Barcelona hire PR company to clean the image of Bartomeu and criticise players, ex-players and opponents

Posted Tuesday, February 18, 2020 by Marca.com

It has emerged that Barcelona hired a PR company, I3 Ventures, to cleanse the image of Josep Maria Bartomeu on social media, in addition to disparaging players and former players who opposed his premiership.

This latest scandal comes in the wake of Lionel Messi's rather public dispute with Eric Abidal, which Bartomeu himself was actually forced to try and mediate.

According to a report by Que t'hi jugues, the company hired by the Catalan club manages up to almost 100 Twitter and Facebook accounts which have attacked individuals such as Messi, Xavi, Gerard Pique, Pep Guardiola, Carles Puyol, Joan Laporta and Carles Puigdemont.

For example, these accounts attacked the Argentine icon for his delay in renewing his contract with Barcelona, whilst Pique came under the microscope for his increasing business interests, including his work with the Davis Cup.

These accounts first started to appear in 2017 and the commentary within them varies from account to account, both in terms of the people they attack and how vulgar the statements are.

The end goal is to preserve Bartomeu's reputation and cleanse his social media presence, and Los Cules have confirmed the hiring of the company which cost around one million euros.

Barcelona, however, have denied being aware of the content of the accounts, yet payment was made to them on six different invoices, and this latest revelation only furthers the disunity and feeling of crisis within the Camp Nou.