Ferran Reverter, CEO of Barcelona, is to resign from the club, reportedly because he is unhappy over the terms of a new sponsorship deal with Spotify.
Reverter, who was only appointed into the role last July having come back to Spain from Germany, said in a statement that he wanted to “spend more time on personal and family projects”.
It has certainly been a challenging period for Reverter at the helm of the Blaugrana, with the club needing to recover from the disastrous financial legacy left by previous president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Reverter sought to do that by leading a restructure as well as pushing forward with Espai Barca, a plan to revamp Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium.
In a statement, he said: “It is now almost a year since I left Germany to return to Barcelona for family reasons and shortly after I accepted the offer that I received from president Joan Laporta to become CEO of the club.
“These have been passionate months and I thank the president for his trust and, above all, his enthusiasm and capacity for leadership that mean FC Barcelona how has a first class executive team that is able to reposition Barca as a world leader.
“Personally I have put in much effort and dedication during these months, but I now wish to focus on the reason why I returned to Barcelona, which is to spend more time on personal and family projects.”
According to La Vanguardia, Reverter is not a fan of the club’s reported new deal with Spotify.
The agreement, which is set to be announced soon, will apparently see Spotify act as shirt sponsor for the men’s and women’s teams, and take over the naming rights of Camp Nou.
Barcelona thanked Reverter for his “commitment and good work”.
It leaves a big hole for president Joan Laporta to fill at a time when Barcelona are not out of the woods economically, despite moves made to reduce their wage bill in the recent January transfer window, most notably through the loan departure of Philippe Coutinho to Aston Villa.
Nonetheless, things seem to be improving for the Catalans on the pitch with Xavi Hernandez masterminding a win over La Liga champions Atletico Madrid last weekend, taking his team back into the UEFA Champions League qualification spots.
They face another critical week however, with a local derby against Espanyol on Sunday followed by a Europa League play-off first leg at home to Napoli on Thursday. (EuroSport)
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