How to destroy a football club in five years, Bartomeu has the recipe

June 5, 2015 was a big day for Barcelona as they won the Champions League under Luis Enrique to complete a stunning treble including the LaLiga Santander title and the Copa del Rey.

It has been more than five years since that memorable moment for Barcelona fans and the club has gone from sitting on the throne of European football, to facing a major financial and sporting crisis.

At the epicenter of all was former club president Josep Bartomeu, who was arrested Monday morning for his alleged links to the Barcagate scandal last February.

Bartomeu was elected president of Barcelona a few days after the Catalan team lifted the Champions League trophy and since then, the team has not achieved success in Europe, instead it has been shattered in every season of the Champions League in the elimination phase.

Prior to the election, the previous board, led by Bartomeu himself, had concluded a sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways.

Encouraged by the success of the Champions League, Bartomeu was ready to renegotiate the deal with the aim of reaching an even better deal.

However, no agreement was reached and Barcelona’s partnership with Qatar ceased to exist.

Meanwhile, at the sports level, Blaugrana spent several million euros to sign players such as Arda Turan, Aleix Vidal, Lucas Digne, Paco Alcacer, Andre Gomes and Samuel Umtiti, but none of them managed to stand out.

At the same time, Bartomeu offered new big money deals to players like Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez.

As a result, Barcelona became the club with the highest salary bill in European football and the entity given the heaviest blow during the pandemic.

The final blow came in the summer of 2017 when PSG, a club owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), kidnapped Neymar after activating the Brazilian striker’s buyout clause.

Barcelona earned a large sum for Neymar’s move but, once again, failed to invest properly, signing Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho, who failed to fill the Brazilian’s gap.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid went on to win three Champions League trophies in a row and Barcelona would face catastrophic eliminations from Roma and Liverpool.

A year after becoming Barcelona president, Bartomeu saw the club pleading guilty to two crimes against the tax agency that came from Neymar’s signature.

Both former Barcelona presidents, Sandro Rosell and Bartomeu, were acquitted, but the club’s image was severely damaged.

The latest scandal he has been involved in is that of Barcagate, where he is accused of hiring a PR company to damage the reputation of certain people and entities with club funds.

Before leaving Barcelona, he had also managed to break off his relationship with several players, including Lionel Messi.

The Argentine criticized Bartomeu through an interview with Goal, complaining that the former president of Barcelona had lied to him on many occasions.

Last summer, Messi asked to be released from the club and he has not yet reached an agreement, with his current deal until June.