Joan Laporta wins Barcelona Presidential elections: Impact on the future of Messi and Team

Riqui Puig-Lionel Messi-Barcelona

The Barcelona presidential elections are now complete and Joan Laporta has apparently won with  58% of the votes. The result is expected to be made official soon.

The likes of Victor Font received 31% of the total vote while Tony Freixa picked up 9.3% of the votes.

Joan Laporta has been lobbying relentlessly for the Barcelona presidential post for a while now and it will be interesting to see what radical changes he brings to the table once his appointment is made official.

Apparently, the new club president will focus on keeping Lionel Messi at the club beyond this season and more importantly he has to deal with huge debt.

It will be interesting to see if he can convince the Argentine superstar to continue at Camp Nou & sign a renewal with the Spanish giants.

On financial front, Barcelona have to deal with $1.3 billion worth of debt and a large chunk of that is short term, so new management have to act quick and act decisive.

Messi will be a free agent at the end of this season and Laporta promised earlier that he would be able to convince Messi to stay if he wins the elections. Messi has been linked with PSG and Manchester City in recent months. 

Furthermore, the newly elected Barcelona president is expected to make a move to sign Sergio Aguero from Manchester City as well.

Barcelona fans will be delighted if Laporta manages to win over Messi’s trust and convince him to stay at the club immediately after taking up his presidential rule.

Meanwhile, a poll conducted by TV3 reveals that almost a third of Barcelona’s members think that Lionel Messi is a dispensable asset to the club.

Apparently, 65.7% of the club’s members think that Messi’s renewal should be a top priority for the club whereas the remaining members disagree with the notion.

The Argentine superstar is undoubtedly the best player of his generation and he is also the best player in the club’s history. The bitterness Messi had with previous management and even with Ronald Koeman, it seems he has started enjoying his football once again with Pedri, Jordi Alba and Dembele.

It would be a no brainer to keep him at the club for as long as possible would benefit the Catalan outfit in terms of football, but COVID-19 has introduced financial mathematics to club management. So Joan Laporta has to walk on a tight rope to manage finance and football at Barcelona.