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Barcelona found themselves caught in the middle of a controversy storm yesterday when an attempt to bring Cameroon defensive midfielder AZ_Anguissa back to the club caused furore - at least within certain sections of the FFO community.
Anguissa was part of a multi player exchange deal between Barca and Scottish club Glasgow Celtic recently which saw the Catalan giants sacrifice quality for age with 23 year old Argentinian midfielder Enzo Fernández seen as the replacement for Anguissa in the Barca engine room. Manager Graeme Edwards had been reluctant to lose Anguissa but found himself having to sacrifice the player as part of the bigger picture.
Within a couple of weeks of arriving in Glasgow, Anguissa surprisingly found himself being made available for transfer by Celtic boss Sam Bradwell. Edwards looked on deflated believing that he would have no chance of being reunited with the Cameroon international with the rules stating to the effect that a player cannot be directly re-signed for a calendar year from the same club and manager combination that he was sold to.
Days and days passed as Anguissa's services appeared to gain little to no attention from any other clubs, with those that did make an approach being rebuffed by Bradwell for making sub standard offers. Edwards and Bradwell have built a good relationship over the years and speak on a fairly regular basis and during such a conversation the Scot informed Bradwell that he was astonished that a player of such quality was receiving so little attention and that he wished Anguissa was still part of his squad at Barca but that would not be possible with the rules as they are.
However, the discussions continued and the 2 managers, having checked the wording of the rules, agreed that if a willing 'middle man' could be brought on board, the player could indeed return to Camp Nou having spent a week or so at a temporary home. Whilst acknowledging between each other that it was stretching the rules it certainly wasn't breaking them as there is absolutely nothing to state that such a thing cannot be done. An exchange involving Barca defender Josip Šutalo for Anguissa was agreed with Šutalo moving to Celtic later this week. Juventus boss Andy Banks was identified as a potential middle man and being an accommodating individual full of warmth and generosity towards others it was no surprise that he agreed to assist Edwards and Bradwell. Juve would sign Anguissa this week and then sell him to Barca the following week for the exact same amount. Banks stood to make not a penny from the deal. His role as good Samaritan being sufficient compensation for the best manager that Real Madrid have ever had. The deals were posted....and well....it certainly didn't take long for the usual suspects to spit out their dummies and go crawling to the head of FFO Jon Banks to voice their displeasure.
Edwards had this to say "As sure as night follows day it was inevitable there would be a backlash to this proposed deal but having run through the wording of the rules with the finest lawyers in the land neither Sam nor myself were bothered as we knew that involving Juventus meant that we weren't breaking any rules - even though we both knew we would be entering some very deep and choppy waters mostly caused by the floods of tears from a select few"
Edwards continued "Because I could no longer tolerate certain individuals constant drivel and left Discord - where I believe the backlash originated - the first I became aware of the situation was when commissioner Jon Banks approached me for my comments. I explained that as far as all parties involved are concerned, no rules have been broken but if he felt that the deal was not within the spirit of the game then by all means he could cancel it and I would respect his decision. I didn't ask him who had raised the objection but then again I didn't have to although that was soon confirmed to me when I read Andy Banks subsequent media. I just about spat out my haggis, neeps and tatties when I heard that someone was threatening to quit the game over it particularly as these same managers have been involved in many a questionable deal over the years. The self proclaimed 'Dark Arts' conglomerate clearly only signed up members when it's benefitting them"
The Barca boss concluded "As far as I'm concerned we acted within the rules. We weren't looking to rip off any newbies or the like. It was 3 experienced managers working together to solve a problem but listen it is what it is, we're big enough and ugly enough to take it on the chin. A case of nothing to see here and we move on"
Anguissa was part of a multi player exchange deal between Barca and Scottish club Glasgow Celtic recently which saw the Catalan giants sacrifice quality for age with 23 year old Argentinian midfielder Enzo Fernández seen as the replacement for Anguissa in the Barca engine room. Manager Graeme Edwards had been reluctant to lose Anguissa but found himself having to sacrifice the player as part of the bigger picture.
Within a couple of weeks of arriving in Glasgow, Anguissa surprisingly found himself being made available for transfer by Celtic boss Sam Bradwell. Edwards looked on deflated believing that he would have no chance of being reunited with the Cameroon international with the rules stating to the effect that a player cannot be directly re-signed for a calendar year from the same club and manager combination that he was sold to.
Days and days passed as Anguissa's services appeared to gain little to no attention from any other clubs, with those that did make an approach being rebuffed by Bradwell for making sub standard offers. Edwards and Bradwell have built a good relationship over the years and speak on a fairly regular basis and during such a conversation the Scot informed Bradwell that he was astonished that a player of such quality was receiving so little attention and that he wished Anguissa was still part of his squad at Barca but that would not be possible with the rules as they are.
However, the discussions continued and the 2 managers, having checked the wording of the rules, agreed that if a willing 'middle man' could be brought on board, the player could indeed return to Camp Nou having spent a week or so at a temporary home. Whilst acknowledging between each other that it was stretching the rules it certainly wasn't breaking them as there is absolutely nothing to state that such a thing cannot be done. An exchange involving Barca defender Josip Šutalo for Anguissa was agreed with Šutalo moving to Celtic later this week. Juventus boss Andy Banks was identified as a potential middle man and being an accommodating individual full of warmth and generosity towards others it was no surprise that he agreed to assist Edwards and Bradwell. Juve would sign Anguissa this week and then sell him to Barca the following week for the exact same amount. Banks stood to make not a penny from the deal. His role as good Samaritan being sufficient compensation for the best manager that Real Madrid have ever had. The deals were posted....and well....it certainly didn't take long for the usual suspects to spit out their dummies and go crawling to the head of FFO Jon Banks to voice their displeasure.
Edwards had this to say "As sure as night follows day it was inevitable there would be a backlash to this proposed deal but having run through the wording of the rules with the finest lawyers in the land neither Sam nor myself were bothered as we knew that involving Juventus meant that we weren't breaking any rules - even though we both knew we would be entering some very deep and choppy waters mostly caused by the floods of tears from a select few"
Edwards continued "Because I could no longer tolerate certain individuals constant drivel and left Discord - where I believe the backlash originated - the first I became aware of the situation was when commissioner Jon Banks approached me for my comments. I explained that as far as all parties involved are concerned, no rules have been broken but if he felt that the deal was not within the spirit of the game then by all means he could cancel it and I would respect his decision. I didn't ask him who had raised the objection but then again I didn't have to although that was soon confirmed to me when I read Andy Banks subsequent media. I just about spat out my haggis, neeps and tatties when I heard that someone was threatening to quit the game over it particularly as these same managers have been involved in many a questionable deal over the years. The self proclaimed 'Dark Arts' conglomerate clearly only signed up members when it's benefitting them"
The Barca boss concluded "As far as I'm concerned we acted within the rules. We weren't looking to rip off any newbies or the like. It was 3 experienced managers working together to solve a problem but listen it is what it is, we're big enough and ugly enough to take it on the chin. A case of nothing to see here and we move on"