Messi called a “hormoned dwarf” and “sewer rat” by Barça consultant
Catalunya’s regional police have implicated several members of the previous Barça board in badmouthing Messi and Piqué in a series of leaked emails from the former head of legal services.
Another bombshell drops at Camp Nou. According to regional newspaper El Periódico, an investigation launched by the Mossos d’Esquadra implicates former members of Barcelona’s management team behind the leaks of Leo Messi’s and Gerard Piqué's contracts with the club, which ended up in the hands of the press. The leak has been traced back to club employees hired by the previous board chaired by Josep Maria Bartomeu. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the investigation also revealed the insulting manner in which high-ranking members of the blaugrana executive, such as the head of legal services, Román Gómez Ponti, spoke about Messi and Piqué, both emblematic figures at the club.
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According to the documentation held by the Catalan regional police, in March 2020 the then head of the club’s legal department sent an email raising the idea of leaking the contracts of the two Barcelona stars. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to publish the million-dollar contracts of the first team so that people can publicly repudiate them,” Gómez Ponti wrote in a personal message to Bartomeu.
By strange coincidence, in January of the following year, El Mundo published Messi’s contract, which could imply a breach of privacy and personal data rights.
When the contracts came to light, the exchange of text messages between managers and senior executives of the club, with the director Òscar Grau included in the conversation, were also unearthed. They contain a mixture of scathing comments about both players and an apparent need to find a scapegoat or guilty party.
The only one who appears to remain calm throughout and censors the situation is Bartomeu, who affirms “Òscar (to Òscar Grau), this leak can only come from the club. I don’t think it was a leak from him to revoke his departure. Whoever leaked it hurts the club”. And he adds that the figures that have been published on Messi’s contract “in other times, prior to the pandemic, were totally acceptable”.
But the most striking thing is the tone used by the head of legal services, Román Gómez Ponti when referring to Messi. “Barto, really, you shouldn’t be such a nice person with this sewer rat. The club has given him everything and he has dedicated himself to marking a dictatorship of signings, transfers and renewals, ‘patros’ (sponsorship deals) only for him etc (…) And above all the accumulation of blackmail and rudeness that the club and those of us who work in it have suffered from this dwarf who owes his LIFE to Barça... ah. But when things turn bad (the pandemic) you receive their mythical wasap (whatsapp). Presi lower the salary of others, but don’t touch me or Luis. I hope he leaves in the face of people’s indifference.”
To this tirade, Òscar Grau responded with a laconic “Yes” while Bartomeu insisted that “I agree on many things, but Barça comes first and this type of article damages the image of the club”.
Ponti goes on to add that, “Pinto, Suárez’s contract renewal and Jordi Alba’s should be added to the figures of his contract. Or the renewal commission for Fati (Rodrigo Messi, agent? But if he doesn’t even know how to read and on top of that, has a drug dealer as a partner)”.
Meanwhile, manager Oriol Tomàs points out that the leak could come from Laporta’s circle.