The former president of FC Barcelona Josep María Bartomeu has made a round of visits by various Catalan media (Sport, Mundo Deportivo and Esportiú) in which he has defended himself from the attacks of the current board of directors of the Barça club towards his management and has passed on the offensive criticizing Joan Laporta's decision to let Leo Messi go.

"This summer they have let Leo Messi go and that does seem like a bad decision to me. Playing without Leo Messi represents that many things have to change," says the former culé president, who defends his position when trying to retain the Argentine almost at any cost. "As president I did not want Messi to leave and I did everything possible, all efforts, so that Leo did not leave the club."

In the meantime Bartomeu took the opportunity to reduce the alarmism that exists in the environment of the Barça club due to its delicate economic situation: "The club has no risk of dissolution and is viable with many resources. An alarmist speech is being given. The Royal Decree says that losses due to Covid will never be losses that allow the dissolution of the club, which has player assets, equity, digital and has a low but high balance sheet value at the market level. That is why it is impossible that it is at risk of dissolution. "

The former president of the Barça entity valued his management at the head of the entity and defended the work of its board of directors, describing his work as "serious and responsible. Our management was not disastrous and says LaLiga, UEFA and the auditors. 180 million benefits, and with Forbes valuing us as the most valuable club in the world. That serious and rigorous management was truncated by the appearance of the pandemic, which led to a drop in income of about 500 million ".

The crisis caused by COVID according to the former manager has been the main culprit for the serious economic situation that plagues Can Barça: "I do ask that the concern in the members disappear. The club is viable, it has many resources to get out of this problem and without the pandemic I would have lost only 50 million in 2020-21. The tremendous figures are audited but they have a huge impact due to the pandemic. It is impossible to control and it has affected the big European clubs. "

Meanwhile Bartomeu also showed his face for the members of his board before the voices that accuse them of taking money from the coffers of the Barça club: "I am not afraid. Nobody from my board has reached into the box. This cannot be hidden and After so many months we would already know. First they did the audit and since nothing came out, they did the due diligence. They can do whatever they want. "

Finally, the former Barça president broke a spear in favor of Ronald Koeman and his complicated work after Messi left the team: "He is prepared, but you have to have patience so that you can build a team without the presence of the best player in the world. I think there is a lot of talent in the squad, especially young talent. "

Thus, the "war" between Joan Laporta and Josep Maria Bartomeu takes on new dimensions.

"I am so excited about the renewal (Pedri) that I do not want to be distracted by other questions. I see that Bartomeu is desperate because he is now beginning to understand the magnitude of the disaster for which he is responsible. "The president is responsible for everything, but I am not going to go into details," he said