Lionel Messi is remaining at Barcelona, but the fire at the Camp Nou has not been extinguished.
President Josep Maria Bartomeu faces instability at all levels and his image has been affected by recent events.
The next few months will be turbulent for the Blaugrana and the board will be under the spotlight for the following reasons.
Messi
The relationship between the Argentine and the president is not good, something that was made more than clear with the footballer’s statement.
He is the captain and the fans’ favourite, so it is difficult for Bartomeu to win such a battle.
The rest of the squad
In addition to the captain, other members of the dressing room have also had feuds with the club’s board.
Former sporting director Eric Abidal criticised some of the players’ performances and some leaks, especially on issues such as the salary cuts due to COVID-19, didn’t help either.
The motion of no confidence … and elections
The collection of Barcelona members’ signatures is underway and, if successful, Bartomeu will face a vote that will determine if he stays in his post.
Whatever the outcome of this motion, there are elections in March.
So his mandate has a clear expiration date.
The assembly
Bartomeu must defend his management before the club’s general commitment assembly.
In this scenario, the president could also face a motion of no confidence.
In the case of failing to win that battle, he would not be obliged to leave the position but his image would be seriously damaged.
The finances
The coronavirus has affected all clubs and Barcelona are no exception as they have lost 154 million euros of income in the 2019/20 season due to the pandemic and the situation will continue to be complicated this year.
Adjusting the salary level is essential to balancing the club’s books and members will be looking on to see how the current board cope with this.
Barcagate
Police have found signs of corruption in the well-known Barcagate saga.
According to police reports, members of the board may have benefited personally by hiring i3 Ventures to monitor Barcelona on social media.
They divided the invoices to amounts of less than 200,000 euros to avoid having to go through official approval.
source: Marca