Some people who go to work at the Nou Camp, home of five-times Champions League winners FC Barcelona, must have forgotten the adage that graveyards are full of indispensable people. That became clear last week as the sorry saga of Lionel Messi’s departure from the club and free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain played out in full public view. Instead, the management of Barcelona provided the fodder for a Harvard Business School case about how not to manage an investment portfolio or an organisation.
The vitals: Messi, one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen; loyal club servant since the age of 13; highest goal scorer in the history of La Liga; six-time Ballon d’Or winner. As much a part of Barcelona as Antonio Gaudi’s Basilica or its Gothic Quarter.
What’s an investment manager to do with an asset (for yes, footballers, like it or not, are assets) whose rate of growth is slowing, and whose value is sure to decline?