Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has handed in his resignation at the LaLiga club, according to reports.
The director has faced several calls to step down from the Catalans hierarchy after several controversies over the summer, including the public fall-out with Lionel Messi which nearly forced the Barcelona captain to leave the Camp Nou.
On Monday, Bartomeu said there was ‘no reason for him to resign’ ahead of an imminent vote of no confidence – but Spanish news outlet SPORT claims an emergency meeting saw the 57-year-old and the other directors hand in their resignation.
Now Messi’s chances of staying at Barcelona have risen dramatically following Bartomeu’s reported resignation.
The president was the centre of Messi’s criticisms when the Argentine announced his shock transfer request to Barcelona earlier this summer.
The Barcelona captain revealed the president did not keep his word about letting Messi leave the club if he wanted to, as the 33-year-old tried to move on a free transfer due to a clause in his contract.
Messi told Goal in September: ‘I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word.’
Bartomeu was also criticised over the I3 Ventures scandal, which has allegedly seen Barcelona chief Jaume Masferrer lead a social media project alongside the LaLiga club to damage the reputations of figures such as Gerard Pique, Messi and the Argentinian star’s wife.
Speaking about the scandal, Pique claimed: ‘I see that my club has spent money, money that they are now asking us to criticize. It’s no longer only external people with a historical relationship with the club, but active players too, and that is outrageous.
‘I asked him for explanations and what he (Bartomeu) told me was: “Gerard, I didn’t know.” And I believed it.
