Lluís Carreras: “Carpet for Guardiola to return to Barça”

Lluís Carreras Ferrer (24-9-1972, Sant Pol de Mar) will be Barça's football director if Toni Freixa is president of the Barça club on March 7. Carreras believes that the club has moved away from the model, considers that Pedri should be a “franchise player”

-Do the latest results make it more difficult for Koeman?

-We performed on December 22 of last year. That day we already said that we had spoken with Ronald and that we had told him that we were evaluating him to see if he was worthy of continuity. Regardless of the results, we wanted to evaluate how he acted on the field, in the press rooms, if he had people from the quarry … And he said perfect, that he wanted to be worthy of continuity. But it is not a question of evaluating it just because, but because it is our job.

-That means they have coaches in the bedroom …

-Always have to be. We have spoken with other coaches who may be capable of training Barça.

-But you've been a coach. How can that sit with Koeman?

-When I started I saw it as fatal, that coaches came to see games where I trained. But over time, you talked to presidents who explained that they had to be prepared and meet the coaches who could sign in if they saw themselves in that position. They couldn't look for just anyone. If you explain it, they have to understand it.

-But isn't it a contradiction for Freixa to say that his coach is Koeman, with which to do this?

-It is not compatible. And Toni has also participated in those conversations with other coaches. And now it is true that the best is Koeman. And that taking into account several conditions, which is that the squad is not what Messi or other players would like to have.

-If Koeman had not been training Barça, would it have been one of the coaches with whom you would have spoken?

-Surely yes. It would fit within the coach parameters that we want for Barça. He knows the model, he has exported it to other teams … It is important that he has been at home because he knows how the environment works, the press, the player … At the Barça we love, we believe in ourselves and we are a different club, it is a factor that unbalances the balance.

-Did you like it to be seen that Koeman has feedback from people at the club?

-It comes from Johan, it has been one of his students.

-Do you look more like Johan in the press rooms than in the field?

-Yes, it looks a lot like it. It's very Johan. The language conditions him and he is also very direct. He is Johan in many ways. Let those who deserve it play, let those who train well play. Let him put the young people like Johan did.

-Why did they say no to Eric García, no more money can be lost due to lack of power plants and that this mortgages sports results that give income?

-No, I don't think that Barça passes or does not pass because Araújo plays or not. I would do that approach if Messi is missing. Eric is a player who left Barça, who went to a great club with the best coach in the world and who himself said half a year ago that he wanted to return. So that's done. Barça wants it, we all agree, but it wants it with nuances. When you come free. You cannot show up in the dressing room and say that Eric García is coming when you have asked the dressing room to lower the salary. Or the club workers. And Eric García who does not assure you that you win anything.

-In other words, the management has been correct.

-Yes. I don't think it was a problem to secure it or not because Eric has already said. That said, Eric will come in better than he would have been if he had been here. More done. Whenever there has been an emergency, Barça has gone out and done it badly and hastily. The values ​​as a club that we have to impose are those.

-A bit like Piqué when he came from United?

-Can be. With a conditioner. Eric has had the best coach possible, the best in the world. He went to City and can now even start at the European Championship.

-Does the coach of Barça B have to be the coach of the first team?

-Should be. The methodological aspect of the club in terms of design should include training from the base coaches. García Pimienta has knowledge and has followed these coordinates. What has been missing? Courage. Be Pimienta, be Xavi …, you should tend to that.

-For example, from his time: Would Quique Costas have been a first team coach?

-Yes.

-But sometimes there are coaches who work better only at the base.

-We know that García Pimienta wants to coach the first team. I think Quique Costas did not want to go to Celta to First. But I think that is not enough. That a coach of the Barça base must aspire to the first team. Coaches must let the structures help.

-And how can it be then that Joan Vilà, Paco Seiru · lo and Albert Benaiges paint less and less?

-Because we have departed from the model. The sports area decided to go the other way and looked at how Liverpool and Bayern are winning. But it is that we are not like that. We are Barça. And when we have strayed from the idea we have not won. We have won playing our thing. But playing something else, we have not won.

-He speaks with great admiration of Guardiola. Do you think you would have any option to be a coach again?

-I don't think it's something we should convince him of. Not Toni Freixa, or Joan Laporta or Víctor Font. The day he gets up and says: “I want to see the sun” and come to Barcelona again, the door should be opened wide for him and the carpet put on.

-Would it be your dream as Barça football director?

-Of course. The return of Pep to the club would help in many things considering that he has a long journey as a coach. In a club with the idiosyncrasy of Barça, that figure of general manager who trains, signs, puts the doctor …, no. The Barça coach must train and manage.

-And who signs?

-Sports director file. Our idea of ​​putting a soccer director, which is a new nomenclature, is for that person, that is me, to decide who are the people who sign so that it is not the president. Because with what criteria does a president sign?

-For Pedri there are many godparents but for Matheus, none.

-That. Who will sign? The football director, Lluís Carreras. I will see that the sports director has knowledge of the club. Who will present the plan? The sports director. Who will be in the kitchen? Because all the dishes cannot be made by the owner of the restaurant …

-But that organization chart has already existed. Pep Segura was area manager and Robert was technical secretary.

-Voucher. And now I explain how it has worked. The club's recruitment director, who is the one who analyzes all the players likely to sign for Barça, has a pool of players with certain characteristics. What happened? That has been given to the general direction and has not chosen well. If you present several interiors: Mikel Merino, Canales, Odegaard, Marco Asensio. What you can't do is then sign Casemiro, with all due respect. And that is what has happened and cannot happen.

But that chain can be broken if, say, Koeman says: “I've been training Wijnaldum for 15 years and he's the one I want.” As happened with Rijkaard with Davids.

-It is the only nuance in which the coach must pass in front of the club. Why? Because he knows it, because he has had it, because he knows. And he will know if he takes care of himself, if not. If when he doesn't play five games he makes a dog face and helps the team or not. He will tell you things that he does not know. You have to spin very fine.

-But then what is the limit. Because if Koeman wins two titles, he can ask for three players instead of one.

-Well, we will go to methodology. And if you don't meet the parameters, we'll tell you. They have played very well anywhere but it will be difficult. If methodology says yes, and recruitment is also a plus. A coach can only decide whether he has had it or not. It's like the quarry. What good is it that we fill our mouths with the quarry if we do not give them a ball later.

-What if a player passes all the screens and reaches the first team but the coach does not put it on?

-When we look for a coach, we will have to explain who we are. And if that happens, rarely the coach will not be with that idea. We have to prepare the players at the base. When you have a strong build, a trainer, even if he has trainer attacks, will not have permanent madness attacks. You will go for a Xavi, an Arteta …

-Barça decided, for example, that players like Adama or Carles Pérez leave after investing in them for so long.

-And who decided that they should leave? White and bottled. The problem is that those who have sent have not believed in the model. And those above have not been ashamed. And that should not be so. Barça has a model that has to be improved and updated. If we want to play something else, we will not be on the right track.

-It is difficult to quantify, but how many people from the quarry would like to be in the first team.

-The more the merrier, but it cannot be quantified. Currently there may be 70 percent. For example, De Jong is not from the academy but he has trained better in recent years at Ajax than here. I'm talking about Ajax, not about PSG or Bayern. You can consider that type of player as yours and it can help you to ensure that 70% of the players are of our idea.

Who did you sign up for?

The man who bears the name of the Barça residence. Oriol Tort. The truth is that he scored three goals every game … And he was a center forward. And suddenly, Johan and Bruins Slot went on a light bulb and they put me on the left side. And that's how I played in Oviedo and in Racing, as a winger. And I came back. And then I was a lateral all my life. When you walk out the Barça door you say: I'm missing something. But I played for Mallorca, Atlético de Madrid …

Do you see yourself as a person like Oriol Tort or Martínez Visaseca, guys with a unique intuition; or more like a data handler?

I am a coach and I want to continue being a coach. I look at what the club needs as a coach. And I have the pleasure to know which people have to lead the areas. An Oriol Tort, a Seirul lo …

More Oriol Tort and less excels and Masia 360?

They are needed, yes. Anyone who goes to see a Lloret-Sant Pol in which a talent can be discovered must be put on the Barça glasses. You can not put those of football in general.

Where do you see Pedri in the future of Barça?

I think it will mark an era with Ansu. The post-Messi era, without wanting to put more pressure on them, which they already bear normally, they will mark. It has to be that franchise player, that Iniesta. He started even stronger than Iniesta. I see it as an interior. You have to connect the ball exit with the completion.

Well, Pedri's contract needs to be improved next year. And Ansu's. What is priority?

Ansu or Pedri? Both. It has to be built on the two and Messi.

Would you renew Dembélé?

The time will come when Dembélé will ask to renew and continue. I see it at ease. Koeman is working on it well and it is not that he is seen by a leader, but more in contact with his teammates and with what the team asks for. I think it will ask to renew.

-Dembélé has spent three years in which Barça has paid a salary to an injured footballer. Does a player have the solidarity to look at that?

-Depends on the player. I only know one player who has left forgiving money and his name is Don Carles Puyol.

Font's candidacy insists that players who end their contract must be signed. Is it what you think or will politics be different?

That is the consequence. If you go to the market preparing a list of players who have just signed, it is a mistake. If you look first that is a mistake. First you have to see if, methodologically, he is capable of playing for Barça. The first point is if it enters the model, another if it is necessary. And the last one is the economic one. Because if you go to a list of players who have just signed, you will cheat and they will let you influence. And that has been another of the errors. If it ends against.

Will you continue to promote women's football?

Girls play the same or better than us. The methodology director will be the same and the organization chart the same. In the feminine you have to play as little as possible because it is working well. With a good base, we have to try to sign differential players.

Penultimate. Messi yes or yes at any price?

Messi is not a question of price. If Messi wants to continue or leave, it will not be for money. And I think it will continue. I know that it is very difficult to leave any club, also from Barça. You don't know what you will find. And I think he's feeling that he can help. To talk about Messi you have to get up and bow to him. Where will it be better than here? I don't think it decides based on who comes out.

Does it seem normal to you that the favorite candidate has not announced a sports director; Would you work with a future president other than Freixa?

Everyone does what he wants. I go with Toni because he has called me but I would do the same with anyone else because I am very clear about what to do. I do it for the club, but the one who called me was Toni.