When Barcelona president Joan Laporta said that he hoped that Messi would change his mind and play for free, he might have spoken from the heart, but even that wouldn’t be enough for the Argentinian to stay. At least that’s what one of Laporta’s board members thinks. Bartomeu: ‘It was a mistake to let Messi leave’Toni Freixa was a member of the Barcelona board of directors three times: first with Laporta (2003-2005), than with Sandro Rosell (2013-2014) and finally during the Bartomeu’s first season (2015). „That idea that Messi should play for free was a spontaneous declaration. The Board’s plan to renew Messi did not involve Messi playing for free. It is impossible from the Financial Fair Play point of view. It was an anecdote” explained Friexa to Radio Marca. (1.27) BARCELONA (6.75) DYNAMO KYIV (11.0)The Messi saga is already old news, and Laporta is occupied with financial problems at Barca, which are, in his words, the worst in club’s history. Current president even announced that legal department will check out for possible actions against members of the former bord. “These are the worst accounts in the history of Barcelona with a debt of 1.35 billion euros and losses of 481m euros this year. When we arrived, we could not even pay the staff. This is what we have found. And the responsibilities that arise will be studied when the investigation is finished. Our legal department will decide if they constitute a crime and the legal actions that may arise“ explained Barca’s president. Laporta opens up: I was hoping that Messi would play for free, Koeman remains as coachLaporta reassured club’s members once again that the current management will not sell part of the team’s shares in order to ease the financial bourdain. “We are working to get the club out of the institutional well in which we find ourselves. We have carried out a financial operation to get 551m euros. We have renegotiated the sports contracts of the first team to reduce the wage bill by 155m euros, but we still have to reduce more. Barcelona are in our hands and not in the hands of third parties, nor of states or investment funds and that is how it will be As long as we are the directors, the property will always be owned by the members. Those who think they can appropriate Barcelona are very wrong. We have drawn a red line and if someone wants to cross it, they will meet us” said Laporta.
