The 2021-2022 season is about to end. With second place assured, Xavi Hernández's team only has one inconsequential game left against Villarreal on Sunday (10pm). It is time to put notes and decide the steps to follow. “I give the team a fair approval, scraped. But we want more. Although I think that with Xavi positive things have been seen”, said the president Joan Laporta in an interview to the Tot Costa program of Catalunya Ràdio.
The maximum president justified his evaluation in that “Xavi arrived in the month of November with the ninth team and we finished second. I said that losing has consequences and it has. I have changed the coach (Koeman). Last year we lost a League that depended on us and this year the circumstances were very different. I think that the injuries to Pedri and Piqué have affected us because the team is not yet consolidated but we have had very good games like the 0-4 at the Bernabeu”, he said.
And from now? “You have to let the professionals work. The priority is to clean up the club's economy. I hope to be able to say very soon that we have achieved it. If this is the case, all the market operations that we are contemplating will be able to be faced, ”said the president when asked about transfers and, specifically, about Robert Lewandowski, Bayern's scorer, who will turn 34 in August.
The economic situation will also mark the way for the sports management to determine the future of players highly valued by the market, such as Frenkie de Jong. "Our plan does not involve the sale of a player for an economic issue. If we manage to activate the levers, the criteria for the sale of players will be sports”, Laporta clarified.
Regarding the renewal folder, the president revealed that the club has already presented a definitive offer to Ousmane Dembélé. “I see him happy. We all like him a lot, but he has his agents. We have presented an offer making an economic effort. We know that you have more succulent economic proposals than ours. They have taken a margin to respond to us at the end of the season. If it cannot be, then we will look for an alternative”, warned the president. As this newspaper learned, Barcelona and the Frenchman's agents will meet next week after the last league game.
The case of Dani Alves is also yet to be defined. "He came adapting to the club's complicated situation. I know he has the illusion of playing in the World Cup. We'll see what happens," he pointed out, dropping that the 39-year-old Brazilian winger could extend his contract for another six months, until December.
On the stars of the market, the president threw a dart at Mbappé and Haaland, although he did not mention the Norwegian. “Mbappé is asking for 50 million net, because he is at a higher top level. But then neither he nor the other win Champions ”, he recalled. According to the president, even with a solvent economy, he would embark on an operation of such magnitude. For another reason too. "It would be a comparative offense with young players who are called"
Regarding the levers that the club wants to activate before June 30, Laporta announced that there are two possible options, separately or combined. One is the sale of 10% of the television rights. “The operation with CVC guarantees us to have more fair play. Not because Tebas told me, but because the offer is like that, "he explained, before assuring that he is not the only one. The other way of income is to get rid of up to 49% of BLM and for this the approval of the assembly will be needed.
Regarding the structure of the club, Laporta pointed out that after the departure of Ferran Reverter, he has served as general manager. "We run everything as a family business, but when we have solved all the problems we will consider signing another general manager," he said.
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