New Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu has revealed that he tried to persuade Sandro Rosell to stay on at Camp Nou.
The former Blaugrana chief resigned last week after allegations of ‘misappropriation of funds’ regarding the Neymar transfer.
But the new man at the helm has claimed that he wanted his predecessor to stay, whilst also commenting on Lionel Messi’s rumoured departure to Paris Saint-Germain.
“Along with everyone else, I spent the whole day trying to persuade him but it was impossible,” he told beIN Sport.
“We believe that he did an excellent job during the years that he was in charge at Barcelona. Now I can only promise hard work, effort and dedication so that Barcelona continues growing as a club every day.
“I won’t get tired of giving explanations to the club’s members, who are the owners of Barcelona. But, on the other hand, this has got out of control and some have taken advantage of it to make a special case of it.
“If I had to rate our relationship with Messi, I would rate it very highly. He’s sad about Rosell’s departure. It has affected him, because he has known him for 13 years.
“At the club we’re delighted with Messi – this is his home and we only want to support him so that he can carry on being the best player in the world at Barcelona.”
Asked about possible Barcelona signing Marc-André ter Stegen, the new President said: “I can’t say too much. It’s true that he’s one of the keepers that we’ve followed, but we’ve also looked at others.
“There are a lot of good goalkeepers but we have the best in the world here. What is unfortunate is that he has decided to leave the club next season.”