A pity, a sin? Accompanies Joan Laporta around the world. Despite the euphoria over the signings, a display of power, a shadow is cast over him. "Messi's stage at Barça did not end as we all wanted. It ended up being very conditioned for economic reasons and we have a moral debt. In that sense, we would like the end of his career to be with the Barça shirt and applauded by the fields to which he goes, ”confessed the culé president in the Big Apple. He said it in one of the social events of the United States tour that concludes this Saturday against New York Red Bull, based in New Jersey.
“It is an aspiration as president and I would like it to happen. I feel co-responsible for that ending, which I hope will be provisional because I think we will achieve that aspiration, ”he clarified. Without evoking any roast for which to settle the matter since it brings him bad luck.
Laporta was in his sauce, in the center of the universe. Dressed all in black – he would have made a statement in a film by New Yorker Martin Scorsese – he had a good opportunity to boast that “Barça is more than a club” from a place as imposing as Rockefeller Center, in the heart of Manhattan. He put the finishing touch on Thursday night to the presentation of the alliance between ACNUR, the UN refugee agency, and FC Barcelona, which was signed last June in Geneva, headquarters of that entity. "This is part of our essence, we can help many, we have a special sensitivity," he said.
One of the attendees, the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, praised the sports entity because, in the face of the suffering of those who have to leave their homes and their countries (100 million in the world), "it does not focus only on winning games and championships, but has decided to take a step in the field of life.
After the speeches, with the moving testimony of a young woman from South Sudan who spent ten years in a refugee camp, who admired Ronaldinho and wanted to play football, although her mother reminded her “you are a girl and you have to cook”, Laporta explained to the journalists another definition of being more than a club, or only in this way is it understood that players from outside want to be part of the entity by giving up more substantial contracts.
“We are making a great team,” he proclaimed. The question had been about Jules Koundé, the latest addition. “We have the feeling that we are working well, the players want to come to Barça again”, he stressed. He did not rule out that more will arrive depending on how the registration goes. “We are following the rules of financial fair play”, although he accepted that the League may have another interpretation. “We make these investments in players so we can sign them all up, of course,” he stressed.
According to his calculations, the situation has changed and with the "levers" (previously it would be said mortgages) for television rights ("I would have liked not to sell any percentage"), the entity has improved in its accounts. This transforms the landscape and has unsettled rivals, who wonder how this display is possible. "Without the spirit of arguing, they should be calm, there are still more surprises to come," he remarked. “We are very awake, Barça has returned to the market”, he clarified.
"They are surprised because they are trying to get a competitive advantage over us," he said. "If this creates concern for the rivals, it means that we are doing well," he continued in his statement.
"We are going to compete in the field, we will see who has worked more and better," he insisted. “They can criticize what they want, but I think it is due to disinformation, to generate an advantage in the market. Perhaps they think that we will continue with the investments and they feel that things are not going well for them, ”she concluded.
