Josep Bartomeu
In October 2020, Josep Bartomeu took his hat off as Barcelona President. Now the 58-year-old made an all-round blow.
In any case, the Catalans are still on the brink. The club of ÖFB legionnaire Yusuf Demir has amassed a mountain of debt of 1.35 billion euros and was therefore unable to extend the contract with superstar Lionel Messi. The league did not allow the club to register the already negotiated contract.
Barca president Joan Laporta, who took over in March, recently blamed his predecessor for the Catalans' financial slump on several occasions. Bartomeu did not want to let this sit on him, however, struck back on Friday.
“Was our management disastrous? I know that's a phrase, but our management was very serious and responsible, with a plan that we created in 2015,” said the 58-year-old at “Mundo Deportivo”. The corona pandemic is solely responsible for the misery. “Our serious management was interrupted by the pandemic, which drastically reduced revenues. From then on we had a deep cut,” said Bartomeu.
At the same time he calculated that Barca “only” had 558 million euros in debt. How he came up with this number, however, he left open. “At no point was there any risk of liquidation. We left a very good legacy,” said Bartomeu.
Instead, the ex-president buttoned his successor and gave it to Laporta. “It was a bad decision to let Messi go. As president, I didn't want Messi to go and I really did everything for that,” continued Bartomeu.
At the same time, the former boss of the leadership aligned the goals that Barca should strive for. “We have to win the championship and the Copa del Rey. That is clear. We have to play for these trophies because we have a good team,” concluded the 58-year-old.
The Demir Club is currently only ninth in the championship. The duel with Valencia will take place on Sunday (9 p.m.).
