The ramifications of the 8-2 mauling suffered by Barcelona at the hands of UEFA Champions League champions Bayern Munich are coming into play now: as the Catalan side have announced perhaps the biggest clear-out ever in football history; with big names such as Luis Suarez; Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, Ivan Rakitic & Nelson Semedo all reportedly free to leave.
The manager has obviously been the first to to go; with Quique Setien maybe bringing the term 'Dead Man Walking' to new heights after months of unrest; and after the Bayern demolition job; and now Ronald Koeman has taken on supposedly his 'dream job' after leaving a very comfortable surroundings of the Netherlands.
And things have taken a turn for the surreal-er; now that the best player in the world Lionel Messi has announced his transfer request; to leave the only team he has ever knew. Maybe the years and years of pent-up frustration at the Barca hierarchy have taken their toll; maybe the 8-2 demolition was just too much to take; but for sure the writing has been on the wall; as Messi has hinted; especially this season; things are not going well at Barca and he is getting just about too fed up with the entire situation.
This could take Barca literally down to a whole new level; as would they still be as good without him and all the other star players? Would they be able to attract the usual quality they do? Will other teams not be scared of them anymore? Can they wrest back the dominance from Real Madrid; who have arguably done even better now that their star player Cristiano Ronaldo has departed?
And who will buy Messi? Who can afford him? Transfer fee & wages? Will the team he goes to automatically become the favourite for everything? It seems to me he still has it all at age 33; he has seemingly not lost any of his powers. And he is even 2 years younger than Ronaldo; for heaven's sake. Will he grace the EPL?
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