A month ago, Eduard Romeu, economic vice president of FC Barcelona, ??seriously considered presenting his resignation. It is not the first time that he has considered it. After his departure from Audax Renovables, a company that helped him enter the club in 2021 after the endorsements provided together with José Elías, president of the energy company and with whom Romeu broke up months ago, the former manager began a new professional path. Now outside Audax, he has created a medical consultancy related to pain medicine. Romeu believes that he can no longer dedicate as much time to the club as he would like. He is a person who has been key to creating the entity’s economic strategy with the aim of rescuing Barça from its economic crisis.
But there are also other reasons. Although his relationship with president Joan Laporta is good, there are a series of decisions that have been made with which he disagrees. After the goodbye in February 2022 of Ferran Reverter, general director of the club with whom Romeu had a very good relationship, the economic area was restructured without a clear leader. Since he was the most responsible for the economic situation, Romeu asked Laporta to also assume the position of general director. It happens that the person who is performing these functions is the treasurer Ferran Olivé, so Romeu could not have complete control of the situation. The relationship between the two was tense and there have been disagreements. Other recent efforts, such as the possible breakup with Nike, the shirt’s sponsor, and the departure of Maribel Meléndez, Barça’s corporate director and the first economic executive to join the club under Ferran Reverter, have ended up convincing. to Romeu, who, despite greatly respecting the figure of Laporta, is not clear about the entity’s management model. He also did not see himself presenting the numbers at the next assembly of delegate members.
Romeu decided to wait to present his resignation until the team led by Xavi Hernández reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League, a result that helps the club meet part of the budget that was set at the beginning of the season. At this point in the year, the budget is 30 million below what was expected and this is, in part, due to the decrease in ticketing for matches at the Lluís Companys. But Romeu believes that this deviation will end up being corrected. Another thing is what may happen to him with Barça Vision and the 40 million euros that the Libero fund has not paid for the purchase of 10 percent of this audiovisual business. It was an operation carried out through the Bridgeburg Invest company that ultimately did not take place. Romeu has not participated in the search for new partners.
“President, make it easy for me,” Romeu asked Laporta yesterday when he presented his resignation letter. They both chatted and, as they later staged in the appearance, Laporta thanked him for the work he had done and recalled that without him he would not have been president, since he became president thanks to the endorsement he presented at the last minute together with José Elías, owner of Audax and who earned him the position of vice president. Jaume Giró should have been, but he resigned when Laporta’s second presidential adventure had not begun. Romeu also thanked him for the opportunity he had given him to be a Barça manager and offered to help the club whenever the entity needs financial advice. He will also continue collaborating with the Barça Foundation given his sensitivity to social and solidarity issues.
