Anniversaries are days of celebration, of commemorating, of remembering successes and making plans for the future. But the same day that it was two years since he won the elections for the presidency of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta became serious and blunt to clarify the case of the Barcelona club's payments to Enríquez Negreira when he was the vice-president of the referees. "Let it be clear, Barça has never bought referees and has never had the intention of influencing the referees." This is how forceful the president of FC Barcelona has shown when referring to the Negreira case during a colloquium at the Círculo Ecuestre. The president assured that the club had scheduled a press conference to discuss this matter today, but that it was finally postponed so that he could attend the luncheon-discussion.
The leader is calm with the possible legal repercussions of the matter for the club. "I am convinced that Barça will not be harmed by the Prosecutor's investigation," he said. "I don't know the vice president of the CTA," he pointed out.
Of course, Laporta did not miss the opportunity to denounce a campaign behind so much information against the reputation of his person and the entity. “There is a campaign to harm the interests of the club. The campaign is aimed above all at controlling the club, ”he explained. On who may be pulling the strings, the president pointed out: "I see interests from LaLiga and CVC in wanting to influence Barça."
In this sense, the leader focused his criticism on the president of the club association, Javier Tebas. "I don't understand why he lets confidential comments go, sometimes he has gone too far and with his actions in the past, he shows a certain obsession with Barça", he insisted in some statements that he had already made. "I hope the relationship improves," he wished. Because it is putting obstacles to the recovery of the club”.
But Laporta not only wanted to look at the tricky issues but also referred to the good dynamics of the first team in the League, a solid leader with 14 games to go. “This year we have it quite good. A good job has been done. The will is to maintain the advantage of 9 points until the match against Madrid at the Camp Nou. La Liga is the priority and it already was at the beginning of the season”.
One of the architects is Xavi Hernández and Laporta, who in his day resisted giving him command while reluctantly trusting Koeman, is already talking about extending the contract of the Egarense coach on the bench beyond 2024 that they signed in October 2021. “I have already considered renewing Xavi, even if we don't win the League. I've already thought about it. He risked it to come, he knows the house, defends the Barça style and is a man who does not make you stretch your arm more than your sleeve, he does not ask us for crazy things. He is a grateful coach and he is doing very well ”. Although he acknowledged that he has not yet discussed it with the rest of the club's Board.
The president also revealed that there will be a renewal offer for captain Sergio Busquets, who has four months left, which will be to continue one more season. “First I want to know what he wants to do. Xavi wants him to continue and he is thinking about it. He would like to finish his race by winning. He has important offers from abroad. As a family man, it is understood that he is valuing them. The offer from the club will arrive soon for him to continue for another year ”. In addition, he confirmed that the club has Ansu Fati, will recover Abde and Nico González and will look for a winger and a striker in the summer market.
Laporta could not avoid entering the football debate that has been opened after the 0-1 at the Bernabéu. “I am a defender of how but without taking everything to extremes. There are times when you have to take into account what, which is winning. I like to win 6-5 but I'm enjoying the defense we have. Since Alves, Puyol, Piqué and Abidal or further away Rifé, Torres, Gallego, Eladio we have not had a defense like this. Without injuries, we would still be in the Champions League, ”he predicted.
Two years have passed since his victory at the polls and no one can forget that during this second spell in Laporta's box, Leo Messi left Barcelona. “I would have liked it to continue but I didn't know how to do it. I had to put the interests of the club ahead, ”he reiterated. Recently, the president met with Jorge Messi. “We met with Messi's father. I congratulated him on the World Cup in Argentina and we talked about the tribute to Leo. But I don't want to talk about Messi anymore out of respect for the player and because he is a PSG player. Leo's is not about money. We are talking about a tribute." In Paris, at The Best gala there were no contacts, only "looks".
To finish, the leader wanted to calm down with the Espai Barça, the financing and guarantees of Goldman Sachs and the choice of the construction company Limak for the works. “We will be out of the Camp Nou for a year for the first time. It will be hard. We will stop entering 93 million. But when you have works at home you always have to make an effort. We are ten years late, ”he assured, while stressing that the economic recovery is on the right track. “They suffocate us financially to lead us to become a Public Limited Company. But we don't want to be SAD. This is the challenge that most motivates me as president. We are clear that the ownership of the club belongs to the members and the members”.
