Barcelona president is moved by Olmo’s “suffering” over registration
Joan Laporta praised the team and criticized those who asked for his resignation
The president of Barcelona was emotional but was also on the attack this morning, at a press conference to clarify the registrations of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor, revealing where the money came from to keep the club in financial fairplay.
«We are back to the 1-1 rule [one euro earned, one euro spent] and normal hiring. This allows us to sign players like Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor. To reach 1-1, we had to sign contracts like Nike, the best sportswear contract in world football. This also disproves those who say that the club has a bad image or is poorly managed”, he began by saying, also talking about the money raised: “We have activated the operation of VIP seats. We have 9,600 in the new stadium. We gave 425 of them for exploration. It is a very attractive product. We got two investors: one for 75 seats and the other for 350 VIP seats. All this for a price that was necessary to sign the two players. It was validated by LaLiga and gave us 1-1. There is an investor from Qatar, who contributed 30 million, which we believed with the League. There is also 70 million from the United Arab Emirates, which paid on December 31st, but only arrived on the 3rd.».
And then he got emotional. « I really appreciate the strength that the players and the entire team had in these moments of maximum suffering. The mental strength that Hansi Flick and his entire team had [pause]. We can handle everything, but the suffering of the two players, our players and our club in general… that’s not okay…»
«Poor Barça if it falls into their hands»
The president then went on the attack, criticizing those who called for his resignation while this process was underway.
“They seemed to want us to fail. Poor Barça if it falls into their hands. I hope it never falls into their hands. Once again, they put their interests ahead of Barça’s. The vote of censure is for exceptional situations. They had a golden opportunity to show that they want Barça. And they didn’t take advantage of it. They sided with the side that wanted to harm us. On the side of the hostile media. Does anyone believe that I would resign because of a decision by LaLiga or the federation? I’m very disappointed in people who have aspirations to be president. It wasn’t about being alongside Laporta, but alongside Barça.”
Laporta also thanked the role of Real Madrid , which did not comment on the case and, more importantly, did not speak out publicly against the registration efforts, as other clubs did. «I will not disclose private conversations with other presidents. I am grateful to the clubs that did not take a stance against it. As for the clubs that took a stance against it, I am not satisfied. But there are many clubs that did not take a stand because they have legal services that know that we act within the law. We may be the biggest rivals on the field, but outside, in a context like that of the employers’ association, we have to defend the clubs’ interests.”
