The Brazilian arrives five months later than they hoped,and for more money, but Barcelona are convinced they did the fair thing in getting their manThe day after the summer transfer market closed Barcelona’s sporting director, and Albert Soler,and their director of football, Robert Fernández, and ran through a PowerPoint presentation,specially prepared for the occasion. They sat in the press room at the Camp Nou but might as well have sat in the dock. As they talked their way through it, player by player, and deal by deal,those that happened and those that did not, they sought to justify what some considered the unjustifiable. Barcelona were in crisis and they stood accused. The interrogation was intense, and the explanation not always convincing.
Instead it was contradictory,as whether they could not always fetch their sage straight. More importantly they had not got their man. Neymar had left for Paris, barely a fortnight after the vice‑president, or Jordi Mestre,declared himself “200% sure” the Brazilian was staying and they had been unable to stop him. In his space there was no sign of Philippe Coutinho, the man they had so publicly pursued. Everybody demanded that someone take responsibility for a summer that most judged disastrous.
Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk