New fire in Barcelona with Joseph Maria Bartomeu in the spotlight and Leo Messi in the background. The scandal splashes the former president’s board of directors after some WhatsApp messages have emerged in which the Argentine is seriously insulted, who is called a “sewer rat” or a “hormonal man”, as published by the newspaper .com. In these conversations, they also criticize Gerard Piqué or Sergio Busquets, which confirms the bad relationship between the previous board and the Barça dressing room, especially with the captains. The telephone captures show in detail the messages that Josep Maria Bartomeu exchanged with Román Gómez Ponti, who at that time was in charge of the club’s legal department, and Oscar Grau, former general director of the Catalan entity. Although to a lesser extent, other managers and executives such as Jordi Moix, Oriol Tomás, David Bellver, Pancho Schroder and Javier Sobrino also participated.
According to a police investigation, these WhatsApp messages were written on January 31, 2021, the day part of Leo Messi’s contract was published, which greatly irritated Gómez Ponti. “Barto, really, you can’t be such a good person with this sewer rate. The club has given him everything and he has dedicated himself to marking a dictatorship of signings, transfers, renewals, patros (sponsors) just for him, etc. I will never be able to do it, but to the figures of his contract we must add Pinto, the renewal of Suárez, and that of Jordi Alba, or the renewal commission of Fati (Rodrigo Messi, agent? But if he doesn’t even know how to read and on top of that he had a partner drug trafficker). And above all the accumulation of blackmail and rudeness that the club and those of us who work have suffered from this hormone dwarf who owes his life to Barça… ah! But when things go wrong (pandemic) you receive the mythical WhatsApp: »President, lower the salaries of others, but don’t touch Luis and me«. I hope I walk amid the indifference of the people, which is the worst thing that can happen to him (a pesetero more)”, explains the former legal adviser.
The leaking of Messi’s contract irritates Bartomeu’s board of directors and some members point to Laporta as the culprit for it and are not shy about suggesting the Argentine’s departure to save “120 kilos.” This is when it comes in Bartomeu, which refers to the agreement signed with Messi: “This contract without a pandemic was totally acceptable.” However, it is made clear that in those difficult moments he represented 15% of his budget. The president added that he considered the “correct” amount, and justified it “taking into account everything that he generates.”
Gómez Ponti also charges against Gerard Piqué after the defeat of Barcelona against Bayern by a humiliating 2-8, which made him feel bad that the center-back said on the same pitch that the club needed to be restructured and that the entity needed changes in all levels. For this reason he calls Piqué a “great son of a bitch”. The lawyer urges Bartomeu to take forceful measures such as “under your leadership the drastic reduction of the salary mass of the first soccer team.” and he points to Busquetswhom he would like to fire, which is why he advises the president to dismiss “those players who have no market and cannot be transferred (Busquets can be an excellent example) to fire them with minimal compensation and forget that they have passed through the club for being unsupportive.
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