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Barcelona president is dead wrong about Lionel Messi

By Rucker Haringey

BEIJING, CHINA - JUNE 01: FC Barcelona's striker Lionel Messi speaks during a news conference at China World Trade Center Grand Hotel on June 1, 2017 in Beijing, China. Messi arrived in China to attend an event related to the Messi soccer Eco Experience Pavilion. The park is to be build in Nanjing and will be the largest theme park in the world. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
BEIJING, CHINA - JUNE 01: FC Barcelona's striker Lionel Messi speaks during a news conference at China World Trade Center Grand Hotel on June 1, 2017 in Beijing, China. Messi arrived in China to attend an event related to the Messi soccer Eco Experience Pavilion. The park is to be build in Nanjing and will be the largest theme park in the world. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) /
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Barcelona’s future is far from assured

No one can blame Josep Maria Bartomeu for trying to comfort the Barcelona fan base. After all, his club’s passionate supporters haven’t had much to cheer about during the summer transfer window. That doesn’t mean he should go so far as to treat his fans like fools though.

Bartomeu has gone on record with his belief that signing Lionel Messi to a new contract is proof that “things are going well” at Barcelona. While the club still is blessed with a plethora of world-class talent, their future is still very much up in the air.

The odds were always stacked in the favour of Messi remaining with the club that is synonymous with his brilliant style of play. The idea that the diminutive Argentine would leave Barcelona anytime soon was always far-fetched at best. His decision to sign a new agreement was little more than a formality.

That doesn’t mean that everything is all settled for the Spanish giants though. The club are still plagued with massive questions about their future. First and foremost is the question of whether or not Ernesto Valverde is capable of coping with the pressures of leading the club. He wasn’t the big-name hire that Barcelona fans craved this summer, but his experience in La Liga does make him a reasonable bet to succeed.

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Of course, he’ll only prove successful in the event that club officials provide him with the level of talent necessary to effectively battle Real Madrid on a consistent basis. That will require the club spending big money this summer. Additions like Hector Bellerin or Marco Verratti don’t represent luxury purchases for the club. Instead, they are very much necessities.

The truth is that Bartomeu understands that better than most. That’s precisely why he’s using Messi’s new contract as a tool to distract his fan base. It will surely work for a time, but eventually the fans will remember the cause of their initial unrest. Expect the clamoring for big name signings to begin anew in the coming days.

Next: Barcelona moving closer to defender deals

Everyone at Barcelona can delight in the reality that Messi will remain with the club for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, he won’t be enough to help them catch up with Real Madrid. That can only happen in concern with sound, significant investment in talented players this summer. Bartomeu can’t distract the fans from that reality forever.

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