Lionel Messi: Disgraced Barcelona president reveals real culprit for Argentinean star's exit

Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has publicly deflected the blame for Lionel Messi's shocking and unglamorous departure, pointing the finger directly at his successor, Joan Laporta. 

Messi tearfully left his boyhood club as a free agent in 2021, eventually signing with Paris Saint-Germain after Barcelona failed to renew his contract due to an existential-level financial crisis.

Bartomeu poor planning and financial mismanagement were largely blamed for the disaster. However, in a recent interview, he launched a staunch defence, redirecting blame to Laporta.

Bartomeu insisted that retaining the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner was "perfectly possible." 

“If they had done what needed to be done, it would have been perfectly possible to renew Leo Messi’s contract and sign players,” he insisted.

“It wasn’t the legacy’s fault, but rather financial fair play, because the new board inflated the losses to €555 million. 

“When La Liga received this, it decided to carry out a second audit and concluded that the losses were not as stated, as there were provisions amounting to €283 million. But Barca decided to stand by its proposal, La Liga applied the rules, and the club lost a financial fair play penalty which, to this day, it has still not recovered.”

Despite Bartomeu's claims, consensus dictates that his own catastrophic administrative mismanagement laid the inescapable foundation for the financial crisis that forced Messi out. 

Bartomeu's reign, which ended with his resignation in October 2020, was defined by a skyrocketing, unsustainable wage bill and disastrous nine-figure transfer flops like Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembélé.

Consequently, Laporta inherited a devastating €1.2 billion club debt and discovered that Barcelona was spending an alarming 110% of its total revenue strictly on player salaries.

Although Messi had agreed to a massive 50% pay cut, Laporta ultimately abandoned the contract renewal because LALIGA would only permit the registration if Barcelona agreed to the league's new broadcasting deal with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.