Bartomeu FC Barcelona Board Member Called Messi ‘Hormonal Dwarf’ And ‘Sewer Rat’

A former member of disgraced ex-FC Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu’s board hurled insults at Lionel Messi including ‘sewer rat’ and ‘hormonal dwarf’, as shown in leaked Whatsapp messages.

Along with former general director Oscar Grau, ex-head of legal services Roman Gomez Ponti has reportedly been identified by Catalan police as the party responsible for leaking details of Messi and Gerard Pique’s contracts to the media.

On Thursday morning, a message from Gomez Ponti in a Whatsapp group chat allegedly containing Bartomeu, Grau and other former board members such as ex-financial director Pancho Schroder and ex-directory of Strategy and Innovation Javier Sobrino has been obtained by the local press.

According to SPORT, which shares the message published by El Periodico, the group ‘fumed’ about the source of the leak of Messi’s contract which had its details published on January 31, 2021 by El Mundo.

On that same day, Gomez Ponti allegedly fired off on Messi to Bartomeu telling him “really, you can’t be such a good person with this sewer rat.”

“The club has given him everything and he has dedicated himself to marking a dictatorship of signings, transfers, renewals, sponsorships just for him, etc,” Gomez Ponti continued.

Ponti questioned the contract renewals of Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and a renewal commission for Ansu Fati which went to his agent at the time in Messi’s brother Rodrigo Messi.

“And above all the accumulation of blackmail and rudeness that the club and those of us who work [for it] have suffered from this hormonal dwarf who owes Barca his life… ah!” Gomez Ponti continued.

“But when things go wrong (the pandemic) you receive the mythical WhatsApp [message]: ‘President, lower the salaries of others, but don’t touch Luis [Suarez] and me’.

Wishing that Messi left the club, Gomez Ponti also called Messi a ‘pesetero’ or a money-grabber. If the leaked details were accurate, Messi was shown as earning a maximum of €555,237,619 ($597mn) over four seasons providing a series of conditions were met, until what was then the highest-earning sports contract of all time expired in June 2021.

After Barca failed to navigate a strict La Liga salary cap and offer Messi a new deal, he ended a 20-year plus relationship with the club and walked to Paris Saint Germain on a free transfer.