Friction just part of the job, says Bartomeu

An interview with Josep María Bartomeu was published by Catalan daily, La Vanguardia on Sunday. The FC Barcelona President touched on a number of subjects including the Luis Enrique-Messi conflict, the decision to hold presidential elections and the FIFA transfer ban. Bartomeu denied that there is disharmony in the Barça dressing room but argued that friction is a natural part of the day-to-day running of any football club.

Elections: “Club members will have the opportunity to put an end to the ongoing tension at the end of the season. By announcing the elections now, we wanted to downplay the disproportionate tension that is surrounding the club of late and allow the club members to have their say. I don’t want us to upset the team and without mentioning any names, there have a been a few players who have come up to me at the Ciutat Esportiva and said, ‘Thanks Presi for your bravery in calling elections as it means we can focus on the football side of things’”.

Luis Enrique-Messi confrontation: “I’ve noticed that Messi is leading the team during this period of reconstruction. It’s perfectly normal to have disagreements or misunderstandings when you begin a new project – by that, I am not referring to Leo but in general, between players or coaching staff. It happens at every club and in every workplace. The players and Luis Enrique are involved in a project with the objective of winning. In the end problems are always resolved. Frictions are just part of the job – we’ve had it before with Rijkaard, with Pep, with Tito, with Roura and with Tata. Sometimes it’s been a slow process to resolve those problems; others have been resolved from one day to the next”.

Messi and the Spanish Tax authorities: “We have spoken with Leo and particularly with his father. We will help Leo – just as we always have. It seems that there is a certain discrimination against him. Of course he is not the only player to have been investigated. But why is his case so different? Why hasn’t he been able, like others, to reach a settlement?”.

Zubizarreta’s sacking: “Personally, I’d like to bring back the position of Technical Secretary – someone in the mould of Txiki [Bergiristain] or [Llorenç] Serra Ferrer and not a Director of Sport as such, like Zubi did for us. I’d like to bring in someone with a more technical background to compliment the team. Whoever comes in must have Barça DNA and must understand that it is always the coach who has the final say”.

FIFA transfer ban: “I don’t want to talk about who might be to blame; nobody at the club had looked to new regulations introduced by FIFA in 2004. The people who were responsible back then are no longer at the club but I don’t want to start pointing the finger at anyone because that wouldn’t be fair. It was a catalogue of errors involving a lot of people”.

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/14Jlpnv

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