Florentino Perez has had to deny that he had anything to do with Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona, after some bizarre claims that the Real Madrid president was behind it.
There’s been lots of blame handed around for the end of Messi’s time at the Nou Camp, whether it’s La Liga’s fault, the club’s fault or to some people the player’s fault.
PSG would probably happily take all the blame, as they look on at their new number 30, who they hope will bring them Champions League success for the first time.
One person who isn’t happy to take any blame, and understandably so, is Real chief Perez, who has hit back at claims it was anything to do with him.
“In light of the statements made by Jaume Llopis, a former member of the Espai Barça Commission, I want to state the following: it is flatly false that he has been friends for a long time with the CEO of FC Barcelona, Ferran Reverter,” Perez said in a statement.
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| Perez with PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi in 2019, maybe they were plotting the whole thing… Image: PA Images |
“He is a person with whom I have only met twice in my life, once four months ago and the other last Saturday at the meeting that took place in Barcelona with President Joan Laporta and President Andrea Agnelli, when the official communication on Messi had already taken place
“It is therefore impossible for me to have had some influence out of Messi or any other decision of the FC Barcelona. So I hope Jaume Llopis rectified as soon as possible these statements do not correspond to the truth.”
Llopis is a former member of the Espai Barca Commission and had claimed that Perez, alongside the Catalan’s CEO Reverter, had managed to persuade Perez’s opposite number at the Nou Camp to get rid of Messi.
“The new CEO [Reverter] is in charge. I know that everything has to go through the CEO, everything has to be signed by the CEO and not the president,” Llopis had claimed on Cadena SER.
“Laporta was pressured by his CEO and, on the other hand, Florentino convinced him. Between the two of them they convinced him that he has to kick Messi out and not sign with CVC.”
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Llopis was referring to the deal La Liga are trying to strike with American company CVC, who are hoping to buy 10% of Spain’s top tier. The money Barca would have made from the agreement reportedly would have saved them from having to let the six time Ballon d’Or winner go.
However Real aren’t happy with the CVC deal and have threatened legal action against the league’s attempts to sell. Part of that might be due to the European Super League, which Perez was instrumental in getting off the ground before the issues halted it. CVC’s agreement would mean the Super League was off the table. Interestingly, Perez was meeting with Barca and Juventus last weekend amidst these issues, the only those three sides still in the controversial competition. Featured Image Credit: PA |