Matteo Alemany was Barcelona's most important and influential official. His departure – certainly – was not "without preliminaries" Xavi and Laporta gave Alemany near-absolute power in deciding the club's contracts.
Alemany didn't see the point in pursuing a player who had decided to publicly blackmail the club for a "rude" salary after five seasons in which he missed more than three full seasons. Barcelona don't have the financial means to bring Lionel Messi back to Camp Nou.