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Barcelona: The war for Lionel Messi lurches toward mutual destruction

By Keith Lisenbee

(COMBO) This combination of file pictures created on September 5, 2020 shows FC Barcelona's president Josep Maria Bartomeu (L) speaking during a press conference at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on October 2, 2017 and Barcelona's Argentine forward Lionel Messi attending a training session at the Joan Gamper Sports City training ground in Sant Joan Despi, on December 17, 2019. - Lionel Messi said on September 4, 2020 he will stay at Barcelona but only because the club's president Josep Maria Bartomeu broke his word to let him leave. Messi's stinging attack on Bartomeu and the club means his future still remains in doubt. (Photos by Josep LAGO and LLUIS GENE / AFP) (Photo by JOSEP LAGO,LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)
(COMBO) This combination of file pictures created on September 5, 2020 shows FC Barcelona's president Josep Maria Bartomeu (L) speaking during a press conference at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on October 2, 2017 and Barcelona's Argentine forward Lionel Messi attending a training session at the Joan Gamper Sports City training ground in Sant Joan Despi, on December 17, 2019. - Lionel Messi said on September 4, 2020 he will stay at Barcelona but only because the club's president Josep Maria Bartomeu broke his word to let him leave. Messi's stinging attack on Bartomeu and the club means his future still remains in doubt. (Photos by Josep LAGO and LLUIS GENE / AFP) (Photo by JOSEP LAGO,LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Barcelona’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP) (Photo by JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images) /

Bartomeu has distorted reality for his authoritative ends.

One of the most important virtues that are utilized in the process of obtaining and maintaining values is honesty. This virtue means an individual does not make any attempt to obscure or deny reality in any way when they are interacting with others.

Honesty also means that there is no attempt to make the unreal into reality in the minds of others.

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In his interview with Goal.com, Lionel Messi stated the following regarding Bartomeu:

"“I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word.” — Lionel Messi, via Goal.com"

The Argentine great believed, based on his conversations with the club’s head of state, that at the end of the season, he could move on to play elsewhere. He also interpreted his contract with Barcelona to read the same.

Lionel Messi decided to leave his home club based on what he understood to be the truth and what was real.

It was not reality at all.

Bartomeu determined that Messi could not leave the team for free. He ruled that the contract was still valid, and the release clause stood at €700 million, a figure no prospective team could ever come up with.

What is worse is the fact that Barça’s president reminded the player of all the things that he would lose by not staying in an attempt to obtain agreement by force.

Therefore, Bartomeu used Leo’s greatness, integrity, and  productivity against him

The purpose of emphasizing the values that another individual has prioritized in a discussion is to jump-start a free and open negotiation that is designed to create a win-win agreement.

Bartomeu, like many authoritarian power-hungry people, decided not to make a deal that would be in the long term best interest of both the club and Lionel Messi.

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