Former president Josep Maria Bartomeu acknowledges that things went wrong during his time at the helm of FC Barcelona (2014-2020). Above all, he claims to have listened too much to others.
Bartomeu was succeeded as president at the Camp Nou at the beginning of this year by Joan Laporta. Not infrequently, Laporta threw mud at his predecessor, after which the same mud returned in an emergency. The fact that Barca are now in a sporting and financial crisis is, according to Laporta, Bartomeu’s fault, while the former Barca president has rejected those accusations before. He does admit that things should have been done differently.
“We should have intervened after the defeat to Liverpool,” Bartomeu told Esport3. The Spaniard is referring to the painful elimination in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2019. After a 3-0 win at home, Barcelona lost 4-0 at Anfield. “Then it was time for a generational change. However, I listened to the players and that was wrong. We were financially at our limit and then the corona pandemic came over it. That was a surprise to all of us.”
It also did not go well under Bartomeu on the transfer market. Expensive players did not do what was expected of them and so the club fell deeper and deeper into debt.
,,We were dealing with Kylian Mbappe, but the coaches preferred Ousmane Dembele,’ says Bartomeu. ,,They wanted a player who could break the field. Some purchases have not lived up to expectations. “But that’s how it is in football. When we signed Dembele and Philippe Coutinho, it was applauded by everyone.”
,,Coutinho came because Iniesta was leaving. He was the best player in the Premier League. Dembele came because Neymar left. We got Griezmann because the coaches really wanted him. They thought his arrival was essential as Suarez was often injured that season. He was a different striker, a world star and a team player.”
Coutinho, Dembele and Griezmann never managed to convince in Barcelona. The latter now plays on a rental basis with his old club Atlético Madrid.
I couldn’t allow Messi to move to a Champions League rival
Lionel Messi
As a result of all the financial slump, Lionel Messi left for Paris Saint-Germain last summer. “His departure was a problem,” said Bartomeu. “We are a buying club, not a sales club. I fought for him to stay on in the summer of 2020 and now that he wanted to stay, he had to leave. I couldn’t let Messi go to a Champions League rival would switch.”
“Obviously he was the highest paid player in the world. And with distance. I had an agreement with him for two seasons in 2020. But then it went wrong. We have to ask Messi why.”
Finally, Bartomeu announced that he would like to return as chairman and therefore stand for re-election.
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