Some executives ask Bartomeu to carry out the elections

Some executives of Barcelona begin to be sensitive to the possibility of advancing the elections planned for 2021 against the criteria of President Josep Maria Bartomeu. The Barca president, who cannot stand for re-election, has a hard time maintaining the unity of the board after the crisis opened by Barçagate. The debate opened this Friday at an informal meeting of the council and will continue next Thursday when the official meeting of FC Barcelona is convened. The only decision, for the moment, is to suspend Jaume Masferrer as director of the presidential area for the duration of the internal analysis to clarify the social media conflict.

MORE INFORMATION

• Barcelona breaks the contract with I3Ventures after the scandal over the use of defamatory accounts

• Barcelona has hired a company that defames third parties to improve the image of Bartomeu

Vice Presidents Emili Rousaud and Jordi Cardoner would be the big supporters of calling the elections, predictably at the end of the season, according to information from Catalunya Ràdio. Rousaud is emerging as the candidate to lead a continuity candidacy after Cardoner's resignation. A similar situation occurred in January 2015 when Bartomeu agreed to advance the elections against his intention after the conflict generated by the discrepancies between Messi and Luis Enrique.

The meeting had moments of tension despite Bartomeu's interest in keeping calm and asking for time during the internal audit open last Tuesday at the Barca club to delimit responsibilities for the conflict generated by the hiring of a company, I3 Ventures, dedicated to improving the public image of the president and associated with defamatory accounts in social networks against players, opponents and the Barcelona environment.

Board members understand that the situation is beginning to be unsustainable and damaging in the face of their interests to back up a candidacy with aspirations in the next elections that the Catalan businessman Víctor Font is going to think about at the moment. The future of Messi, the management and administration of Espai Barça, as well as the definition of the club model and the precarious economic situation of the entity, are matters that require a decisive intervention while increasing distrust towards the Bartomeu meeting.

Some famous Barcelona players such as Evarist Murtra, who was a director on the boards of Josep Lluís Núñez and Joan Laporta, are in favor of the electoral advance: “I don't know if Bartomeu is alone or not, but he is worse accompanied than when he won the elections,” said Murtra in an interview with Diario Sport.

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