Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu already has to manage the expectations of the 135,000 vociferous fans who own the Spanish football club and the whims and wage demands of star players including Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez.
Now he is out to impress Chinese president Xi Jinping as Barcelona joins a lengthening list of European football clubs investing in China to help fulfil Mr Xi’s ambitious plans for a sporting revolution.
“One of his big projects is to expand football in China,” Mr Bartomeu told the Financial Times on a recent trip to China to open a €4m complex featuring a football school, Barcelona shop and fan zone on the holiday island of Hainan. “This is our little help to this big project.”