The Catalan club awaits the hot summer of 2015. Due to violations and the FIFA-imposed penalty, "Barcelona" will not be able to shop in the football market, but a big challenge awaits the fans with the voting rights - they will have to elect a new club president. This was clarified during the press conference of the current "Barcelona" leader Josep Maria Bartomeu on Wednesday evening. "We have decided to hold elections this year in order to finally relieve the psychological tension that has arisen in the club due to scandals. The club's economic situation is good and it operates successfully, but negative factors have affected it from the outside," - commented the president on the decision to hold early elections. The exact date will be announced later. J. M. Bartomeu has constantly been urged to announce elections in the summer of 2015, but the 51-year-old Catalan, who took over the presidency of "Barcelona" from Sandro Rosell, claimed to be ready to work until the summer of 2016, when according to the club's statutes the term and powers of the Directors' Board should end. "The president of Barcelona is elected for a six-year term and can be re-elected, but not for more than one additional term. "I only decided to hold early elections today, after consulting with the Board of Directors. Until now, I believed that we could work for another year and a half, but the tension weighing on the club must be relieved," - noted J. M. Bartomeu. - Now that it is clear that the elections will definitely take place, I urge all prospective candidates not to forget to behave correctly and not to hinder the team in the fight for trophies. This goal is the most important at the moment." The president of the Catalan club also had to explain the rumors in the media about possible disagreements between Lionel Messi and head coach Luis Enrique: "Everything is fine. I have spoken to both the coach and Lionel. Very few things happen in the locker room during the season, but I can say that their relationship is completely normal. Messi is an undisputed leader of the team." There has also been a lot of commotion about the possibility of L. Messi being sold to another team, but the president reacted unequivocally to such news: "Lionel has a valid contract with Barcelona. He is happy here, and the club is happy to have such a player. The whole football world knows that Barcelona will never sell Messi to another team." J. M. Bartomeu also officially denied rumors that the Barcelona leadership had issued an ultimatum to the chief team coach Luis Enrique, who has recently been the target of criticism: "The club leaders believe that the coach has been chosen correctly and will continue his work." The president noted that the dismissal of the former team sports director Andoni Zubizarreta from his duties is in no way related to the FIFA punishment imposed on "Barca" for violations in registering youth academy players. "Andoni Zubizarreta was responsible for these young players and their acquisition, so his departure has nothing to do with the ban on registering players this year. It's a matter of loss of trust," - said J. M. Bartomeu. The Catalan club still does not have a sports director, so it was thought that A. Zubizarreta's successor would be announced last night, but the president of Barcelona stated that the previously planned evening meeting of the Board of Directors is canceled.
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