Connect with us
https://tickernews.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AmEx-Thought-Leaders.jpg

Ticker Views

Will Lionel Messi ACTUALLY leave Barcelona? | ticker VIEWS

Published

on

It’s the end of an era

After 778 club appearances, 672 goals, 10 domestic League titles, seven Copa del Rey titles, four Champions League victories and three Club World Cups, Argentine superstar Lionel Messi will no longer be associated with Barcelona, the side that has made him a household name over the past 21 years.

The 34-year-old was in talks to re-sign with the Catalan club, and had even agreed terms to 2026 with a 50% wage cut, but some technicalities have arisen.

TECHNICALITIES?

LaLiga, the governing body that oversees the Spanish domestic competition, has mandated that Barcelona’s wage bill, fall in line with financial fair play rules for the coming season.

Wage caps in the League are calculated based on a club’s financial health and they must adhere to their cap in order to avoid future financial penalties.

The cost of the COVID-19 pandemic has severely reduced Barca’s budget for the new campaign and the numbers – simply – do not add up.

Messi can’t be registered until the new proposed wage structure.

And with a number of other high earners the Blaugrana need to also put pen to paper, could Barcelona contemplate selling the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann to accommodate Messi?

It was thought a €2.7 billion investment in LaLiga from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners would help Barcelona overcome their difficulties, but the rejected injection has not proven enough to enable the club to hold onto the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Why is it being opposed, you ask?

Barcelona don’t want to give up future revenue to the company.

The deal has been unanimously approved by LaLiga’s executive board, and clubs will get a chance to vote on it. However, clubs in LaLiga and Segunda do not need Real and Barca’s approval for the deal to be voted in.

It also musn’t be forgotten that LaLiga itself does not want to lose its last remaining jewel in the crown, after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Serie A side Juventus several seasons ago.

WHERE COULD HE GO?

The line, you would think, would be out the door for the biggest name in world football, but his wages and financial fair play regulations, mean only a handful of elite European clubs could actually afford to accommodate him.

French giants Paris Saint-Germain are seemingly the first option to acquire his services, meaning a reunion with former teammate Neymar. But reigning English Premier League champions Manchester City could also pose a destination for him, and a working relationship alongside former boss Pep Guardiola.

A trip across the Atlantic to either North or South America has not been ruled out, as the Argentine has previously admitted to wanting to play in the MLS.

And there is also the possibility of returning to his boyhood club, Newell’s Old Boys, tying his career up in a pretty ribbon.

All we know, is that the situation at Barcelona involving Lionel, has gotten, Messi.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tech

Ticker News is available on podcast apps and iHeartRadio

Published

on

Ticker is available on podcast apps, allowing you to hear the latest news, plus special programs.

 

Ticker is available as a podcast and a 24/7 radio channel on iHeartRadio.

You can catch up on the latest news, or programs devoted to special topics including U.S. politics and our Original documentaries.

Ticker CEO Ahron Young says:

“Ticker always puts the story first and we aim to make Ticker content available however our audience wants to enjoy it.”

“We are putting significant resources into Ticker content to make sure we get to the heart of the stories we cover.”

Every day, you can catch up on our news programs from Ticker News, as well as our special documentary programs.

Ticker News podcasts are available daily on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Just search TICKER NEWS to subscribe.

How to listen

APPLE PODCAST – https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ticker-news/id1632145760

SPOTIFY – https://open.spotify.com/show/3iidnXUXPDVWG2QMEhN0Kt?si=e2e195a8ee584fa6

Listen here on iHeartRadio:

Continue Reading

News

Trump’s campaign tactic – debase and disgrace the legal process

Published

on

Donald Trump, former president of the United States, hated Arraignment Day I in Manhattan two months ago, the first time a former president had been criminally charged. 

Trump was being forced against his will into a proceeding he had utter contempt for.  He was being arrested and fingerprinted and photographed under an indictment under the jurisdiction of Manhattan in New York City for allegations of hush money payments and fraudulent bookkeeping practices to conceal criminal activity. Trump heard the charges read out against him and he entered a plea of not guilty.

Trump had a terrible day. Trump wore a scowl throughout. His countenance was fearsome.  What Trump hated most about his arraignment in New York is that he had to sit at a table with his counsel side by side with him — equal to him — and with the judge above him looking down on him. Trump could not control the discussion and could not interrupt to make his points.

Trump was subordinate to the judge. He was subordinate to no one as president.

Arraignment Day II

Arraignment Day II in Miami will be worse from Trump, even more stressful.  The charges are substantially more serious:  the alleged violation of federal criminal statutes involving the alleged mishandling and illegal possession of classified documents, lying to legal authorities, and obstruction of justice.  Potential penalties run to years in prison and millions of dollars in fines.

Trump throughout his business life had always crafted his affairs to avoid being a defendant. But in his term in office, he was caught up in it big time. He was a defendant in two impeachment trials – again, unprecedented events – and left office in disgrace.

But Trump does not feel disgraced. He never does.  Trump does not have a reverse gear.  He never retreats.  Never admits. Never concedes. Never yields.  Trump is never embarrassed. Trump never feels ashamed. When something goes wrong, it is always the fault of someone else.

And Trump never repents.

Trump can feel this way because Trump is waging war on behalf of his armies in “the final battle” for the future of the county. In his first, fiery post-indictment speech in Georgia, Trump said, “They’ve launched one witch hunt after another to try and stop our movement, to thwart the will of the American people.  In the end, they’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you … “Either we have a Deep State, or we have a Democracy…Either the Deep State destroys America, or WE destroy the Deep State.”

It is a powerful formulation, and his true believers love it.

Hours later, In North Carolina, Trump mainlined his distilled message for the Republican crowd:

“We are a failing nation. We are a nation in decline. And now these radical left lunatics want to interfere with our elections by using law enforcement.

It’s totally corrupt and we cannot let it happen.

This is the final battle.

With you at my side we will demolish the Deep State.

We will expel the warmongers from our government.

We will drive out the globalists.

We will cast out the communists.

We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country.

We will roll out the fake news media.

We will defeat Joe Bide and we will liberate America from those villains once and for all.”

Any lesser mortal would be staggered by these events.  Any other presidential candidate would be driven from the race.  But not Trump.

Debase and disgrace

Trump is using the same playbook today as he successfully triggered after being charged in New York:  debase and disgrace the legal process by terming it completely political.  Trump said the federal indictment is “election interference at the highest level.”

Almost every other Republican running for president has adopted this line, insulating Trump from pressure to leave the field.

Trump’s chief opponent, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said after these indictments: “The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society. We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation.”

Republican congressperson Nancy Mace: “This is a banana republic. I can’t believe this is happening.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: “Democrats are arresting their political enemies. and they work together in their corrupt ways to get it done.”

Trump is using his affliction to raise millions of dollars from his base.

Trump will likely face Arraignment Day III in Georgia in August.  A state prosecutor is expected to charge Trump with criminal interference in the certification of Georgia’s vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

As of now, there is no sign of cracks in Trump’s support among Republican voters.  There is no surge to another candidate.  What remains to be seen is whether Republican voters, as they see Trump spend his days in courtrooms and his evenings at rallies around the country, reach a conclusion that this is a spectacle too far, too much to bear, and that they want to turn to another conservative populist who stands for them in the political trials— and not the criminal trials – of 2024.

Continue Reading

News

Donald Trump’s legal woes will serve him well

Published

on

It’s not often that a U.S. President faces federal indictment, but if it’s going to happen to anyone, it might as well be Donald Trump first.

The news that Donald Trump is facing a federal investigation over the removal of secret documents from the White House in 2021 came as no surprise.

Keen watches of the Washington soap opera have seen this playbook before, albeit in a different form.

There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a Washington outsider. But as seriously damaged as he may be (thanks to the events of January 6), his support base has only grown whenever he faces scrutiny.

For his supporters, his legal woes mirror their own relationship with the government – a giant, unfair beast that picks and chooses its fights.

Trump is accused of storing sensitive documents—including those concerning matters of national security—in boxes, some even in a shower.

The documents were seized last August when investigators from the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago.

The Department of Justice has historically avoided charging people who are running for public office. Whether they should do that is a debate for another day. But it’s happening now. And it’s making it all too easy for Trump to claim there is a concerted campaign to get him away from the White House.

Trump exposed the deep state. IF they exist, they probably don’t want him back in power. Whether they exist doesn’t matter really, because plenty of Trump’s supporters agree with him, and believe the secret state is working against them. Call it QAnon, call it a conspiracy – it doesn’t matter in a democracy.

The DoJ now has to go all in. Failing to secure a conviction would be a serious embarrassment for the department.

This is the second time Trump has been indicted in recent months, yet the opinion polls show he only increases his popularity among MAGA and Republican voters. It leaves the Republican party in a difficult position. Support their leading candidate or support the law?

As other Republicans rallied around the embattled candidate, Trump held on to his loyal base of supporters.

For the Democrats, and for Biden, another reality will soon sink in – if Trump becomes President, and they lose office next year, how will a Trump-run DoJ deal with them?

Broadly, the tit-for-tat one-up-manship of U.S. politics is breaking tradition and potentially breaking the country.

 

Continue Reading

Trending Now