Josep Maria Bartomeu on Messi’s Departure: ‘If They Had Done What They Were Supposed To, Renewal Would Have Been Possible’

Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has addressed the circumstances that led to Lionel Messi’s departure from Camp Nou in 2021, asserting that if the club’s management had acted appropriately, renewing Messi’s contract would have been possible.

Messi left Barcelona in the summer of 2021 to join Paris Saint-Germain after a highly successful spell at the Catalan club. His exit was widely attributed to Barcelona’s severe financial difficulties, which reportedly made it impossible to register his new contract under La Liga’s financial fair play regulations. Since then, there has been ongoing debate about who was responsible for the financial situation that forced the club to let go of their iconic player on a free transfer.

Bartomeu, who was president during part of Messi’s tenure, rejected accusations that his administration mismanaged the club’s finances. Instead, he placed significant responsibility on the current Barcelona leadership and the application of La Liga’s financial fair play rules. According to Bartomeu, the new management inflated the club’s reported losses to 555 million euros, which triggered a second audit by La Liga. This audit reportedly found that the losses were overstated due to provisions amounting to 283 million euros.

Despite these findings, Barcelona chose to maintain its financial proposal, leading La Liga to enforce its financial fair play regulations strictly. Bartomeu explained that this enforcement resulted in penalties that have continued to affect the club’s financial flexibility and ability to make signings. He suggested that these constraints were a key factor in Barcelona’s inability to renew Messi’s contract, implying that the departure was not inevitable if the club had managed its finances differently.

This perspective adds a layer of complexity to the narrative surrounding Messi’s exit, highlighting the challenges Barcelona has faced in balancing financial regulations with sporting ambitions. The club has since been working to stabilize its finances and rebuild its squad, but the loss of Messi remains a significant moment in its recent history.

Looking ahead, Barcelona’s management will need to continue navigating financial regulations carefully to avoid similar situations in the future. The club’s next steps in the transfer market and its performance in La Liga will be closely watched as indicators of how effectively it can recover from this period of financial strain and sporting transition.