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The 2019-20 season will be etched in the memories of Barcelona fans for a plethora of wrong reasons.
Barcelona meekly surrendered their La Liga title to eternal rivals Real Madrid after leading the table with nine matches remaining. They let go of Ernesto Valverde in January despite being at the La Liga summit and brought in Quique Setien who lost his job at the end of the season.
As if their domestic disappointments weren't enough, Barcelona were humiliated in the Champions League. Again. Bayern Munich were favourites to win their quarterfinal against Barcelona, but even the staunchest critics could not have foreseen the Catalan club's 2-8 thrashing at the hands of Hansi Flick's men.
In the aftermath of that game, Gerard Pique said that Barcrlona needed an overhaul because the Spanish giants had reached rock bottom. But was that true? With Lionel Messi still at the club, Barcelona could not have reached rock bottom, or could they?
However, with the bombshell news about Lionel Messi wanting to leave the only club he has played for, Barcelona may well be entering the dark ages.
While it is the most dreaded news for all Barcelona fans, it was always coming. The tension between the board and dressing room this season was there to be seen by everyone. That was evident when the normally silent Lionel Messi took a potshot at former teammate Eric Abidal for suggesting that Barcelona players did not perform well enough to save Valverde's job.
Abidal has now departed the club, but he was hardly the problem afflicting the club. In fact, he and Quique Setien were the fall guys for the man behind all of Barcelona's problems on the field and beyond - Josep Bartomeu.
The Spanish entreprenuer may have presided over Barcelona's last Champions League win (in 2015) and four La Liga titles, but a large part of that credit goes to the players and the club's managers during this period.
The board, and Bartomeu in particular, has only taken one wrong decision after the other. Bartomeu's adamancy to resign may have been the final straw as Lionel Messi probably realised where his beloved club were headed - rock bottom.
Barcelona's problems will not end with Bartomeu stepping down, though. In the aftermath of the Bayern defeat, when Bartomeu said that only a handful of players were untouchable in the current squad, he perhaps alluded that the likes of Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez were expendable. Lionel Messi's departure could well signal the end of an era for these long-serving Barcelona players.
One thing that was common between Messi and the four aforementioned players was that the Barcelona captain combined well with all of them on the field. In that backdrop, Bartomeu's 'untouchable list' comment was unlikely to sit well with Messi or any of these players. That is because all of them have given their best for the club and are true Barcelona legends in their own right.
These players have been the best for Barcelona in their respective positions for a few years now. For Bartomeu to make them expendable was criminal. So if Lionel Messi is leaving, why shouldn't they too?
Lionel Messi is one of the greatest players of all time. If he leaves, Barcelona may attempt to fill his void by asking the club's expensive signings like Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho and Antoinne Griezmann to step up.
However, what happens if Pique, Busquets, Alba and Suarez also leave? Add Ivan Rakitic, Sergi Roberto and Samuel Umtiti to that list, and what would be left is a Barcelona team without its core.
While it's true that Barcelona did not have the best of seasons, the board's mismanagement could end up causing an avalanche of player exits from the club. The worst part about their exits is that Barcelona may only be able to recoup a fraction of their intial investment made on these players due to the cash-strapped market owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Could La Masia be Barcelona's saviour?
Of course, Barcelona could turn to their famed academy, La Masia. But when was the last time a La Masia graduate became a regular starter in the team? It's not that they are not good enough. But the fact remains that they have not been given enough chances in recent times to show their potential, something that was confirmed by La Masia graduate Gerard Deulofeu recently.
The present La Masia graduates do not have any guarantees that their progress at the club won't be blocked by another big-money signing. Barcelona, however, remain seemingly unmindful of the fact that their academy players keep leaving the club for better prospects elsewhere.
And that's not the only reason why La Masia graduates should be wary. Lionel Messi, the greatest player Barcelona have ever seen, was also La Masia's greatest graduate. Messi, along with Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, were the backbone of Pep Guardiola's all-conquering team. Now with all of them gone, younger players at La Masia will be further discouraged, and aspiring footballers may have second thoughts about joining the academy.
All of this points to a disaster of epic proportions for Barcelona. Maybe Gerard Pique foresaw the same when he talked about Barcelona reaching 'rock bottom'. If that is indeed the case, the man should just retire and stand for the club's next presidential elections. Because from where we are standing, the current board is driving Barcelona to its grave, and a change is indeed needed before it becomes too late.
