Frenkie de Jong’s future could decide Barcelona’s capacity to sign additional players, highlighting the craziness of their transfer window!
It may be a scant consolation to Chelsea fans that Barcelona’s financial carelessness may finally catch up with them after missing out on Raphinha and Jules Kounde, but it may provide some karma at the conclusion of a disappointing summer.
According to Barcelona-based reporter Alfredo Martnez, if Frenkie de Jong refuses to leave or accept a wage cut due to La Liga’s financial limits, the Spanish giants will have a difficult time signing players like Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Kounde.
In general, no one in the wider football world should sympathise with Barcelona.
Their desperation to win one transfer window in the midst of financial hardship reflects a dysfunctional culture that refuses to recognise its own reality, instead focuses on beating out European rivals to objectives, even if the consequences could be severe.
As Gary Neville correctly pointed out, the club’s bullying mentality toward De Jong is terrible, and the willingness to sell off additional portions of the club in order to buy new players while owing money to those they currently have is simply abhorrent.
Of course, considering that this is an established European team with a long history, don’t expect many inquests or public criticism, as you might see with Manchester City or PSG, who are frequently portrayed as the bad guys of modern football.
It has taken some people weeks to even gaze in the direction of the Camp Nou, which is very surprising given the size of the club in question. However, their acts contrast with a broader narrative about who are football’s heroes and villains.
When Barcelona’s irresponsible conduct led to the loss of Lionel Messi to PSG last summer, there was some type of grief over the fact that the Argentine, who had been valued at £700 million by Barcelona to deter any interest, had lost one of the richest sportsmen of all time to another rich club.
We were supposed to be sympathetic rather than condemning. You might hear more explanations today that Barcelona’s insanity is the result of a flawed transfer market that forces them to spend and jeopardise their future. That is complete rubbish.
They should be playing the players they have and, as was the case last summer, De Jong puts them in a no-win situation, and there will only be one party to blame.
