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Barcelona vice president Juli Guiu has stepped down over discrepancies relating to the club’s new deal with Nike, sources have confirmed to ESPN.
Barça confirmed Guiu’s resignation in a short statement on Thursday.
“Barcelona inform that Guiu has presented his irrevocable resignation as vice president for personal reasons,” the club said.
“We would like to thank him for his services and dedication to the institution since joining the board of directors in 2021, during which time he has been a key player in the agreements with the club’s major partners in recent years.”
Sources explained to ESPN that Guiu’s decision came on the back of Barça’s new multi-year agreement with Nike, which is worth over €100m ($103m) a year.
Guiu disagreed with some of the terms of the deal, ended up being sidelined in the negotiations and also protested the amount of commission paid to the agent Darren Dein, who acted as an intermediary between Barça and Nike.
Barça announced the deal with long-term partner Nike in November, with president Joan Laporta claiming it is the biggest of its kind in football.
The agreement was ratified by members at an emergency meeting called in December and has helped improve the club’s financial situation.
Guiu was one of four vice presidents and was in charge of marketing.
During his time at the club he played a key role in bringing several new sponsors on board, including Spotify, who are Barça’s main sponsor and have also bought the naming rights to Camp Nou.
His resignation comes as off field issues continue to make headlines at Barça, with Spain’s sports ministry the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) this week allowing temporary player registrations for Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor.
The CSD’s decision goes against ruling made by LaLiga and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), which said Barça had missed a deadline to prove they were compliant with financial fair play regulations (FFP) and could not register players for a second time in the same season.
The decision has been met with incredulity by LaLiga sides, with Atlético Madrid and Las Palmas condemning the ruling, but sources said the saga has nothing to do with Guiu’s departure.