Xavier Vilajoana: “Messi has to adopt another role”

Xavier Vilajoana (2-1-1973), member 35.916 of Barcelona and candidate for the presidency, receives AS in his office at 125 Rambla de Catalunya with a leisurely speech, soccer fan and, above enthusiast, of rresponsibility. He gets wet on Messi and, as the interview progresses, highlights what may be his added value in the elections. As a former board member, you don't have to endorse. “Nobody has to give me a euro, we will be one hundred percent independent.” This is the result of the talk, which lasted for three quarters of an hour.

-They are days of depression. Are you still thinking of being president seeing how Barça is?

-Yes, and more motivated than ever. I think that the sports field needs a reinforcement from someone who knows well what decisions have to be made to return to the origins. And that is very important.

-And that happens for Koeman?

-Until the end of the season, for sure. I think that the matches are not won or the coaches lose. But not only the players. Soccer is a choral game in every sense that the coach includes. And from here, the coach is the one who must move the pieces when he touches. But I think Koeman has been around for a short time. It has things that I like. He is brave with young people, no one can deny that to him. And every second of Barça's future has to go through being brave with young people. We all have a coach inside of us and you can argue with this player or this other, but what I have clear is that the philosophy of the Barça game must be what it had been again.

– Linked to a Barça-type game system, 4-3-3?

-No. The Barça model is based on organizing around the ball. Because an outline is a drawing. Then, beyond the center of the field, the players are on the move. If the players believe Koeman and participate, especially those of the house, I am optimistic.

-Do you think there has come a time when Messi could be toxic for the team?

-I don't believe in toxic players. The issue is how the players adapt to the group and the group to a player like Messi. The roles of the players change. Messi has to adopt another role, which is not that of the first ten years. And that is a task that corresponds to the coach, to the teammates and, mainly, to Messi. They ask me about Leo Messi and I always say: the first thing to ask is Messi. Ask him if he wants to continue playing for the best club in the world, which is Barça. Let's see what he answers and, if on the 24th I am president, explain to him what his role should be in the last years of his sports career.

-And the problem for Messi to continue is sports or is it economic?

-It's sporty, absolutely. I've said it from day one. The economy is a consequence of sports decisions, you cannot mark them.

– And have you marked them in the previous board of directors to which you belonged?

-I will answer, but not with strict knowledge of the facts because it was not my task. But Barça cannot afford to spend 400 million euros on signings and not have practically absolute certainty that there will be a high and almost immediate performance from that footballer. Sometimes there are misfortunes in the form of injuries like Dembélé. But Barça must be clear that when a star signs that, if it is not due to injury, a player has to give the highest level. And you also have to know that they will adapt to the Barça model.

-Do you think it would be good for the club if Messi decided quickly? It is not the same to plan a Barça 2021-22 with Messi or without Messi.

-The one who has to make a decision is him. From there, the sporting conditions will be marked, which are the main ones, their role in the team. Let him decide sooner or later …, I'm one of those who think that a player should adapt to the group and not the other way around. Therefore, sports planning is not done with Messi or without Messi. You can ask yourself that it will have a different nuance if Messi is there, but it does not differ too much in the sports project. I like to promote the collectivity versus individuality. The weight of Barça's game has always been based on the community.

-What part of responsibility does the government work of the previous board have in this situation of Barça?

-Responsibilities are always shared. It is true that the renewal of this team has been done late. I have been saying for a long time that I would rather lose a good year for a player at the end of his career than have him for three years without performing at the highest level. You have to be brave.

What percentage then gives the Bartomeu board of directors guilty?

-It's hard. say it The directive was late with the regeneration of a team that was getting old. And he was not brave because he did not make decisions that could be unpopular.

-To what extent has Neymar's departure changed to Barça? He lost joy, results and spent the money on two players who have not performed.

-Neymar's departure affected the club in the sense that the regeneration that had been thought began with Neymar, who should be Messi's natural replacement. And that you leave in the middle of the project generates a shock that, at that moment, confused. The fact of having a world star who could decide matches was confused to thinking that a single player could win matches. We lost sight of the added value of the community. And that's when sports policy began to go wrong. Trying to search for trading cards to find a substitute. And a team never find substitutes but other players who can contribute different things to a gear. And that was the mistake.

-But there are those who say that bringing Neymar back would be a return to the previous thing. Would you bring it back?

-I would not bring Neymar. But from what I say. The plus of Barça at the moment must be the collective game, formed by names of the house. I would like to remember that the Dream Team was fitting pieces of players who might not have been signed as stars. But they did it very well. You have to go back to that. You have to forget about the big figures, but see how the figures fit together.

-The Barça is in an economic and sporting depression. Are you afraid that Barça will live a journey through the desert like those of United or Milan?

-No, because neither Milan nor United have the quarry that Barça has. And that quarry has not stopped generating.

-But he doesn't take out players almost from Sergi Roberto to Ansu.

– Another thing is that in the last step there has been an erratic sports policy and it has not been the forceful thing that was needed with the people of the house. That will no longer happen. Regenerations do not have to be associated with droughts. Barça is going to compete again. We come from years where we have been extremely superior. But maintaining that in eternum (sic) is impossible. But that does not mean stop being competitive. It's about that. Have the feeling of being able to compete until the end. Then, if you are superlative, you are superior to the rivals. But it's difficult. But I do not believe that regeneration is made with a crossing of the desert.

– The youth squad that is leaving must return?

-Depends on each circumstance. I don't want those with talent to ever leave. We renewed 95% of the 2004 generation, the Cadet A, which is where we had the leaks historically. And now they see that you can go up. We have the youngest Youth in history and the youngest Barça in history. Therefore, we have had cases of everything. What I do not understand is when the arguments for leaving are those of a sports project. Because if I doubt that there is a team that forms and offers a sports project like Barça.

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But in the Selection there are Adama, Dani Olmo, Cucurella … Was Barça wrong by letting them go?

-Cucurella would not have let him go, but the players choose according to what they see and, in the case of Cucurella, there was a coach in the first team who did not trust him. In the end, we in grassroots football have to put the players who are prepared at the service of the first team, then it is a decision of the coach. If there is something I want to be president of Barça, it is to consolidate this idea of ​​grassroots players reaching the first team. And one of the ideas I have is that the coach of the first team decides 80 percent of things, but there are 20% that must be decisions of the club.

-Has La Masia's methodology been respected at the club?

-It has been respected except for three years of crossing the desert. When we entered 2015, I was responsible until Cadet A. Joan Vilà and Paco Seirul·lo continued to command that area. But at Juvenil and Barça B, the technical manager was Pep Seguro, who believed that the players who could apply the football model should be different from those we believed. And that was the famous cadet breakout period. That was a period of crossing the desert and an internal fight began so that in those last two steps they would return to the fold. Right now, there is a methodological area led by Seirul·lo that is a guarantor so that players do not deviate in the formation of our model.

-How did you experience the motion of censure?

– The motions of censure are regulated in the statutes and I believe that it is a right of the partners. It is clear that there is discontent. Whether it is enough or not, whether it was the right time or not, that is something else.

– Was this movement of partners despised?

I personally do not make assumptions. But as a partner I would not have seconded it on a matter of timings. The elections had already been announced. In two months if a club collapses or rises.

– But the elections can be a click to a broken club and, the sooner, it seems that the better.

-The sooner the better in the situation you had to win three or four months … In that time you do not change the policy of a club. Another thing is that it will be a year and a half before the elections. You have to look further. The motion of censure was hasty, but I do not question the motivations and reasons. Because wear existed. But from there to wear and tear anticipates an election three or four months …

-For many people, the 20,000 signatures represent that Barça is more alive than ever. There would be another way of looking at it. It would define the permanent division of a club and a way to humiliate Bartomeu.

-I do not know the reasons for the motion of censure because I do not know those who signed the motion. But Barça is passion and love stories rarely end with a bouquet of flowers on the table. The partner is moved by passion and love. Analyze if there is division … Barça is a club that involves so many decisions in sporting and economic areas that it is impossible to please everyone. But this is a reflection of society. Neither the elections of any country are won with majorities of 90 percent and nobody asks if there is division in the countries, but different ways of thinking.

Are you afraid that the elections will turn into a circus? There are candidates who have already promised pizzas and tattoos.

-Listen to me. Presenting itself to the elections of the Barça is a very serious thing. You have to have enormous respect for your partners. It involves work, involvement, dedication. They choose us as partners that we are and that we can apply the value. The partner deserves respect, that he sees that there is content, that he works. Not that pizzas are given away.

Is it a circus then?

I believe that the media also have a role to play, of responsibility. But I think the partner will know how to discern and scratch a little. And you will know what is behind it. It is about involvement and generosity, but not in the form of tattoos or pizza. But at the time of dedicating time to it. That is the generosity that a Barça president should have.

-How do you think the partners see you? Because you have been part of that Board that has been overthrown by 'los de las pizzas'.

-I think people are being positively surprised. I think people were not very knowledgeable about the work I had done, about the history I have, about the bond that joins the club with me. And that it is not a link with a president but with the club. As a player, as a manager of Laporta, Rosell, Bartomeu. Xavi Vilajoana has dedicated himself to working and contributing his added value to the club. That a president comes from the world of sports, that he has been a player, is a value. And that complements that with training. One should look at the resumes of the candidates in the broadest sense. At the level of academic training, experiences …

– From what you say, the ideal president would be Piqué …

-After me and in second position, he would be a great president.

-Have you talked to a player, how do you think there are elections in the middle of a season and they are in the middle, exposed to being mentioned?

-Yes, he has spoken with someone and I have exchanged an opinion. It doesn't seem right or wrong to them. They know that these things happen and that these elections have played in the middle of the season. I don't think they are worried.

– Right now, how do you think the first team will end?

-I trust that he will end up fighting for LaLiga until the end. Even though it looks like I've gone crazy, I think it will be there. You have to observe how you play and how you compete and I think that none of the teams have such a great superiority so that they do not stumble. I think they will end up stumbling and that Barça will improve and fight. Europe is a coin in the air. If you think coldly of the Stamford Bridge game, we had 90 percent of going home because of how the game unfolded. And Barça ended up winning. And the luck and confidence factor also influences. Making a forecast in Europe is daring.

-Do we have to reinforce the team in January?

-I am skeptical about the winter market because this team is still under construction. At most, I would be in favor of converting a loan. Because really, if you check in in January you are plugging player holes that in two years may be up. And they have to see that they can be up.

-A Davids.

-For example. Those who come have to have special characteristics to

-Can the next president of Barça set the goal of being fourth in his first as Laporta did in 2003?

-I don't believe in the transition years. We have a team and a future to compete in everything. You will end up winning or not, but you have to compete for all the titles. Saying that the goal is to be fourth or first, you forget that. It is facing outward. These assertions neither give nor take away peace of mind. And that I have experienced in the first person. Not even with premiums. When a player enters to play, he only thinks about the ball, not about money. I have lived that in a changing room.

-And since he has lived in the locker room. How do you remove a trauma?

It doesn't go away overnight, I tell you. Clicks are very important. And the first should be when you get up from a slap, which is not exactly happening lately. The day a game comes back, that will start to change. But that, any psychologist will tell you, is not done in a day. Results are needed. And also how those results are produced.

-Do you get to this point in the electoral race thinking about knowing the terrain or do you think you already have the tools to be president?

-For me, one of the strengths I have is that I know the appropriate mechanisms and I am clear about what to do to reverse the situation. Internal knowledge, as I have, is important, but the president also has to make important and courageous decisions. And in my case and in that of my Board, we are 100% independent to make the best decisions for the club.

-And you don't have to endorse.

-Exact. In addition, I do not endorse and, depending on how, this issue worries me. I don't know how the other candidates have that capacity. Because if not, as a partner I would like to know that the decisions made by the next president will not be conditioned.

-Do you have any suspicions about those guarantees?

-It's not suspicion. It is an important question to ask the candidates. I can guarantee that I don't have to ask anyone for a euro or ask anyone for a favor. That question should be asked of the others. And that does not exempt me from the responsibilities of my management, but that I do not have to ask for a single euro for the guarantee is key.

-As a partner and as a pre-candidate, what do you think of a Chairman of the Manager making statements of all kinds when he should be a neutral character?

-Look. Me, managing as president or as a member of the manager, is not easy or complicated. He has responsibility and I always think that any manager makes the best decisions for the club. Assess whether you are doing it right or wrong … we will see if you are making good or bad decisions. But the situation is not good. Without a pandemic, Tusquets could have shortened the deadlines, but everything must be appreciated.

-How do you take it to say that there are suspicious invoices that you are not going to sign. Does any correspond to your plot?

-I have no idea. As far as I know, I left everything on track. I signed the renovations at the time and I do not take it for granted. If I am president, we will see who it refers to and what decisions have to be made.

What do you think of the strategy of Rousaud, who announced in his presentation the signing of Neymar and the new name of the Camp Nou-Leo Messi?

-It's their strategy. My strategy is not stickers or names. I like to put the tasks to work and then give it a name. If that name is also an icon of the club, perfect. And if not, the first thing is the competition. In the history of the club, we have had the experience of naming names that have not yet met the conditions to perform their duties well. My Board will not be about names. I have many former teammates who have played in my time and, surely, I am the president who could present the most names. But if you don't have the profile for a position, I'm not going to offer you the position or use it.