Josep Maria Bartomeu steps down
The headline news in the footballing world on Tuesday was, of course, that Josep Maria Bartomeu had stepped down from his role as Barcelona president.
Bartomeu took up said position in 2014, but it is fair to say the club’s fortunes haven’t exactly been superb since.
A case could certainly be made that Barca’s last decent transfer window came all the way back in 2014, with a good chunk of change wasted on players since.
The Blaugrana have also been fairly poor in Europe, last winning the Champions League back in 2015.
For the most part, the club has been carried by star man Lionel Messi over the last several years.
But it does look to have been Messi’s issues which were the final straw for Bartomeu.
On the back of the club’s humiliating 8-2 loss in the Champions League vs Bayern, Lionel Messi tried to depart over the summer.
However, after weeks of speculation, the Argentine, somewhat reluctantly, opted to remain at the Camp Nou.
But when announcing he would be staying put, Messi took the opportunity to take several digs at Bartomeu, labelling the management of the club, led by him, a disaster.
This was followed by the required numbers of signatures being met to trigger a vote of no confidence in Bartomeu.
Before a presidential referendum could be held though, Bartomeu has now taken the opportunity to resign:
President Josep Maria Bartomeu announces the resignation of the FC Barcelona Board of Directors. pic.twitter.com/Xr9pBoUzHM
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 27, 2020
Messi to stay at Barcelona?
On the back of Bartomeu’s resignation, question marks over the future of Messi in Catalonia have since resurfaced.
Messi is currently in the final year of his contract, and if Bartomeu had remained in power, you would have assumed the hitman’s time at the club would be all but over.
However, with a potential new change of direction on the horizon, could Messi opt to stay put and pen fresh terms with his long-time club?
The Times have recently provided some insight into the situation, claiming that Bartomeu’s departure is likely to extended Messi’s future with Barca.
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