Messi Remains Silent after Bartomeu's Offer to Resign

Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu and Lionel Messi. (Getty Images)
Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu and Lionel Messi. (Getty Images)
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Messi Remains Silent after Bartomeu's Offer to Resign

Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu and Lionel Messi. (Getty Images)
Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu and Lionel Messi. (Getty Images)

While the wait to hear from Lionel Messi goes on, Barcelona continues to do everything it can to try to convince him to stay.

The club has told Messi that president Josep Bartomeu will resign if that is what it takes to keep the playmaker, but Barcelona said on Friday there was no word yet from Messi on the offer.

Bartomeu is willing to step down on the condition that Messi publicly says that the president was the reason for the Argentina star wanting to leave, Barcelona said while confirming reports from Spanish media.

Messi on Tuesday expressed his desire to leave by sending Barcelona a burofax — a certified document similar to a telegram — invoking a contract clause that allowed him to depart after the end of the season. Barcelona said the clause expired on June 10 and told Messi it wants him to stay until the end of his contract in June 2021.

Without directly accusing Bartomeu, Messi has been outspoken against the club’s decisions this season, the team’s first without a title since 2007-08. Messi publicly complained about former director Éric Abidal after he criticized the players’ efforts following a series of poor results in February. Abidal left Barcelona after the team’s 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Bartomeu is not believed to have talked to Messi since the player announced his decision to leave. The president said after the loss to Bayern that he spoke to Messi’s father and was told that the player was frustrated and disappointed.

Messi reportedly later talked to incoming coach Ronald Koeman and told him he saw himself more out than in the club at that moment.

Messi also may not have been happy with some of Koeman’s early squad decisions, including the one not to keep using striker Luis Suárez, a longtime Messi teammate and friend.

Koeman also reportedly said he will not include Ivan Rakitic, Samuel Umtiti and Arturo Vidal in his plans.

Koeman’s arrival to replace coach Quique Setién was the beginning of what Barcelona said were “profound changes to the first team” and a “wide-ranging” restructuring of the club, which also included the call for new presidential elections in March.

Opposition members to Bartomeu, who has been in charge of the club since 2014, earlier this week presented a censure motion against him and called for his resignation. Hundreds of fans also have protested against Bartomeu in front of the club’s Camp Nou Stadium in recent days.

The squad is expected to return from its break on Sunday to undergo coronavirus testing. Training is scheduled to resume on Monday ahead of the start of the Spanish league.



Verbeek and Siniakova Win Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Title

10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
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Verbeek and Siniakova Win Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Title

10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa

Czech Katerina Siniakova and Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands claimed the Wimbledon mixed doubles title on Thursday, defeating Britain's Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani 7-6(3) 7-6(3).

Facing home favorite Salisbury and Stefani on Centre Court, the Czech-Dutch duo held their nerve, while Stefani appeared to be hampered by a leg issue in the second set.

As Siniakova sealed victory with an overhead smash, the duo celebrated their first title together, Siniakova’s maiden mixed doubles Grand Slam and Verbeek’s first Grand Slam triumph of any kind.

"It’s very special, I mean it means a lot -- we had a lot of fun on the court and I really enjoyed it, it was a really amazing time here," Siniakova said after lifting the trophy.

For the 29-year-old Siniakova, the win added to her 10 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, including the Australian Open crown with American Taylor Townsend in January.

"Katerina, thank you so much, it’s been an honor to compete next to such a great doubles legend, one of the best to ever do it and thank you for making this a Thursday I will remember for the rest of my life," Reuters quoted the 31-year-old Verbeek as saying.

Salisbury, who faced the disappointment of home fans hoping to see a British champion, said margins did not fall in his and Stefani’s favor.

"It's always tough to lose a final but they played amazing so congratulations. They were too good in the tie-breaks today," Salisbury said.