Bartomeu and Oscar Grau: The good cop and the bad cop
Comment: Lluis Mascaro takes a look at Grau's strange comments regarding Messi
It's like in films about police. During interrogations there is always a 'good cop' and a 'bad cop'. The cop that's tough and the cop that shows a little more sympathy to the suspect. It's a way -- in films, at least -- of getting confessions from criminals. It's a model which for a while has also been used in talks between football clubs and players. Above all when it comes to contract renewals. Or, what is the same, when it comes to asking for more money.
At the moment, Barcelona are about to offer what will possibly be the most important contract renewal in their history. The 'mother' of all renewals. The renewal of the best player in the world. The renewal of the best player of all time. The renewal of Leo Messi. It's a RENEWAL in capital letters. Because no-one can understand an immediate future without the Argentine crack at the club. And the extension (and improvement) of his contract is, in sporting and strategic terms, ESSENTIAL. Also in capital letters.
AN EXPENSIVE RENEWAL
No-one, I insist, in their right mind can question the renewal of Messi, whose current terms expire in 2018. Whatever it costs. Whatever it will cost. Because Leo wants to be what he is: the No.1. Totally justified. Beyond sporting (and emotional) conditions that demand Camp Nou continues to enjoy him, it's clear that Messi's continuity at the club is also a question of money. Of a lot of money. And everyone understands that.
Even though the CEO of the club, Oscar Grau, in quotes on Wednesday, suggested the contrary. "With Messi's renewal we have to keep a cool head and not lose common sense. We want the best, but we have to prioritise." What? Grau's done a Javier Faus! That's to say, unnecessarily stirring up trouble with inopportune comments about the best player in history. Either that, or there's a strategy behind his words. And, of course, I am inclined to go for the second option...
MESSIDENDEPENDENCIA
That's to say, Oscar Grau is taking on the role of the 'bad cop' in this film which is about Messi's renewal and later the 'good cop' will come along in the form of Josep Maria Bartomeu to personally close the deal. They're talks which now, more than ever, are in the hands of Messi. He will do what he wants, how he wants. It couldn't be any other way with the 'messidependencia' that there is at Barça. On a football level and an institutional one.
I don't know if this will be very successful with Leo Messi and his father. Because they know that they have everything to win. With the 'bad cop' and with the 'good cop'. The only thing Oscar Grau's managed to achieve with his comments (he also had some words for Pique) is to make the dressing room angry. A bad idea. A nightmare. Even if it is just to be the 'bad cop'.
