Javier Tebas has taken aim at Barcelona following revelations from former Espai Barca commission member Jaume Llopis.
Llopis was part of the commission for Espai Barca, the project put together to transform the Blaugrana‘s facilities, including Camp Nou.
And speaking on radio show El Larguero, the businessman spoke about how president Joan Laporta was threatened by CEO Ferran Reverter over the CVC deal.
The deal involves investment company CVC purchasing 10% of La Liga for €2.7billion, and around €270million of that will go to Barcelona if approved.
And somewhere around €40million of that figure could have gone towards keeping Lionel Messi had Barca swiftly accepted the deal, but they chose not to.
It’s thought the club’s involvement in the Super League project, along with Real Madrid – who also rejected the deal – has something to do with their decision, raising claims that the Blaugrana have chosen the Super League over Messi, even if the CVC deal is likely to go ahead anyway given 42 clubs will get an equal vote on the outcome.
And Llopis has now claimed that Laporta was pressured into making the decision with recently-appointed CEO Reverter threatening to resign before convincing Laporta to choose rejecting the CVC deal over keeping Messi, with the help of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
Llopis said: “The new CEO demanded a lot. The CEO of Barca threatened Laporta with resigning if he (Laporta) signed with CVC.
“Florentino convinced him because he had already supported the Super League.
“Between the CEO and Florentino, they convinced Laporta that he has to fire Messi and not sign with CVC”
On the back of those comments, La Liga chief Tebas commented on Twitter, adding: “This is starting to become clear…who is in control of FCB?
“Without Messi, without 270million, perfect plan…”
At this point, however, it is important to point out that the claims from Llopis are indeed only claims, and we are yet to hear Laporta or Reverter’s side of the story.