Football NewsJoan Laporta: “I have all the plans ready to deal with problematic situations at Barcelona
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“It is thanks to the experience and knowledge of the people who can intervene in all these situations. I want to send a message to calm the Barcelona supporters.

Joan Laporta is calm and ready

Barcelona presidential candidate Joan Laporta has shown that if the club has the finances available this summer to add to the team, he already has some moves lined up. It depends on whether Laporta becomes president after the March 15 elections, as he will have to get more votes than Victor Font and Toni Freixa. “I have all the plans ready to deal with these situations,” he said. “It is thanks to the experience and knowledge of the people who can intervene in all these situations. I want to send a message to calm the Barcelona supporters. We will be economically strong again, and if we need to improve the sports teams, I have all the cards to play.” Barcelona’s financial position has been discussed a lot, given their €1.173 billion debt, but Laporta is calm.

The candidate wants to convince Messi to stay with Barcelona

“I am convinced that Barca will be financially sound in the short term,” Laporta confirmed. Laporta, who was previously Barcelona president from 2003 to 2010, clearly wants Lionel Messi to stay after his contract ends this summer. But he also accepts that he will have some very lucrative offers on the table from other clubs. “I’m still determined to convince Leo to stay at the club,” he said. “The competitors are state clubs, and they have their way of getting around the Financial Fair Play. He will get big offers, and it’s difficult to compete with that. But I will try to convince him”. Laporta also revealed that, following Barcelona’s heavy 4-1 defeat at home to Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League, he spoke to a player in the dressing room. Without mentioning his name, his description of the player matches that of Gerard Pique.

“I spoke with the first-team player after the game. He was frustrated, but he set an example, wanting to play after returning from injury,” Laporta said. “I already referred to a conversation with a person with whom I have a perfect relationship. And I only said that he was down. But let me keep the rest of the conversation to myself and tell you that we are not going to leave them alone.”