"Messi is the only one. I've told Ramon [Planes, Barca's former sporting director] this morning that we'll speak to him tomorrow if possible. I don't know where he is," Ronald Koeman told Josep Maria Bartomeu at a private meeting in a restaurant in August 2020.
"He's somewhere close," Bartomeu replied.
"You and me, we have to talk to him," Koeman added.
"Okay," the former Barca president said.
Koeman: "We want him to stay."
Bartomeu: "Exactly."
Koeman: "I want him to stay. I want him to keep being the best in the world. But he also has to know we're making changes to the team [Koeman hints at the future Luis Suarez exit]. We won't mention any names. We're just making changes. We'll give a chance to younger players. If he [Messi] wants to follow along... If not, with all due respect, he has to say yes or no. If not it's...
Bartomeu: "It's a problem for the team."
Koeman: "So we can say to the press that we have talked to Messi and he doesn't want to stay. We respect it, it's his decision, but everyone has to know that he doesn't want to stay. We do want him to stay. I'm gonna work with people who want to be here."
Bartomeu: "Exactly."
Koeman: "Even if it's about the best player in the world."
Basically, Koeman wanted to kick Luis Suarez out before Messi found out what's going on – and that's what he and Bartomeu succeeded at.
However, all those events led to the Argentine's revealing interview he gave the following month. Messi revealed that he wanted to leave the club but Bartomeu forced him to stay.
A few months later, Bartomeu was forced to resign as the Barcelona president.
