Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu announced during a press conference on Wednesday that he will be calling presidential elections at the end of this season. He explained he had taken the decision "to lower the tension at the Club right now." Bartomeu: "My aim is to protect the club from a level of tension which is not helping us to manage it. All this affects the team and that's why we are calling elections at the end of the season -- to lower the tension and help the team." He also announced that he will be a candidate for the post. Amongst other issues which will likely appear in the campaign is the proposal for a new first team shirt sponsor (
Barcelona).
TURBULENT 12 MONTHS: ESPN's Dermot Corrigan reported Bartomeu denied that the "reported recent falling-out between coach Luis Enrique and the team's talisman Lionel Messi could see either leave the club." There has been "heavy speculation in the local papers" that Enrique and Messi had a "series of rows around Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Real Sociedad." This follows a "turbulent 12 months at the Camp Nou, which has also seen former president Sandro Rosell resign due to the controversial signing of Brazil star Neymar; FIFA impose a 12-month transfer ban due to irregularities in signing youth players; and the previously all-conquering team fail to win any trophies." Bartomeu: "I wanted to complete the mandate until 2016, but over the last weeks the level of tension has not been right for the club." Reports have suggested that Messi has "threatened to leave Barca next summer should Enrique continue as coach, but Bartomeu repeatedly tried to play down their falling-out, without ever denying something along those lines had happened." Bartomeu said, "I have had contact with Leo and Luis Enrique. Things are working and working well. These questions are for Luis Enrique and Messi. The dressing room is a sacred space, many things happen there, but they stay there." Bartomeu also denied that the "apparent issue with Messi would cost Enrique his job" as coach, saying, "Luis Enrique is working on the team, with the players. There is no doubt that he is the best person for the job he has. That is why we chose him. It will also help the team for there to be elections, and the tension to drop." Bartomeu did confirm that the decision regarding Zubizarreta "was not directly related to the FIFA transfer ban." Bartomeu: "I am a firm defender of Zubizarreta, we have worked elbow to elbow together for a long time. But it is true that in the last weeks there has been a loss of confidence, and in the end it was better to make a change. I would like to clarify that Zubizarreta had no responsibility for the FIFA ban. He did not authorize the signings of the kids involved" (ESPN, 1/7).
CUTTING TIES: In Madrid, Moisés Llorens reported Bartomeu has announced that the club has "cut ties with FIFA for the duration of their transfer ban." Bartomeu: "The relations with FIFA will continue when the sanction has finished." He announced that the club will "not have a representative at the Ballon d'Or gala because of the penalty," even though Messi is one of the three candidates for the award. In addition, "it is anticipated that Bartomeu will send a harsh letter" to FIFA President Sepp Blatter to highlight his "dissatisfaction with the transfer ban handed to the club" (AS, 1/7).
MESSI'S FUTURE: ESPN's Gabriele Marcotti commented it is January, Messi is "one of the greatest players in history, he's the man of the moment." So we "might as well speculate about this: what would it take for Lionel Messi to leave Barcelona?" Before we do, though, "let's state this very clearly." It is "extremely unlikely that Lionel Messi will move in the foreseeable future, and not just for financial reasons." First and foremost, we have "no indication that he wants to move." We just have "reports of tension with his manager" and with the Spanish media over the "investigation into his tax affairs." We also have "no indication that Barca want to sell him." Nobody, "least of all embattled club president" Bartomeu, wants to be "remembered as the guy who sold Barcelona's greatest-ever player at the age of 27." Maybe if there was a "powerful and courageous director of football at the club with a clear vision of how they might be better off with a more traditional attack of Neymar and Luis Suarez and a clear notion of how the funds raised from a sale could be reinvested, then maybe it could have some impetus." But Barcelona does not "even have a director of football right now after Andoni Zubizarreta was shown the door" (ESPN, 1/7). SKY SPORTS' Guillem Balague opined Messi has "never been as close as this to leaving." That does not mean he is "going to leave." Balague said that the club's upcoming elections "bring added certainty that Messi will be going nowhere soon." He said, "Basically now they feel they are weak. They are going to have
elections in the summer and they are not in a position to sell him.
Imagine if they tried to sell him now by the time they get to the
elections, they will kill them. The idea is that Messi will be
the axis, the center of the future for Barcelona" (SKY SPORTS, 1/7).
