this has little to do with child exploitation, me thinks an exchange of brown envelopes is being sought
I did love this excerpt from FIFA though, the irony clearly missed on them
"Young football players are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse in a foreign country without the proper controls. This particular fact makes the protection of minors in football by the sport's governing bodies, especially by FIFA, even more important."
FIFA professes to be a protective agency for the welfare of minors/children? Are they as qualified for this as they are for issues of racism, corruption and bribery? Because the implication continues to be that children are exploited and kicked to the curb if they don't make the first team, ignoring that only less than 10% ever get there at a club where the academy has been working this way for 4 decades
You can send a child to a private school in Switzerland when you're as young as 10 years of age, from anywhere in the world but go to a football academy/school at Barcelona and it's deemed child exploitation? It's nonsense
IMHO, it's far more egregious for English clubs to be able to poach players with professional contracts regardless of how the rules at a corrupt organization like FIFA are set up. Has the feel of a test case by FIFA and what better test than the best academy on the planet. As usual, this is about someone wanting a piece of the pie without having done anything to earn it
The intention is admirable but it's misplaced in the case of Barcelona
