The German architect William T. Mannarelli has responded to information published by this newspaper on January 29 to clarify that when President Joan Laporta became president in 2021 and terminated his contract, "no alleged irregularity". According to Mannarelli, FC Barcelona recognized the "inadmissibility" of his dismissal by act dated May 10, 2021 and paid him the corresponding compensation.
Mannarelli, a German architect with 29 years of experience in the sector, moved from Berlin to Barcelona in July 2014 to work as project director for Espai Barça. In 2015 he also became director of assets of the blaugrana entity chaired at the time by former president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
His signing came after he had worked for nine years at the architecture firm Icon Venue Group where, among other projects, he managed all the phases that led to the completion of the Mercedes Arena in Berlin (formerly called O2 World Berlin), a sports facility and of entertainment inaugurated on September 10, 2008. The construction company BAM international was commissioned to project the aforementioned installation.
With a degree in Architecture from the Universities of Michigan and Princeton, Mannarelli's career began in another of the large companies specializing in sports venues, AEG, where he worked between 2002 and 2005. When he left Barcelona, Mannarelli settled for a year in Saudi Arabia hired by NEOM as executive director of The Line, the 170-kilometre-long sustainable city that is rising from the Tabuk mountains to the Red Sea, one of the driest areas on the planet.
