Barcelona Could Rename Camp Nou After Lionel Messi

Barcelona could rename their iconic Camp Nou stadium after club legend Lionel Messi in future, with presidential candidate Emili Rousard promising to hold a referendum on the matter if he wins January’s hotly anticipated election.

Messi has already long been Barcelona’s best ever player, scoring an astonishing 640 goals and counting. He has won 10 La Liga titles, six Copa del Rey, four Champions Leagues and has also been presented with the Ballon d’Or on record breaking six occasions.

It would be a fitting and lasting tribute to Messi, who joined Barça’s youth ranks at the age of just 13 when he left home in Argentina, and Rousard is keen to build support ahead of polling.

“We will hold a referendum to change the name of the stadium to ‘Camp Nou - Leo Messi’,” the candidate is quoted as saying by Marca.

But re-naming the stadium for Messi is not the only major campaign promise Rousard has made this week, confirming his intention to re-sign Neymar alongside another top player.

“We're going to sign two top players, one of them is Neymar,” he claimed. “We are working to bring him back to Barcelona...if he withdraws the lawsuit he has against the club

“We hope to be able to announce soon the name of the other big-name player we want to bring. It will not leave anyone indifferent. We have a direct line to the player.”

Presidential elections are often rife with such promises. Joan Laporta was keen on bringing David Beckham to Camp Nou when he ran for office in 2003, later landing Ronaldinho instead after Beckham ended up joining fierce rivals Real Madrid.

However, rival candidate Victor Font warned last week that Barça’s finances are in a ‘critical’ situation and will not allow for major spending on new players. He insisted that anyone making promises of that nature, as Rousard has done, cannot be taken seriously.

“The situation of the club has never been like this, with the pandemic putting it in a critical state, as the board recognised. Now having a project and a team is more important than ever,” Font said.

“This time for the situation, whoever comes with super-signings like Mbappe and Neymar is not making a very credible proposal."

“At the end of the summer there was a €400m debt and no liquidity. They couldn't sign Eric Garcia, who was an urgent need and someone [Koeman] asked for. He also asked for Depay, whom they could not sign, and now La Liga has set out the salary limits and Barcelona's is hugely reduced.”

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