Having spent time at Camp Nou during the reign of Joan Laporta, a familiar face to the Liga giants fears they’re going in the wrong direction.
Josep Maria Bartomeu is thought of as only concerned with balancing the books at Barcelona, with former club manager Albert Perrin stating the future in Camp Nou”disturbs me a lot”.
The reigning La Liga champions have continued to invest heavily in recent transfer windows.
There have, nevertheless, been noteworthy departures as well — such as the record $222 million (#200m/$249m) deal that took Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2017.
A move to bring the Brazilian back to Catalunya has been mooted for some time, but finances are creating an agreement difficult.
Perrin anxieties that will remain the situation for the Blaugrana, blaming hesitation on the part of the club’s board to roll the dice in the recruitment marketplace.
He considers Bartomeu is more worried about moving top talent on, allowing Barca to stay on an even keel, then agreeing to collect.
If that stance isn’t relaxed, he believes, and competitions across Europe continue to splash the cash, then there’s a very real danger of the Spanish giants being left behind.
Perrin told Marca of Bartomeu’s regime, having previously spent time working together with former president Joan Laporta: “He became president without understanding why.
“The future of Barcelona disturbs me a lot.
“This board only know how to market to make the accounts operate, they do not consider the sporting side of things.
“There are several things that they have done poorly in Barcelona.”
At some point in the not too distant future, Barca are also going to need to begin planning for life after Lionel Messi.
The mercurial Argentine forward is just 32 and stays tied into a deal at Camp Nou through to 2021.
He is, nevertheless, yet to commit to new terms and contains an exit clause in his existing contract that will enable him to head elsewhere in the end of the year.
Even keeping the services of a six-time Ballon d’Or winner is only going to postpone the inevitable for Barca.
Bringing Neymar back would guarantee that another world-class gift is added to the club’s attacking arsenal.
It remains to be seen, however, if that deal could be done and for how long Messi plans to stick around.
