Victor Font believes if Barcelona are to stand any chance of keeping Lionel Messi, then Josep Maria Bartomeu must resign as president.
The entire football world was left stunned by the events of Tuesday night as it emerged Messi informed Barcelona of plans to leave this summer.
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner plans to exploit a clause in his contract that may allow him to leave for free as the 2019/20 campaign ended, despite Barcelona protesting it had to be activated before the end of May.
Although Messi still intends to go ahead with his plan, arguing that the coronavirus enforced break forcing the season to end in August instead of May means that the clause isn’t void yet.
It’s believed in Spain that new manager Ronald Koeman’s decision to offload his close friend Luis Suarez was the last straw.
But Font, who plans to sack Koeman if he wins the upcoming club presidential elections in March next year, believes Barcelona only stand a chance of keeping Messi should Bartomeu hand in his resignation.
“If there is any option for Messi to stay, no matter how small, it goes through the resignation of Bartomeu,” Font told Onda Cero radio show ‘El Transistor‘.
“Messi has been here for 20 years, making that decision will have cost him a lot but it indicates his degree of frustration here.
“This board will leave with this departure on its CV. After the 8-2 [Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich], we thought we had hit rock bottom, but we hadn’t.”
🗣 “Messi is not leaving”
🗣 “The board is to blame for all this”
🗣 “It really is the worst decade in history”
Barcelona fans are NOT happy 😡 pic.twitter.com/RbImn9sqfP
— Goal (@goal) August 26, 2020
Messi is widely regarded as the greatest player in Barcelona’s entire history, with a club-record 634 goals and 285 assists in only 731 matches
10 LaLiga titles and four Champions League crowns have also come as part of the 33 major honors he’s won. We’ll probably see nothing like it again.
“Leo is a legend of Barcelona,” Font added on the record six-time Ballon d’Or and European Golden Shoe winner.
“I cannot imagine that his departure will be determined in court; I hope, for the good of the institution, that we know how to handle his departure well.
“Messi’s entourage has told me that the decision is firm. This is not a matter of two days ago, it is before the defeat in Lisbon. We already warned that it could happen.”
Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, and Manchester City are the rumored favorites to sign Messi.
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