“We have received some offers for Frenkie de Jong, but we are not accepting them at the moment”
“Barça was about to disappear; now we are in a financial position to face all the challenges”
BARCELONA, July 24. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –
The president of FC Barcelona acknowledged that he feels indebted to the Argentine striker Leo Messi, who left the Barça team last season, so he wishes that his chapter in the ‘culé’ team “still” has not ended.
“I feel indebted to Messi. I wish that the chapter has not yet ended at Barça and it is our responsibility to ensure that it remains open and has a much more splendid ending than it was,” Laporta said in an interview with ESPN FC collected by Europe Press.
The head of the Catalan entity highlighted the Argentine as the “possibly best player” in the history of FC Barcelona, ”the most efficient” and “only comparable” to Johan Cruyff. Regarding his departure, Laporta regretted that it occurred due to the legacy he received from the previous board of directors.
“It had to happen one day, we had to make a decision as a result of the legacy we had received, the institution is above players and coaches. As president of Barça, I think I did what I had to do, but on a personal level and also As president, I think I owe him a debt,” he said.
Now, the Barça team has managed to clean up the club’s economy by activating economic levers, obtaining nearly 650 million euros with the sale of 25 percent of the television rights to ‘Sixth Street’ for 25 years.
“The club is better because we have returned 100 million credits and it is healthy again, but we have to work to get more income and not come from the sale of assets.” A strategy that has avoided major evils for the ‘culé’ institution.
“Barça was about to disappear and we had to manage the chaos with great skill. Now we have not only overcome this phase, we are once again in a financial position to face all the challenges that arise,” added Laporta.
However, despite the arrival of great players in the transfer market, such as Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Kessié or Christensen, the club is still pending the future of the Dutch player Frenkie de Jong, who could leave in the coming weeks.
“He is our player, we like him a lot. We received some offers for Frenkie, but we are not accepting them at the moment, we want to talk to him and find out exactly what he wants. We need to clarify some aspects of his situation,” he added.
Asked about the work done to date with the arrival of the new reinforcements, Laporta described the market as remarkably high. “We are working very well. It would be outstanding, but it is notable because there are players who have to leave. We have done a good job, but now the coach does not have some players and we have to find a way out. We are on the way to being excellent” , said.
“Barca continues to have a power of attraction. I am very grateful to these players who have prioritized Barça over any other club and offered higher offers than ours. We have had to use these arguments to compete with state clubs that paid much more than us for players that we have incorporated,” he said.
THE SUPERLIGA AND THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE STATE CLUBS
Along these lines, laporta highlighted the need for the Super League to fight against teams that have a way of proceeding “based on money”, something that “they have to fight”, as the Barça team already does, together with Real Madrid and the Juventus of Turin, the only survivors of the project.
“The clubs have reached a point where we have to set rules that allow us to compete with the state clubs, that the resources do not come from the football industry and make them unsustainable. Teams with history, such as Juventus, Madrid and Barça , we are threatened by these clubs that go to the check book and distort the market,” he said.
“We are open to dialogue, the clubs will have our decision-making power because we are the ones who bear the burdens of what European football is. There it can be the most attractive competition in the world if we do it well because the law protects us,” he finished on the Super League.
Finally, the top ‘culé’ president highlighted the pre-season match against Real Madrid in Las Vegas -which FC Barcelona won 0-1-. An “important” meeting that goes beyond a simple preparation match. “The matches between the two teams are the greatest show in the world and obviously generate attraction,” he said.