Laporta Is To Blame For Messi’s Exit – Bartomeu

Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has explained who was to blame for Lionel Messi’s stunning departure in 2021. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, it was impossible for Barcelona to renew Messi’s contract and sign players because the Laporta-led regime inflated the losses to €555 million and breached financial fair play.

Bartomeu added that the Argentine also left the club because he was underpaid for what he delivered.

His words, “If they had done what needed to be done, it would have been perfectly possible to renew Leo Messi’s contract and sign players.

It wasn’t the legacy’s fault, but rather financial fair play, because the new board inflated the losses to €555 million. When La Liga received this, it decided to carry out a second audit and concluded that the losses were not as stated, as there were provisions amounting to €283 million. But Barca decided to stand by its proposal, La Liga applied the rules, and the club lost a financial fair play penalty which, to this day, it has still not recovered.

Messi was underpaid for what he delivered, both in sporting, financial and commercial terms. He would have loved to be part of the squad’s renewal, alongside these young players we have now, who are also part of this famous legacy, but he was let go, and it couldn’t be.

In March 2020, lockdown began and at that point, revenue dried up, so a 14% pay cut was agreed with the players, resulting in savings of €90 million.

We spoke to Procicat and they told us we would surely be able to reopen the stadium for the new season, but in August, they told us we couldn’t. So we spoke to the players to tell them their wages would be cut by 20%. And that’s when things came to a head, because they said no.

Consequently, we had to open negotiations. And there were only four players who said, ‘We want to do this, we want to help’. A new contract was drawn up for them, under which they would earn less in the first two years and more in the final two.”

WOW.

Futbol Club Barcelona is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.

Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German, and English footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto “Més que un club” (“More than a club”). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the third-most valuable sports team in the world, worth $5.51 billion, and the world’s fourth richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €582.1 million.

The official Barcelona anthem is the “Cant del Barça”, written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs. Barcelona traditionally play in dark shades of blue and garnet stripes, hence nicknamed Blaugrana.

In March 2021, Lionel Messi overtook Xavi’s record of 767 games played for the club, and presently has made 778 official appearances in all competitions, while also holding the record for the most appearances in La Liga matches for Barcelona, with 520.