According to Barca boss Laporta, the “catastrophic management” of the past few years was to blame for the breakup with superstar Lionel Messi.
FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta has blamed the former leadership of the Spanish top football club for the separation from Lionel Messi. “We have inherited a terrible legacy,” Laporta told journalists in Barcelona on Friday. The club's financial situation is so bad due to the “catastrophic management” of the past few years that if Messi had been signed on, it would not have been able to meet the requirements of the Spanish league.
The salary alone was last ten percent higher than the club's total income with Messi's contract, said the man, who has been in charge of the Catalan club for the second time only since March. An agreement had been reached with Messi and his representative, but this could not be achieved due to the financial fair play requirements in Spain, claimed Laporta. “I'm sad, but at the same time I'm convinced that we did what is in the best interests of the club.”
The Barcelona contract with Messi expired on June 30th. On Thursday evening, the club announced the end of an era after 21 years. Although both sides have expressed their intention to continue the cooperation, this is not possible according to the league statutes. The speculation expressed in the Spanish media that it was a big bluff by Barca to put the league under pressure with the argument of losing another superstar after Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to hold up on Friday.
“The club is above everything, even the best player in the world,” said Laporta. The Barcelona president said that the financial situation of Barcelona was “far worse” than assumed when he took office. As a result of the Corona crisis, the members' association should create debts of more than one billion euros.
“We made an agreement (with Messi) but we weren't able to formally sign it because of the club's economic situation. That means we can't register the player because of the salary caps.”
How things will go on for Messi is completely open. Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are currently considered the most likely options. When asked by a journalist whether the last word had already been said about staying in Barcelona, Laporta said ambiguously: “I don't want to raise false hopes.”
Barca's president stressed that the negotiations were over. You couldn't have dragged it out because Messi had to have time to look for a new club so shortly before the start of the new season.
