MADRID, 12 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, has shown himself convinced that they have a “better team than Real Madrid” for next season, and has confirmed that they had reached an agreement of “17.5 million euros” with Fenerbahçe for the signing of the Turkish Arda Güler before the white club appeared and that they had the ‘OK’ from LaLiga to incorporate Leo Messi, who finally opted for Inter Miami.
“We have a better team than Madrid and, individually, we are also better with some difference than our rivals. As a member and a fan I am very satisfied with the team we are building,” he said in an interview with the sports newspaper Sport.
In addition, he assured that they already have “a very competitive team.” “We have won the Spanish LaLiga and we can continue exercising dominance in this competition. I am focused on making a good team over signing individuals. We have signed Gundogan and Iñigo Martínez and they will give us a great performance like the others that are going to come”, stressed.
In this sense, he stated that they are “clear about the coach’s requests”. “Perhaps a winger is missing and something in midfield, and we will try to satisfy him. The team has won important titles again and we are ambitious for the future. They are working well and the coach is also doing well. We all want to experience many more happiness in the coming years,” he said.
In a different order of things, the Barça chief confirmed that they were close to bringing Leo Messi back. “We had the go-ahead from LaLiga and in the feasibility plan there was a space for Messi. His father told me the final decision saying that he is going to Inter Miami and he explained the reasons: Leo had been under a lot of pressure at PSG and I needed to have a calmer year. We understand it, we accept it and we respect it,” he said.
Thus, he insisted that the club was financially prepared to sign him. “There was the possibility of signing him this year, not in the past. Because now the club is better and LaLiga gave us ‘Fair Play’. We had to thank Leo who was willing to reduce part of his salary to enter the salary limit we have but in the end it didn’t happen,” he said.
On the departure of the Argentine from the club, he acknowledged that it was “the hardest and most difficult moment” in the presidency. “I have peace of mind that I had to do it. I had to put the institution above players even if it was the best player in the world. It was not sustainable for the club at that time and it is the saddest decision I have made,” he said.
He also confirmed that they had reached an agreement of “17.5 million euros” with Fenerbahçe for the signing of the Turkish Arda Güler, but that Real Madrid got in the way. “Madrid has entered and has considered that they had to pay the amounts they have paid. We thought that we should not enter, because there are more players that I think we can get,” he declared.
“We have to apply common sense and we think that we should move away from this operation, due to the magnitude that it was taking place,” he added, assuring that the arrival of Vitor Roque is conditioned “to the feasibility plan.”