Barcelona, March 3 - Few people will envy the man chosen to be the new president of FC Barcelona, CNN wrote on Wednesday. The upcoming election - to be held on Sunday, just days after four senior officials were arrested - is arguably the most important in the club's history and comes at a time of crisis that seems to be deepening every day. The historic debts, reported by the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo", which could be more than one billion dollars, forced Barcelona to make some of the sales of the most important figures of the team in the summer transfer window.
The rebuilding of the squad has not yielded results so far and the latest heavy blow for Barcelona is the heavy 4:1 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain, it is one of the many headaches facing the incoming president of the club.
However, top of the new president's list is Lionel Messi. Exactly, his future. The Argentine forward made his desire to leave Barcelona public last summer and it looks increasingly unlikely that he will sign a new contract, meaning the best player in the club's history could leaves for free at the end of the current season.
"Barcelona has many, many millions of debts and this is the worst financial situation in the history of the club. On the pitch, we can discuss it, but it is clear that when the Champions League arrives, Barcelona again commits public suicide in front of millions of people. scoring so many goals and making the job so difficult even for players like Messi who love the club and would probably like to stay in Barcelona under different circumstances," said journalist Ernest Macia.
"At this point it is not easy to see Messi at Barcelona next year, although there are many, many different possibilities that enter into this equation. So we will see what happens in the end, because the elections will take place this weekend and this is another possibility in this equation, who becomes president".
also
Lionel Messi will return to Barcelona in July 2023
In February, Barcelona issued a statement in which it "categorically" denied responsibility for publishing Messi's $672 million contract in El Mundo newspaper.
The contract would make Messi the highest-paid athlete in sports history and the club said it would take legal action against the newspaper "for any damage that may be caused as a result of this publication".
The contract leak only served to heighten tensions between Messi and the Barcelona hierarchy, which had already been stretched to breaking point as the Argentine targeted an exit following his emotional farewell to former team-mate Luis Suarez, who joined Atletico Madrid. .
Barcelona's financial problems have worsened and the club has now turned to promoting players from the famous La Masia academy - which has developed Messi, Pep Guardiola, Andres Iniesta and Xavi - to the first team, rather than spending on big transfers and the fat salaries of the stars he already has.
Barcelona are said to have spent more than a billion dollars in transfer fees since the 2013/14 season and many believe this change is to follow the club's philosophy of "More than a club", which is still imprinted on the seats of the "Camp Nou" stadium.
also
Laporta says the club is above the players
Even with Messi, Barcelona's future looks bleak; without it, however, things begin to look dire. Exactly, one of the candidates for president of the club is strongly relying on this premise. Joan Laporta, one of the three candidates, is the current favorite to win the election and he was previously president of Barcelona (2003-2010), leading one of the most successful eras in the club's history.
During Laporta's time, Barcelona won 13 major trophies, including four La Liga titles and two Champions League trophies, and he will be hoping that nostalgia and banking goodwill will be key to securing another term.
"Joan Laporta is, let's say, closer to Leo Messi and the players, because they lived together the best moments in their stories and their lives. According to the polls now, Joan Laporta is the first. There have been debates and anything can happen because many people have voted by mail and it remains to be seen what impact these votes will have, for the first time in history", says Macia.
In fact, Laporta has warned everyone that Messi will leave Barcelona if he is not elected president of the club. He has promised that he will do his best to keep Messi at the club.
also
Messi leaves Barcelona
"I have an excellent relationship with Messi and he will take into account whatever proposal he makes to him. If I don't win, I am convinced that Leo will not stay at Barcelona after the end of this season. Also, I say with complete conviction that if one of the other candidates wins the race, Messi will leave Barcelona", was Laporta's warning in a televised debate in front of two other candidates, Toni Freixa and Victor Font.
According to journalist Macia, Laporta will ultimately benefit from the division of votes between Font and Freixas. However, Font has recently received the support of former Barcelona captain Carles Puyol and has insisted that his idea is to return Xavi to the coaching post if he wins the election. On the other hand, Freixa has given his support to the current coach, Ronald Koeman, to continue the job he took over last summer, but has also made it known that he has Xavi in his long-term plan, whom he would initially appoint at the head of Barcelona B. The election of the new president of Barcelona will be decided by the votes of more than 100 thousand club members, most of whom are Barcelona fans. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, 22.881 members have requested to vote by post while the other 87.479 will vote in person at one of the six stations located in the cities: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa and Andorra.
