The former president of Barça, Josep Maria Bartomeu, gave an interview to Esport 3 where he was honest and left some controversial statements. Bartomeu admitted that his two big mistakes were not starting a great generational relief after the debacle in Liverpool, where they were left out of the Champions League final when they only had to defend a difference of four goals. The other big mistake he admitted was not having correctly foreseen the consequences of the pandemic in the Blaugrana coffers.
Regarding the latter, the former president made it clear that despite having made mistakes, he did not commit any irregularity, so he considers that the lawsuits against him will not have any judicial journey. Bartomeu insists that the serious losses that the club’s economy has suffered are due to COVID-19, and although he admits that they could have done better, there was no evil intention.
Bartomeu reviewed the last years of management and regretted that some signings did not go well. Under his command, Dembélé, Coutinho, Pjanic and Griezmann were hired, which meant a large outlay, but none of the four gave the expected performance. The former president recalled that these signings were highly applauded at the time, but that in the world of football sometimes these things happen and it was not possible to foresee that these players would not end up working.
“Some of those we have done have not met expectations, Players who have cost a lot of money (Coutinho, Dembelé), but these things happen in football. When these two players were signed, they were applauded by everyone.”
– Josep Maria Bartomeu
Bartomeu admitted that the players had a great weight in the decisions that the board made in recent years. Valverde’s departure was agreed with the squad, and it was also agreed to maintain the team’s structure despite Anfield’s failure. The former Blaugrana president admitted that he was wrong and should have started to reshape the squad at that time, since that way the pandemic would not have affected so much.
“Not assessing after Liverpool’s defeat that a change would have to be made was a mistake. He had to have made a generational change. I listened to the players and I was wrong.”
– Josep Maria Bartomeu
About Messi, he said that he had a preliminary agreement with the Argentine to renew for two years that did not materialize, but unfortunately, it was not like that, and now all the Catalans regret his departure.
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