After the whole Messi earthquake in Spanish football, Florentino Perez felt the need to come out and defend himself from accusations.
Lionel Messi leaving FC Barcelona had a very interesting narrative coming from a board member who accused Florentino Perez of his departure. Jaume Llopis quit his position at ‘Espai Barça’ in order to get his chance to express himself. After leaving, he spoke to La Vanguardia about Florentino’s alleged friendship with Ferran Reverter. Who is still FC Barcelona’s CEO and Joan Laporta’s right-hand man.
Llopis said the following: “The departure of Messi is a maneuver that favors Florentino. Imagine that now [Kylian] Mbappe ends up at Real Madrid, [Joan] Laporta was convinced by Ferran Reverter that it wasn’t possible to sign with CVC, and Florentino Perez to join the Super League project. It also happens that Perez has been long-time friends with Reverter and between them, they have convinced Laporta to radically change his opinion.”
Florentino’s response is directly in public.
Usually, Florentino tends to keep quiet when an accusation of this magnitude takes place. But he considered it a good idea this time. Although he decided to skip a public statement on the club’s website, Perez did send out a press release. In this memo, Florentino defends himself by stating he only met Reverter twice in his life.
Marca picked up the following statement: “It’s impossible that I had any influence on Messi’s departure. These suggestions are completely false. I haven’t been friends with the CEO of Barcelona, Ferran Reverter, and I have met him only twice in my life, once four months ago and the other last Saturday, when the official communication about Messi had already taken place.”