Barca’s ever-growing list of problems

“We have an agreement in principle with Andres,” Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu proudly told the press, just two days later, the veteran midfielder denied that any agreement had been made.

“Can you confirm that there is an agreement in place?” reporters asked the 33-year-old, “No,” the response from the classy midfielder, who as things stand will be able to discuss a bosman move to one of his many Italian suitors in just 4 months’ time.

All this comes as Barca fans continue to ask how club officials were unaware of Neymer’s desire to join PSG, when the club’s players were all well aware of the fact.

Despite no longer being a Barcelona player, Neymar is still a source of frustration for the club’s fans, who are unhappy with the club’s failed efforts to keep the player and with the series of failed attempts to find a replacement.

Neymar has been dragged back into the headlines in Barcelona today after Bartomeu suggested that “We made an error trusting in Neymar,” prompting the Brazilian to wittily reposte “The president is a joke”.

Despite furore surrounding both Iniesta and Neymar, neither is the biggest issue facing Barca right now.

The biggest question amongst the Catalan faithful is regarding Lionel Messi’s new contract.

On August 17, Barca vicepresident Jordi Mestre asserted that “everything is going well” vis-a-vis Messi. With the concerns over the player’s signature mounting when sporting director Albert Soler suggested that player may not have put pen to paper after all.

Has he signed it? Has his dad signed it? Has anyone signed it? No-one is letting on the truth. Bartomeu is hardly helping to clarify things either, during his recent interviews with ‘Sport’ and ‘Mundo Deportivo’, the 54-year-old sent mixed messages, telling one that Messi had signed the deal and that it would soon be made official, before telling the other that Messi’s father was the one who had inked the deal.

Should the latter be the case, Barca may have brought further problems on themselves as despite Messi’s father being his manager, according to several leading lawyers, only the player himself can legally sign a labour contract.

The lack of clarity in the club’s actions of late is only fuelling the calls for Bartomeu’s head, but sacking the president will not help solve Barca’s problems overnight.