Barcelona Faithfuls Vote Josep Maria Bartomeu As Club President

Josep Maria Bartomeu will return as Barça president, we expected Laporta to have a tight race with him but it seems things went a bit easy for Josep who had a long margin ahead.

Josep Maria Bartomeu was re-elected as president of European and Spanish champions Barcelona after seeing off rival Joan Laporta. Bartomeu, 52, polled 25 823 votes (54.63percent) with Laporta, a former president, winning 15 615 votes (33.03percent).

ELECTION: Messi Wants Laporta Back At Barca

Lionel Messi will not publicly back any of the candidates in Barcelona's presidential election on Saturday, but the Argentine attacker is keen to see former club chief Joan Laporta beat Josep Maria Bartomeu in the weekend vote.

Messi is still on holiday after his participation in the Copa America with the Albiceleste and will not take part in the ballot. However, he and his parents will follow Saturday's vote with interest as the Catalan club heads into another new era.

The 28-year-old has had his problems with Bartomeu's board in the past. The forward fell out with Javier Faus in December 2013 after the club's financial vice-president claimed there was "no need" to improve the player's contract every year. Leo hit back publicly and hard. "Mr. Faus knows nothing about football," he said.

We Have Turned The Polls On Them - Joan Laporta

With three days to go before the name of the new FC Barcelona president is revealed, one of the candidates, Joan Laporta, was interviewed by Radio MARCA. The former Azulgrana president came out on top after the debate with the rest of the candidates: "I feel more prepared than ever to be Barcelona president."

"We've turned the polls on their heads. We're ahead, with 36% of the voter intention", he said.
According to Laporta, this is down to his personality - something which he accuses his main rival for the Barcelona presidency, Josep María Bartomeu, of lacking: "It would be reckless to have Bartomeu as president after conducting a poll to sell Messi, and when Barça have been prosecuted for the first time in history over the Neymar case."

BARCELONA: Laporta Will Sign Silva & Pogba

Since Joan Laporta decided to run for the presidency of Barcelona, one of his main objectives talked about has been the club's first team.His first announcement was that his director of football would be Eric Abidal. Since then he has focused his activities on bringing in new players to the squad.

Laporta has two big names on his shopping list. One of them is Bernardo Silva, midfielder at Mónaco and of the great young promises of European football. In the last European U-21 tournament, the player put in some sublime performances for Portugal, who finally claimed second place. Silva is a man that many big European clubs are after, which is a huge problem for Barcelona, as the club cannot take in any new players to its ranks this summer. The midfielder may be snapped up by another club before the 'Azulgranas' get a chance to.

LAPORTA: Messi's Contract Situation Shocking

Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta has described Lionel Messi's contractual situation at Camp Nou as "shocking".

The Argentina international signed a deal with the Blaugrana in February of last year that bound him to the Catalan club until 2018.

There has been talk of an extension in recent weeks but current Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu revealed last Sunday that the club are merely planning "a modification to his existing contract", namely improved terms.