2023, a dizzying year for Xavi and Laporta

The year 2023 rears its head and is presumed to be one of the most complex in the recent history of FC Barcelona.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
06 January 2023 Friday 21:30
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2023, a dizzying year for Xavi and Laporta

The year 2023 rears its head and is presumed to be one of the most complex in the recent history of FC Barcelona. Xavi Hernández's first football team is forced to win titles after leaving behind a blank season, while on a social, economic and institutional level the Barça ship moves to the Montjuïc mountain in summer to not return until the month of November 2024. The challenges are enormous.

Objective, win the League

The pressure is put on by Xavi himself every time he is asked about the issue. He arrived to replace Koeman in the middle of the course as an emergency remedy, but the project stopped being inherited to become his this season, with all the requests practically matched. The coach, after the premature and disappointing elimination from the Champions League, prioritizes the League as the title that would give him part of the lost mattress. "The League would give us stability, I give it priority," he said in a recent interview for the club's official media. “If we win it, it would be a good season,” he remarked. Although he has the social masses on his side, a factor that is verified in a Camp Nou full and not very rebellious, the team's football evolution continues to slow down excessively due to an irregularity that is sometimes exasperating, personified by Dembélé. It is difficult for Barça to chain round matches despite the millionaire investment injected in summer. Xavi's objective is to provide the team with greater reliability, raising the level of play with each game. Xavi, with a friendly and positive face on the outside, suffers his profession behind the scenes. He wants to succeed at Barça, the club of his life, and he thinks a thousand times every day to achieve it.

the move

Although other alternatives were considered, Joan Laporta finally decided that Montjuïc was offered as the best option as a second home while the remodeling works on the new Camp Nou lasted, an essential part of the plan called Espai Barça. The president, who continues to act as CEO by sine die postponing the appointment of that essential but vacant position, assumes economic risks with the decision. According to his own statements on Cadena Ser, the move, which will run from the summer of 2023 to November 2024, will mean stopping the entry of some 130 million euros, an impact that he will try to cushion by generating income by taking advantage of the space offered by the surroundings of the stadium Montjuïc on match days.

The adaptation of the stadium to the needs of FC Barcelona amounts to 20 million euros and with the change of scenery some 45,000 seats will be lost, going from 95,000 at the Camp Nou to 50,000 at the magic mountain. The relocation of partners will also require a left hand, although subscribers will be offered the possibility of taking a leave of absence as has already happened in times of pandemic. Will Leo Messi serve as a claim to encourage travel to Montjuïc? Laporta, the president with whom the Argentine left in tears, insisted in his day for his return, but today the maneuver is little less than a chimera.

The economy

Joan Laporta, who in March will celebrate the two years of his second term, resorted to the so-called financial levers (sale or rental of long-term own assets) to generate profits after negative years, but ordinary losses persist and exceed 100 million. The solution, while waiting to activate another lever (the sale of 49 percent of Barça Licensing