Jan Laporta returns to the race for the presidency of Barcelona with a more leisurely, conciliatory tone, without passing bills and seeking the unity of Barcelona through the return of “joy” as he explained in the act of presentation of his candidacy under the slogan ” Estimem al Barça ”(we want Barça) that he made in the Modernist Campus of the Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona. And in this regard, Laporta was optimistic about Messi's continuity.
“Messi loves Barcelona and we personally respect and love each other, but I haven't talked to him about his continuity yet. I'm sure it will give Barça a chance. I'll talk to him when he plays and I know he'll give us room. Sure you must have offers, but you have always had them. Moratti came to sign him in 2006 and he offered me 250 million euros. I refused and he said no. And there I saw how he loved Barça. He has never been guided by money. There will be time to talk. With a good proposal, I would choose Barça. He knows us and knows that I have never cheated him and how I treat the players. I will present a project to him and he is the first to understand the economic situation of Barcelona ”, he assured.
Within this project, Laporta's idea is that of “we will work to dominate the Champions League again, which should be the goal of each season. Our relationship with the Champions League is one of successes in this century and has been fatally broken in recent seasons ”.
Laporta stated that the reasons for his return is that “I want to serve Barça again because I love him and I think I have the determination to make the changes that the club needs. We have a plan to return Barça to the forefront of the media and football. And the plan is to work. We cannot get carried away by inertia. I want Barça to be admired again and for joy to return. This is the most important challenge of my life. If they choose me, we will do it again and we will do it even better, with a humble attitude, generosity and courage ”.
Laporta did not want to talk about signings “because it would be disrespectful to the excellent players we have” and threw a cape at Koeman, who he said “deserves respect, he is a Barça great and deserves a margin that is his contract” .
Laporta is aware of the economic situation of the club, but in his conciliatory style he said that “I do not plan to file a liability action. I won't look in the rear view mirror. I have suffered from this situation and that is why I do not wish it on anyone. Judicializing the club would lead nowhere. There will be losses that we have not generated and that we will have to manage. I'm not going to hurt. I'm not like that”.
He added that “we have studied within our possibilities the economic situation of the economy and it is dramatic, but we will reverse it. We will take the suitcase and go out to sell. We have a detailed crash plan. When we win again the economy will return to its course and it will be then when we will have to act so that the income is not squandered again as it has historically happened. We will enter less than budgeted, new income can be generated in the digital world, with Barça Corporate, Espai Barça or new competitions that can bring more income.In a couple of years we could return to the pre-COVID level, but not everything is fault of COVID.
Laporta re-divided Cruyff's legacy: “he taught us to love each other as a club and made a cultural and sports revolution. Thanks to him we made our words as title and champions and we left behind the fear of winning. Cruyff made us winners and taught us a taste for good football ”.
His message of unity was absolutely conciliatory and far from seeking controversy: “I want to unite all of Barcelona without looking back and without reproaches. We are universal without giving up being a Catalan football club. Respecting everyone's way of thinking. Everyone fits here and when I say everyone is everyone. This has to be an engine of optimism ”.
However, he ruled out agreements with other candidates, saying that “when you present a candidacy, the agreements are already very difficult to make. We will continue on our way because things are defined and it is the partners who will have to choose between various projects ”.
He did it in a big way, in the Domènech i Montaner Pavilion of the Modernista Campus of the Hospital de Sant Pau, a UNESCO world heritage site “a reference space in the city of Barcelona that combines tradition and modernity and because I want it to serve as a tribute to the staff health and Barça members who are victims of this pandemic and because on these grounds Barça had its second playing field, that of the Casanova hotel ”.
The event was sponsored by the Primavera Sound musical events company, which supports Laporta's candidacy and which donated 25,000 euros to the TV3 Marathon.