Thread by @Barsalev

FDJ thoughts (looong thread):

1a) People will say "see, it's all about the money."

It is not. There are too many doubts on how much we wanted him and if he would get enough playing time. Looking at our coach, those doubts are understandable and that's why PSG was able to seduce him.

1b) It's not about confidence in your abilities, but about doubts on whether a club or a coach is going to prefer you or a different type of midfielder. Is a coach who loved Paulinho and can't live without Rakitic going to play Arthur AND De Jong at the same time?

1c) In the end there was only one way left to REALLY convince De Jong we are willing to bet on him and that was by paying such an absurd amount of money that we *cannot not play* him once he is here.

1d) In this sense is a shame we are in a situation that made him doubt to begin with. I think Valverde's philosophy and decision making worked against us here, but this is not to shit on EV because his job is not easy and he is doing a lot of things right as well.

2a) It's obvious we need to sell and the logical candidates are at least one from Vidal (7M salary) and Rakitic (8M) due to the transfer fee they can still command. Hopefully we will be able to hold on to Vidal - I think he is more valuable as a SQUAD player than Rakitic.

2b) Denis & Rafinha are therefore out. Probably for a low fee, but in this new market, who knows.

Another factor is that clubs will know that we *have to* sell, which will drive down the price.

Don't expect PSG to do us any favors and sign Raki for 90M (or at all, really)

2c) Is Coutinho "safe?" I think so. 90% of culés seen to want him out, but if we can keep him and he gets his confidence back he can still be important to us. However if we sell him for a great fee it would not be the end of the world.

3a) De Jong's salary is rumored at 10 + 6M and to attract a player wanted by all of Europe, this is the new reality.

Unless you find a player before he is in high demand (e.g. Arthur) you'll end up playing crazy money.

3b) Only the board knows whether we can really afford this, we can only speculate. Keep in mind that the amortization of FDJ's contract over his career is cheaper than Coutinho or the "missed" signings Griezmann or William.

3c) Spending this kind of money on Dembélé and FDJ can only be sustainable as long as we produce talents good enough for the gala 11 and find relatively cheap signings that grow into starters or compete immediately.

3d) Aleñá and Puig are clear examples of players that *must* be developed and given patient but consisted first team minutes and starts. It is unrealistic to expect half the team to come from la Masia, but one starter can make a difference of 90m

3e) Arthur, Vidal and hopefully Todibo are good examples of smart signings we must continue to make. Maybe we will even find that Boateng falls into that category. However:

3f) We can easily end up in a Zidanes and Pavones situation where half the squad earns so much less than the star players that squad cohesion is eroded and players' starting spots are dictated by their salary.

3g) Apart from the obvious risk of the club spending more than we can afford, this can become our ultimate undoing and the only solution is to find or form cheap players and give them high salaries.

3h) In other words: our wage bill is fucked and, as said before, only our board knows if we can afford it. Let's hope they know what they are doing.

3i) One obvious thought is they will wait for Messi to retire in order to even out the contracts and renew some of the star players.

4a) The good news? Between FDJ, Arthur, Aleñá and Puig our midfield is set for the next decade. Slowly but surely a measure of squad planning is starting to emerge.

4b) Messi is irreplaceable but we are moving towards a position where when he and Suarez retire we'll have put a solid team behind Dembélé and are one good striker away from challenging for all trophies.

4c) Spare a thought for Pep Segura, the devil incarnate who hates our house style so much he sanctioned 125M on Arthur and FDJ in less than a year.

5) FDJ pays with his head up, is agile, brave, makes the right decisions and has no clear weaknesses.

He is also unique in how he drives the ball forward from deep. I am very interested in how this will change the way we play.

6) Last but not least culés will need to be patient. He's young. He has poor matches in the Eredivisie and he'll have poor matches in the Camp Nou.

It seems he often plays well in big games, though.

ENJOY

7) (bonus thought:) Spending 90m on De Jong kills off any chance of Neymar returning to Barcelona.