Guiu joined the club as vice president for marketing in 2021. (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Juli Guiu, the vice president of Spanish soccer giants Barcelona, has reportedly left his role at the club over issues regarding the club’s deal with sportswear giant Nike.

Guiu joined the club’s board of directors in 2021 and in that time had taken charge of the LaLiga club’s marketing activities, playing a pivotal role in securing the likes of money-spinning sponsor Spotify as a club partner.

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In November, the club agreed a lucrative multi-year renewal with long-time kit provider Nike reportedly worth over €1.7 billion ($1.8 billion).

Guiu allegedly found fault with multiple facets of the deal, including the size of the payments made to English agent Darren Dein, who aided in brokering the deal.

As a result of his misgivings, Guiu was reportedly omitted from the dealmaking process and now has exited the Catalan side altogether.  

That deal mended fences between the two partners after a period of animosity that saw the club seek the termination of the previous tie-up with Nike (unveiled eight years ago) in 2024 – they claimed Nike had breached the terms of the contract, likely in an attempt to secure better terms in any new deal.

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Now Guiu is set to focus on his other professional roles, as the head of independent music publisher Clippers Group among others.

Guiu is the latest in a string of high-profile resignations from the club that has added to its recent turmoil, departures that included sporting director Mateu Alemany in 2023 and perhaps crucially financial vice president Eduard Romeu in 2024.

The Athletic publication cited a source close to the former vice president as saying that the severe financial difficulties Barcelona finds itself in is the main reason for his departure.

In 2023-24, the Catalan outfit secured record sponsorship income of €210 million, and turnover by the BLM merchandising subsidiary of close to €110 million. They still made a loss of €91 million in total, however, and have consistently struggled to adhere to LaLiga’s financial rules, resulting in them struggling to register expensive acquisitions.