The Art of Money: Contract Renewals
By: Isaiah | February 17th, 2009I just realized, right now, why my blogging life feels so empty this week. It’s only the 3rd time this season that Barça and its players haven’t had a game in midweek. The official site has, um, the official word on it. And now to our regular schedule programming:
Most of you probably read Sport on a daily basis, so this undoubtedly old news, but for those of you who don’t speak Spanish or don’t care for Sport as anything other than the rag it is (if they offered a double ply version, I might even subscribe), here is something that caught my eye today: Yaya Toure’s agent, one Dimitri Seluk, has claimed on RAC1 (Radio Catalunya, I believe, not Rac1) that contract negotiations between Eto’o and Barça as well as between Toure and Barça should take place sooner rather than later because if the team continues to win and those two players are considered the reasons why, the price Barça will pay to retain their services will only increase. Then, just as a nice little dig, he said that if no one renews, “who will be left to play? Hleb?” Ouch.
Seluk has a point, though, and because of that, rather than the interview that Samu gave a few days ago (our coverage here, Pep’s coverage here), I think we should get our negotiators to the table and get them plugging away at new contracts. There’s no reason to believe that our players don’t warrant better contracts if they’re pouring in goals from all angles or playing significant minutes in a defense that has allowed only 18 league goals so far this year.
We all know my feelings on Toure and how much money we should offer him to sign for life (and sign up his children, or if he doesn’t have any, get him a harem and produce some mini-Yayas, who would be full human adult sized when born, no doubt). But what about Eto’o, a man who is the 6th highest paid player in the world? What kind of a contract should we offer him? Or should we even bother to offer him anything?
Well, Eto’o currently earns €7.5m a year, which is, as I said, 6th in the list of highest paid soccer players. The list I’m referring to can be found here. He’s surpassed within his own team by 1 player, Messi at #3 with €8.4m a year, though he’s also tied with Henry. €7.5m a year is a lot of money last time I checked, so he shouldn’t be complaining about his salary. The bet you take is, of course, whether or not Eto’o is able to continue his form of this year throughout not just this year, but the next 3 or 4 years and whether that warrants an upgrade to his contract, as he’ll no doubt want a raise in order to continue playing for Barça.
Here’s what I propose for Eto’o: Give the man the same amount of money as the 5th highest paid player in the world (currently that’s Frank Lampard, of all people, at €7.54m) and include a clause that says that for the first 2 years of his contract, Eto’o will always be the 5th highest paid player. That is, build in a clause that says that if anyone jumps above him, FCB will raise his salary to a level that will make him the 5th highest paid player in the world for the first 2 years of his contract. Then that salary level is locked in and for the next 2 years (and I’m suggesting a 4-year contract) instead of 5th highest, that becomes 10th highest. Also a good signing bonus goes along with that renewal to sweeten the deal.
If Eto’o doesn’t accept that deal, then we can offer the same deal to any number of strikers around the world who will then bend over backwards to get it. David Villa springs to mind. I would be okay if you made the numbers 3rd and 8th, but I think 5th and 10th is completely fair. If Eto’o can’t accept that kind of a deal, then I fully advocate showing him the door. The big, front door, but the door nonetheless.
As for Yaya, I think we should offer him a deal that puts him in the top half of players on FCB. That is, he should earn more than half the squad earns simply because he is better than half the squad. While Pique may be a solid member of the squad, he doesn’t yet deserve the money that Yaya obviously deserves. The man went through some intense pain last year before having back surgery in the offseason and I believe that the team owes him a big contract if only for that. That he is also a man mountain capable of eating porcupines and burping up swarms of darts is merely an afterthought.
I don’t think that Yaya deserves to make as much as Eto’o, who contributes in a different way, but Yaya is certainly one of the top 5 DMs in the world, so why shouldn’t he make top 5 money? Whatever the salaries of the other top 4 DMs are, give him something equivalent to that. I bet Mascherano’s salary would do him just fine. And also throw in a few rather large deer that he can hunt down and kill at his leisure on the new training grounds. I imagine him something like an Ent, but without the slowness, beard, or affection for Hobbits. If a player like Busi, who is admittedly a very good player, get big contracts from the team, then Yaya sure as hell should get one. And it should be bigger than Busi’s.
What do you all think?
On a side note:
I’ve updated the Where to Watch page with Burbank, CA’s Barney’s Beanery Burbank (thanks, Soto — if you have more info about the place or its other versions, let me know and I’ll put it up). However, there are still requests out there for places to watch in San Francisco and Los Angeles. If anyone else needs info on where to watch, ask here and you might just get an answer. If you know of a place, either post your favorite place in the comments with all the relevant information you can think of as well as a brief description or you can email me at barcelona [at] theoffside [dot] com.
Category: Team News
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
how come i never got a nickname???
lolz…………Posted from
United States
-
Yes, Aaron, as the Goal.com story that I was citing from made very clear, and I brain-locked it into PSG. It’s been that kind of a thang for me. Ugh.
Because you have four letters in your name, Tajh. Even I can’t screw that up.
Posted from
United States -
Sorry FFT, won’t happen again. Come and visit here any itme…especailly Calssico time!
@ Kev…no I meant PSG, not classic onetouchers but I didn’t know the difference thenPosted from
United States -
Hey Isaiah, i dont know how your Espanyol Preview Research is going, but word around the net is that Botia and Abraham have been training with the first team, possibly to be on the squad list for Espanyol.
its from a pretty unreliable source if you know who i mean
… but i thought it was worth noting.Hm… many other sources say the same thing, including el Mundo Deportivo, who also said that both are serving suspension from Barca Athletic. They also say that since they wont have both of them on the weekend, they are going to use VicSan and Pedrito.
I guess Barca and Barca athletic are trading Abraham and Botia for VicSan and Pedrito for the weekend.
BOOO, that means no Pedro for us vs Espanyol
at this point im SURE Guardiola reads this blog! It cant be a coincidence if he does the opposite of EVERYTHING i suggest. If this theory is true, i might just have to suggest that we keep Hleb this summer
Posted from
United States -
Mmh… I didn’t know about the suspension from Barca Athletic.
I was just wondering why they trained with the team but no Pedro.
Did Abraham and/or Botia yet play for the “A-Team” this season? Tbh, I’ve never heard of them before.
And when will we ever see Pedro again? He did a great job in the games I watched him play, much better than Hleb e.g. Maybe we should start an official Pedro-Petition
Posted from
Germany -
BTW, maradona is an ol’ grandpa now. aguero just had a son…wonder what his name will be…
Posted from
Switzerland -
they always let a couple of Barca Athletic kids train with the first team. it seems to be as a reward for doing good at practice.
Posted from
United States -
Both Abraham and Botia was red carded in the last Barca Athletic game thats y they trained with the 1st team.
Posted from
United States -
It seems that you wouldn’t want to promote the guys who just got red carded in a lower level match…right?
Posted from
United States -
Guardiola, according to Sport, has announced the Messi will be a starter against Espanyol. So now you know it’s going to be a tough week for the little Maestro.
Posted from
United States -
ive just read the above article and i like the idea alot on of the contract clauses? for etoó. On the hleb subject do we think your being alittle harsh on him, ive seen him play live this year a couple of times at the camp nou(i think he´s actually only played a couple of times) and he´s been shocking, almost nervous on the ball. But he´s trying to force himself into a flank consisting of the favourite for next years world player of the year, and possibly the best rightback in the world its not like he´s been here long and i think he´s got at least a couple of assists for henry, this coupled with the fact henry iis also supposed to hate him, as for pedro at the moment i thnk (and its only an opinion) he´s too raw at the moment. this is the most delicate part of the season. look at the other leagues man utd inter all starting to pull away, this is the time every player that steps on the pitch needs to gaurantee something. yes pedro good, but gio looked good in parts the other season got another run out looked awful
Posted from
Spain -
There’s a reason why Messi hasn’t started a game in a good while. He’s been saved for just this stretch. I hope he’s up for it. I actually like the Messi super-sub role. Its kinda bad ass when a team give us a fight and Guardiola sorta says “That’s enough. Now you die.” and sends in the Argentine diavolo (that’s actually what Capello called him when he debuted for the Barce first team against him vs Juventus in the Gamper match). The looks on the defenders’ faces and the crowds chants are awesome. Always gives me the chills.
Posted from
United States -
Foget Adebayor, Benzema, whoever, let’s promote this Etock kid:
http://fcbtransfers.blogspot.com/2009/02/youth-three-players-have-played-for.html
Posted from
United States -
Etock… kind a reminds me of Eto’o, maybe he can be his successor. But I doubt he will be next season, give him one more year of time.
Posted from
Germany -
i dunno about it being a reward, isaiah. but the article said that they were 2 of 5 players suspended/ injured, so it makes sense that vicsan and pedro go down to help. and if we are trying to conserve some depth for lyon, why not take botia and abraham, even if they are unused subs. true or not, logic is there. but i did say the sources wernt the most credible.
Posted from
United States -
Jason, that’s true, it’s pretty logical to have them. I find it surprising, though, that the first team would sacrifice two potential subs for two not-so-potential subs for games as important as the CL. That’s something that sort of defies logic, from my point of view.
Posted from
United States -
I’ll say it again. I don’t know about what happened this last week but over the course of the whole season, Guardiola has let 2-4 Barca Athletic kids train with the first team every week. Yesterday it was Abarahm and Botia, I distinctly also remember Vic Vaz, Vic San, Pedrito, Gai, and Thiago also training with the first team at different points of the season. I wouldn’t read too much into it. It seems to me to be a policy to foment closeness and identity between the First Team and the cantera and let the Masia kids know that they are considered part of the team.
Posted from
United States -
I think Jeffren, Corcoles, and Xavi Torres also recently participated during the international matches.
Posted from
United States -
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/2009/02/20/futbol/1235132326.html
Apparently Messi reads this blog and has been working his butt off to get better in the aerial/heading game. He’s receiving rave review saying pretty much that he has gotten really good at heading lately and will surprise the hell out of people when the opportunity presents itself (i.e. when he faces a 5′6 centerback).
Seriously. Apparently he’s improved a lot and has been keeping it on the down low. Now, it would be nice if he got in touch with his buddy Ronaldinho to see if he can teach him a few direct free kick secrets in the offseason.
Posted from
United States -
Pedro usually trains with the first team Hector. He doesn’t train with Barca Atletic, he just plays games with them when he is dropped from the squad list.
Posted from
United States -
On the Barca website Guardiola is saying that Messi will NOT start. Good; Lyon is a bigger match. I’d sit out Puyol too. Marquez will do fine, and against Espanyol, I have faith in Hleb, because he’s been a bit more regular in appearances and the next match is bound to be better.
Posted from
United States -
Well, no Messi and no Iniesta. This will be very tough against a solid defending and passionate fighting Espanyol.
I would have preferred to start with Messi and then play with a rather passive-defensive line-up in Lyon.
So this will be one of Hleb’s last chances, I suppose. He HAS to be in the starting eleven tomorrow. It’s a great chance for him, if he plays a good derby and gets an assist or maybe even his first goal, fans will appreciate it and his confidence should raise. Hopefully he won’t be substituted due to (another) rather sloppy performance…
Posted from
Germany -
The official site differs between its English and Spanish versions.
In English: “On Messi, the coach said that he will not start the game against Espanyol, but he has yet to decide about Puyol after he recovered from injury this week.”
In Spanish: “Sobre Leo Messi, Guardiola ha anunciado que saldrá en el once inicial contra el Espanyol y que le ha visto bastante bien en los últimos partidos.”
The Spanish actually translates as this: On Leo Messi, Guardiola has announced that he will start against Espanyol and that he [Messi] has looked good in the last few games.
So there you go.
Posted from
United States -
thats why i said iniesta is important, because if both he and messi are out, 100% of the creativity HAS to come from Professor X. Not that he cant to it, but he’ll have to have a rocking game against espanyol. and then have very little left for Lyon.
And if he is the sole creative force, than his two midfield partners better damn well stay back to let him do his thing, because whenver Keita or Guddy wander forward too much, Xavi takes it upon himself to start defending the middle, and then he gets blamed for “not dictating well enough”, “not being creative enough”, and “not having one of his better games”
Posted from
United States -
Mmh… that’s interesting, Isaiah. I think the Spanish version is more credible. Well, seems we have to wait another 9 hours to be absolutely sure about it
Posted from
Germany
Read the rest of the comments
Comments are closed
Home 
