Former Barcelona president Bartomeu talks Messi, Neymar, Laporta, Negreira case | OneFootball

Jose Maria Bartomeu is one of the most controversial presidents in Barcelona’s history, with his stint from January 2014 to October 2020 being marred by several incidents.

Indeed, Bartomeu’s time at Barcelona was defined by multiple La Liga titles, a Champions League triumph in 2015, but also the Neymar departure, the Burofax saga, Barcagate, and a financial situation that has drawn criticism ever since.

With Joan Laporta having won the presidential elections and Barca’s name being regularly linked to Bartomeu’s era, the former president sat down with Catalunya Radio (h/t Mundo Deportivo) to address the controversy surrounding his legacy.

Bartomeu breaks his silence

Bartomeu opened by explaining why he had chosen this moment to finally break his silence, more than four years after leaving office.

“I’ve been silent since I resigned in October 2020 because, once the president does the job he’s supposed to do, it’s best to take a step back.”

“But it’s true that lately, both because of the inheritance — after five years, I’m still being talked about a lot — and because of the campaign, my name has come up again,” he said.

“I thought that perhaps it’s my time to explain myself because it’s the way for someone to understand what happened and this much-talked-about inheritance issue, which isn’t as serious as it’s made out to be,” he added.

On Laporta’s election win, he admitted he saw the result coming while also revealing the distance between him and Laporta.

“I clearly expected him to win. Barca members want a winning football team, one we enjoy, and it’s only natural that those currently in power stay.”

“I have no relationship with him whatsoever. The last time we met was during the 2015 elections, which I won, and he didn’t even come to congratulate me,” the Spaniard stated.

The financial state he left the club in has been a recurring talking point since Laporta returned. Bartomeu pushed back firmly, placing the blame squarely on the pandemic.

“It wasn’t a bad inheritance. It’s an inheritance with some good points and some not so good, but it’s entirely conditioned by Covid. At that time, Barca was a club in a good sporting and financial position, growing and generating revenue.”

Bartomeu’s time at Barcelona was fraught with controversy. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

“Covid caused revenue to plummet, and in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, Barca suffered a loss of €500 million, which had a significant impact on the club’s finances.”

Bartomeu particularly mentioned 2021, when Barcelona’s losses inflated, especially in light of the pandemic.

“I’m concerned about the issue of financial fair play; in 2021, Barca inflated its losses. I don’t know why. Inflating the losses and not acknowledging that the pandemic had a €500 million impact on Barca led to us losing our fair play status.

“This is despite La Liga issuing a report warning of this impact. We could have maintained it. These measures ultimately represent a loss of assets, and these haven’t been used to reduce the debt,” he said.

Neymar’s world-record exit to PSG in 2017 is widely considered the moment that sent Barca’s wage structure into a spiral. Bartomeu addressed that directly.

“The wage bill skyrocketed after Neymar’s departure; PSG snatched him away by paying his release clause. From then on, we started struggling to prevent other players from leaving, especially since state-owned clubs and the Premier League have immense financial power.”

“More than salaries, it was necessary to raise the release clauses. We increased Messi’s release clause from €400-700 million; we also increased Alba’s and Busquets’ clauses to prevent other clubs from being tempted to poach their talent,” he said.

A few moments defined the final months of Bartomeu’s presidency more than Lionel Messi’s attempt to leave in August 2020. Bartomeu gave his account of exactly what happened.

“Everyone talks about Leo’s power when he was at Barca, but Messi didn’t decide on signings or coaches; he had no privileges. Outside of the sporting side, he never made any decisions.”

“In August 2020, when Messi asked to leave, I told him no because he’s our most important asset and one of our main sources of income. I couldn’t give him a free transfer, and besides, he had a contract.”

“I think he understood, and that’s why he stayed. He thought there would be a new board in a few months that would renew his contract. His surprise came when the time came to renew and they fired him.”

Bartomeu on Barcagate, Negreira and more

On the broader question of what his six years at the top actually produced, Bartomeu pointed to infrastructure and silverware as the true measure of his time in charge.

“Being president of Barca is not easy. When people talk about the legacy, they’re not talking about the physical assets.

“We built the Johan Cruyff Stadium, we built La Masia, we built many sports centres, we bought land, we started to move forward with Espai Barca with permits and architecture, and the sporting legacy includes many titles,” he pointed out.

He reserved credit for Hansi Flick and the current squad, especially given their recent form, while making it clear that not everything under Laporta has impressed him.

“The best thing that’s been done in recent years is signing Flick and building a team that’s also part of the legacy, because of this current squad of 23 players, 10 or 11 come from our time.

Bartomeu heaped praise on Flick. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

“Flick has done a great job and is a very good choice by Laporta, but everything else didn’t quite sit right with me,” he said.

The Negreira case, involving payments made to a former refereeing official, remains an ongoing legal matter for Barcelona, but Bartomeu was keen to draw a line around his own period of involvement.

“Each of us has defended our period in the Negreira case. In my case, I’m under investigation until 2018, when we decided to terminate Javier Enriquez’s contract,” he said.

“I was the only one who asked the judge not to hand over Barca’s documentation to Real Madrid, which they requested a few months ago.

“I didn’t think it was fair for Real Madrid to see the club’s most internal documents. The issue of referee reports is something many clubs have done, not just Barca,” he added.

On ‘Barçagate’, Bartomeu sought to reframe the hiring of Nicestream entirely as a reputational monitoring exercise rather than anything more sinister.

“The reason for hiring Nicestream for social media monitoring began in 2017, when Neymar left, following the events of the 2017 referendum in Catalonia.

“Barca have always been very careful and attentive to traditional media; however, we had no control over, nor did we know what was happening on social media.”

“Nicestream allowed us to see what was happening on social media and what the conversations were; from there, the communications team could develop strategies to protect Barca’s reputation. I didn’t pay for the sake of my reputation.”

Finally, Bartomeu turned to the ongoing Camp Nou renovation and contrasted it with the plans drawn up during his own tenure.

“I was very surprised that Barca awarded the construction of the new stadium to a Turkish company, when there are large construction companies in Catalonia and throughout Spain that had won major bids and had been working on projects for years.”

“The budget was around 830 million euros, and now we’re more than a year and a half behind schedule. We wanted to modify the first tier to make it steeper; now I find it’s too far away and already creates visibility problems.

“Our project was less expensive, and the stadium’s dimensions were appropriate for the time,” he concluded.