A year after leaving Barcelona’s management, former president Josep Maria Bartomeu spoke out to dismiss his management of the club as harmful, criticizing the current administration for letting Lionel Messi go. The former president gave interviews to two Catalan sports newspapers and Sport newspaper said Ronald Koeman was doing his best with what he had.

Koeman lost Messi. As chief, I didn’t want him to leave and I did everything in my power, every effort not to leave [Messi pediu para sair na temporada passada mas acabou por renovar]. It was good for him and the club that he did not leave. This summer they let him out and that, yes, seems like a bad decision to me. To play without him you have to change a lot of things,” he said.

The same tone in El Mundo Deportivo mentions the famous Borovax that Messi sent to the club, claiming that he could leave because the time that should have been free of contract is over.

“In the summer of 2020, I struggled not to leave, I knew it was necessary for us, not only for being the best in the world, but also for economic and institutional gain. It is wrong to let Messi go, he represents more than a good player. He said he wanted Leaving, and that there is no project, and he does not know where, I even told him that if he wanted to go to the United States, China or Qatar, we would say goodbye to him, but he wanted to do Barcelona to be his last club in Europe.”