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Barcelona president Joan Laporta says the cause of Lionel Messi leaving the club was a debt of £1.15billion run up by his predecessor Josep Bartomeu.

Laporta gave a two-hour press conference yesterday in which he outlined the gravity of the financial situation at the Nou Camp and accused Bartomeu of telling lies.

‘As of March 21, 2021, the debt was €1.35bn,’ revealed Laporta. ‘Bartomeu was plugging holes in the short term and mortgaging the club in the long term. That leaves us a dramatic inheritance.’