Josep Maria Bartomeu doesn't want to get caught up in the leaking of Lionel Messi's contract to El Mundo. The former Barcelona president has still not appeared publicly but has defended himself with several messages. On Sunday, he spoke to Esport 3 and on Monday to Radio Kanal Barcelona.
"I hear certain media insinuate that someone from the previous board or I leaked the contract," he said. "It is completely false. It is a very serious issue. It's totally illegal to leak professional contracts and this will end up in court because neither Barça nor Messi can accept that this crime ends with nothing. I don't know who it was, in fact in the club only four or five people have access to the contracts, the lawyers at Cuatrecases also have it and the LFP, who have a copy of all the players' contracts."
On Messi, Bartomeu added that "accusing Leo of being responsible for the economic problems is perverse and with bad intentions. The player deserves everything he earns because he generates it with a profit due to his sporting and commercial input. Without the pandemic, Barça could pay those numbers and all the other players. In fact, when we signed the contract in November 2017, no one could imagine the pandemic in 2020."
However, Bartomeu sent a message of optimism, too: "Barça will come out of this because there are enough assets and good decisions to resolve the situation. Despite the pandemic, we're still the club with the biggest revenue. For that reason, the priority in the summer was still the sporting project and we didn't accept offers to sell players for big fees like Ansu, Pedri or Trincao. The club have other non-sporting assets that will help them come out of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic."
Finally, on the work of coach Ronald Koeman, he said: "The best thing about recent months is to see Koeman doing a really good job, fulfilling everything that was agreed when he was appointed. We have a young team with a lot of talent, with experienced players, too, that have had a lot of success, and the best player in the world. We have a good present in sporting terms and even better future."