KAMRON NORASTEH — Barcelona’s former club president, Josep Maria Bartomeu has been recently arrested after police conducted a raid on the club’s offices. This development epitomizes the struggle facing Barcelona, who for the past year have been desperately maintaining some semblance of a functioning squad.
However, an 8-2 embarrassment against FC Bayern München in last season’s UEFA Champions League, and knockout losses to Athletic Club in the Supercopa, and Paris Saint-Germain in this years’ Champions League threaten the club’s ability to hold on to its star players in the upcoming summer transfer window.
Most notable of these players is Lionel Messi, who has been a loyal servant of the club for around 20 years, winning countless league and cup titles, along with 4 Champions League titles.
Since early 2020, Messi’s discontent with the club has been evident. The dismissal of former manager Ernesto Valverde sparked discourse between Messi and Sporting Director Eric Abidal, where Abidal had blamed the player’s lack of work ethic for the firing of Valverde. This elicited a strong response from Messi on social media, saying, “I think that when one speaks about the players, they should give names because if not they’re dirtying everyone and feeding things that are said and are not true.”
This exchange caused lots of media speculation about Messi leaving the club, eventually reaching Pep Guardiola. Guardiola denied any transfer connection, stating his desire for Messi to finish his career in Barcelona.
Infighting between the board and divisions in the first team squad led to Barcelona placing second in La Liga and conceding the title to rivals Real Madrid.
Messi’s final straw, however, was Barcelona’s crumbling 8-2 defeat against future Champions League winners in the quarterfinal. Within two weeks, he sent in his burofax (a Spanish legal document) declaring his intention to exit the club, using a special clause in his contract. This clause states that Messi can leave the club for free at the end of any season. There was a caveat the past season—the Champions League quarterfinal occurred on August 14, and Messi sent his burofax on August 25. Messi’s clause did not account for an extended season resulting from a global pandemic, and the Barcelona board was firm on their assertion that the season ended on May 31st even with the extension.
To avoid a court battle with his beloved club (which he believes he would have won), Messi chose to stay for the last year of his contract, which expires on June 30, 2021.
Recent transfer business done by Barcelona’s board has also negatively affected Messi. The club’s efforts to clear its transfer debts involved the release of many club veterans such as Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal, and most importantly, the sale of Luis Suárez, one of Messi’s close friends, to direct rival Atletico Madrid.
On his Instagram account, Messi stated his opinion on the Suárez transfer: “You didn’t deserve for them to kick you out like they did, but the truth is that at this point, nothing surprises me.”
Since the beginning of the season, it has seemed increasingly likely that Messi will depart Camp Nou during the summer, with clubs like Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City both rumored to want his signature.
Although the future looks grim for Barcelona fans, there is still hope that Messi will stay. Joan Laporta was recently elected as the new president of Barcelona after Bartomeu’s resignation on October 27 to avoid a vote of no confidence. Laporta’s previous tenure at the club was characterized by legendary success, along with the signing of Lionel Messi himself.
Additionally, current manager Ronald Koeman has been successfully restructuring the team, and a second leg comeback over Sevilla in the Copa del Rey semi final has opened up a possibility for Barcelona to return to winning ways, and hopefully for Messi to continue being one of the greatest players to ever grace the field.
The Dutch Report 