Joan Laporta takes stock in an extensive interview with barça tv an exact year after being elected president in the elections with 30,184 votes (54.28%) surpassing in the polls Victor Fontwith 16,679 (29.99%) and Toni Freixa, with 4,769 (8.58%). The Barca president until 2026 admits that he would have relieved before Ronald Koeman by Xavi Hernandez and acknowledges that the most painful moment was leaving Leo Messi in August.
THE FIRST YEAR OF MANDATE
“It has been a year in which many things have been done. It is one of the most dense years of my life. We have been living it very intensely. In some exciting things, others stressful, in others with anxiety, with the desire to do things well “.
DIFFERENCES WITH THE BEGINNING OF THE OTHER STAGE (2003)
“Very different. When you have the experience of getting it done, you become more demanding and you want to get it right as soon as possible and everything has its time.”
THE BEST OF A YEAR IN CHARGE
“What Xavi has done to change the mentality of the team and the players themselves, recovering our essence at a football level. I would stick with this and that we have managed to give the Catalans hope again”.
16 TITLES THIS YEAR (10 IN 2020-21 AND 6 IN 2021-22)
“The bottom line is that we want more. We have come so that Barça continues to win titles and bring joy back to Barcelona fans. We want more and the most important. We have done well in the sections. Basketball has led the titles that we like to win We didn’t win the Euroleague but we reached the Final Four and won the League and the Cup.
Who left was women’s football. They have done wonderfully. They can only be required to remain successful with the way they play and continue to be as they are with this naturalness and authenticity that they transmit and that makes women’s football consolidated”.
CHALLENGES IN MEN’S FOOTBALL
“In men’s football we want more. The Cup was magnificent in a difficult season that was not good. It kept us with an important title. “In futsal we are doing better. Last season was not so good and roller hockey is going well but football, which is after all FC Barcelona, we started not very well. I stay with the mentality that Xavi gave the team and the players, which made us hopeful because we see that there is surely a future and the immediate present can still give us joy. With the Europa League and La Liga, where it’s difficult, but we’re fighting.”
EXECUTIVE AREA WITH MATEU ALEMANY AND JORDI CRUYFF
“The decision is that we want to have people with proven experience and talent in the offices. Mateu Alemany is a person with proven experience, smart, lively, a good negotiator, who knows the world of football better. Jordi Cruyff has another profile of technical secretary , more sporting, more footballing. The combination of Mateu as sporting director and Jordi as technical secretary liaising with the coach is good. It is one of the things that I am most satisfied with, how they are working. Without sufficient resources and with a regulation that is not going in our favor, they have carried out great operations that have helped change Xavi’s mentality and make a more competitive team”.
A BETTER STAFF
“It was not easy. We had an oversized squad in many ways. They are applying criteria and rationality. The sports payroll was the highest in the world with figures that were not sustainable. With a lot of work and criteria, they have incorporated players without a transfer, who It’s easy, and incorporate salaries that should be kept within the margins that we want to maintain.
MESSI’S DEPARTURE
“It was painful. If I take stock, it is the saddest decision of all and I would never have wanted to make it, but I am not sorry either because I wanted to put the institution ahead of everything, even ahead of coaches and the best player in history. And we had to do it. Because the situation we inherited is what it was. And due to a lot of will and intentionality we had, we came across a reality. It might seem that there was nothing afterwards, but those of us who love Barça know that history continues and with work and well-thought-out decisions, we can continue on the path of success”.
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GOODBYE TO KOEMAN
“At the end of the season I already had doubts and so I let him know. He wanted to continue, we were in a certain economic and sporting context and out of respect for Koeman’s figure, we gave him an opportunity. In the end, time puts you times in your place and makes you see things that you didn’t see before. Out of respect for him and because he had won the Cup, we thought we could try it. But there came a time when I saw that we weren’t going well and that we had to make another painful decision. They have been enough but with the peace of mind that I have tried to take them respecting people and prioritizing the interests of the club”.
THE REPLACEMENT BY XAVI
“I would have done it before. It’s clear to me. I should have listened to my intuition but in life you can’t listen to intuitions. You have to take into account many situations. I’m sure no decision is perfect but I didn’t, I made another decision according to other circumstances. And in the end the decision was good because we have improved”.
THE LAST MANIFESTATIONS OF KOEMAN
“I was at Wembley in 1992. And I will never forget the goal in the 111th minute. I will always remember Koeman as the one who gave us the first European Cup, as a coach who had the courage to have young people in the team. It’s Ronald’s credit. If he’s hurt now, I hope it goes away and that’s it.”
XAVI, COACH OF BARÇA
“I was sure that one day I would be the coach and hopefully I would be the president. Xavi is responding with flying colors, magnificently well. He knows the club, he loves it, he respects decisions, he has personality so as not to be influenced, he is very clear about how we should play and he is a worker. He is sick of football and that makes him live with what Barça is and everything that surrounds the team. I am very satisfied to have a coach like him, for many years. I am convinced that he will give us many joys”.
THE GOOD TRAJECTORY OF THE TEAM
“I am enjoying it. The merit is the change in mentality that makes us play better, have more chances and score goals, which is what we lacked. Play with the system that has made us the reference. We are not yet at the highest level and Xavi knows that we have to raise our level to be at the top. We have to be satisfied because the team is responding. We want to see Barça again to have a good time. Against Athletic, the crowd sang and I want that joy to stay”.
A TEAM WITH YOUNG PEOPLE
“We are building a stage that I hope will be splendid and we are doing it with people from home who already have a present and a better future. The ambition is this: to make a team that will last for many years, that plays very well, scores many goals and wins many titles , and that the people are happy. Seeing Pedri, Ansu and all of them with players with some experience but also youngsters who haven’t made it at home but have also come a long way makes us hopeful”.
GAVI AND ARAUJO RENEWALS
“In these renewals, the player has a lot to say. We have returned to football and economic criteria. That is why I am very grateful to those who have been renewing because they understand and value what Barça is. That is what I ask the players If they want to stay at Barça, they will stay. In addition to the sporting journey, which will surely be very good, they know that they will be recognized and valued professionally with a good contract. I hope it is the same case with Gavi and Araujo as with Pedri, Ansu Fati and Nico. I hope we can reach a satisfactory agreement for both parties but I insist that the first thing is Barça”.
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