Laporta: Pogba would be a great signing
The presidential candidate reveals more of his plans for the club
Joan Laporta gave an interview about his candidacy and plans for FC Barcelona’s future to the Catalan paper L’Esportiu.
Q: Why should you be FC Barcelona’s next president?
Joan Laporta: Because we have the necessary experience and we are more than prepared to manage the current success and form the basis of the next glorious decade.
What can Laporta bring to the club?
We want to maintain the current sporting success, fix what this board has broken and lay the foundation for the next 10 years. We have already proved that we are the guarantee of success because we have done it and we understand that our model is much more sustainable and integrates a series of principles that will allow us to build the future adequately. The model that Bartomeu, Rosell and company represent is no guarantee; it’s based on improvization, on passivity in important moments and taking advantage of what we left them. They stepped away from the Cruyff philosophy, which I understand is the genuine way of playing a football which is admired around the world, because they don’t believe in it. When they saw it wasn’t working they have moved back toward it.
Why do you consider that they have dismantled La Masia?
Because they didn’t understand what it really represents. They’ve always been involved in the academy, developing project and personal businesses, and they haven’t given La Masia and its players their requisite significance. They have a lot of people around who dedicate themselves to keeping players and they didn’t know how to stop that and that led to dismantlement. Besides that, the people in charge of this area did not have the ability to plan the professional career of all these youngsters. Their dream is to reach the first team, but that takes good planning, the parents and the players have to understand that. Ever since Oriol Tort, there was a continuity, a way of doing things that have been passed down and they wanted to implement a new system which hasn’t worked out.
Do you think about reinstating Alexanco at the helm of La Masia?
Yes, he will return with a good part of his team and reinforced with some new faces which we think can give a lot.
What do you think about the FIFA sanction?
It demonstrated a lack of perspective and a great arrogance. FIFA told them about the infractions before and they didn’t do anything. It looked as if they felt immune. And the worst thing is that they’re saying they would do everything the same way again. And after that they destroyed all the bridges that had been built with the great football institutions, they lost the respect a club like Barça deserved, and the consequence was that we can’t register players until January.
Has Barça been at the level required by Catalunya in these last years?
The club has been ambiguous, like its executives, always acting with fear. In the end, things have worked out, but not due to Barça’s initiative. They have dedicated themselves to other things, like pressing charges. Bartomeu, Rosell and company don’t have any proposals for Catalunya because they think that Barça is just a football club. For them, ‘Més que un club’ is not a statement of principles, it’s just a slogan. The ‘Més que un club’ is based on the intimate relationship between Barça and the country, a fundamental issue and in these moments, a majority issue. Barça should have an unabashed commitment to Catalunya’s process of independence.
If a list of institutions is made before September 27 [Catalonia parliamentary elections], would Barça be on it?
If the president asked me, of course. Barça is at the country’s disposal for whatever is required, and not only that, but we will provide everything we can. We already have the senyera [Catalan flag] on the shirt, we unfurled the biggest senyera in the world, we have promoted Catalan products, we have helped the institutions that watch over the promotion of the Catalan language and culture with everything we could. We will keep doing this.
In these elections, the favorite is Bartomeu. Does that motivate you?
Yes, it is an extra motivation because it means that I have to explain myself better and get the socí to understand why we are doing this. I enjoy facing these challenges. I am also motivated by the moment the country is living now, it needs a model like us. I think that Catalunya needs a Barça with an unabashedly Catalanist board. Regarding the sporting aspect, they can boast about the treble, but I feel that we are a part of that too and we have a sextuple in our past. We have all the merits. Further, we are talking about who is more ready to manage this success and build the future, and that’s us.
Do you think that the campaign will have dirty games?
I’ve never done that and I never will. The only thing I have done in that area was to be accused and I have won all my court cases and never filed one. I’ve already been told that I should be ready for these things. I’ve been told that they would want to avoid seeing a supporter of Catalunya’s independence as Barça president, that the idea of that is causing concern in some areas and that Bartomeu, Rosell and company are talking to the Spanish powers that be, from here and outside, asking for help so that a promoter of the independence wouldn’t win. I’ve also been told that these elections have big economic interests and that by not being part of the establishment I’m a nuisance.
They’re accusing you of dividing the members.
That’s part of their hypocrisy. They can’t talk about being representatives of the peace and unity of the fanbase and then turn around and file complaints against other members, trying to ruin them. I had to fight this for four years, but I’ve won every case and I’m clean. The lesson we learn from these people is that you cannot build anything out of resentment.
Your first goal was Abidal, but every candidate said that he is a part of the club’s patrimony.
The reality is that if the socís give us their confidence Abidal will be with us and will be the technical secretary and in fact he’s already working hard for that. There won’t be a lot of signings since the squad is already very good and in principle we can’t register players until January, but he is working on the Barça of the next few years. Éric is very motivated and has a lot of knowledge. As a player he won everything, he had a lot of experience and when you talk to him you can only listen and learn. He has a lot of connections in the world of football and he is very mature. His personal circumstances have made him mature in a way in which it’s easy for him to see things from another person’s perspective.
Do you think that Paul Pogba would be a good signing for Barça?
Yes, he would be a great signing. He’s a Juventus player and we have to respect that, but we have an advantage, seeing as how Abidal is his friend.
And you are friends with Raiola…
Yes, I have a good relationship with him. We understood each other when we signed Maxwell and Ibra and we have a fluid and honest interaction.
Should Luis Enrique been renewed before the elections seeing as how he had a contract for another season?
The obvious thing was that Luis Enrique had to continue. He is the coach that won the treble, who made some very talented players work and who has introduced some new options in the playing system. They announced his renewal hastily and desperately, just like with Neymar and if I become president we will examine all of these contracts and their clauses, especially the Qatar one.
Do you believe that Qatar is the only sponsorship option?
I’m sure that that’s not true. Barça is a global reference and they’re saying they’ve only received one serious offer… First of all, €60 million seems low to me when United gets €70 from Chevrolet and second of all, that can’t be the only offer.
How do you explain that?
Either they’re working very badly for Barça or they’re working very well for other interests. I would understand it if they presented various offers and the best one from an economic point of view was the one from Qatar, but it looks as if they’re trying to avoid any other option. I see Qatar all around: in the press room, on the arch at the exit of the stadium, on the scoreboard, the publicity of the stadium… There are a lot of stories related to Qatar. For that, if I win the elections, we will analyze this contract and explain it to the socí.
And then return to UNICEF.
Yes, I’ve already said that while they represent Qatar we represent UNICEF. We will recover the charitable spirit and we will try to give back to the global society what it has given us through helping those in need, and especially the children.
Bartomeu says that when you left the club in 2010 it had no money left.
That is a lie and it’s a shameless thing to say. No bank would have given a bankrupt club a credit of €150 million and when they got here there were lots of banks who were willing to do that. They put Villa’s buy in my books and they sold Touré for €30 million when I had agreed to a fee of €32 million, something they have yet to explain. The reality is that the club was healthy and well managed, with an income of €440 million and accumulated profit of €110 million. As they didn’t have any sporting medals to hang on to, they mounted this big lie in the economic area and as a byproduct, facilitated Qatar’s entrance. They got to the point where they invented that ridiculousness about the black-and-white photocopies, but now, thanks to their lies with the Neymar Case, Barça is on trial for corruption and we could end up paying €13 million in fines for fiscal fraud.
You’ve already said that there will be more transparency.
Yes, now we have the new technologies which will allow us to give quarterly information to the socís regarding the club’s economic and financial state, either by email or normal mail.
The great disappointment this season has been the basketball section. What would you do about that?
If I’m president, Xavi Pascual would stay on. He’s a great coach. This section has suffered from the influence of some people within the club who watched out for their own interests and Bartomeu has a big say in that. I want to remind you that in my days I already had problems with him there. There’s an executive who we cannot trust and I’ll ask Txitxi Creus why they allowed themselves to be dominated by this person.
Will the Espai Barça project move on with you?
I like calling it Nou Camp Nou [New Camp Nou] and it is something we had already started. This is something that hurt me, because we had worked on a project for five years until we reached an agreement with the local authorities. The project was well defined; it had a total cost of €240 million, except for the new Palau, while this one is very abstract. The board decide to throw my project out and make a new one, with all the problems that entail, and it’s five years later and nothing is decided or signed. If I’m president I’ll try to get to an agreement with the local administration, because this is primordial project for the club.
Will you start an animation stand in the stadium?
I’m the first one who wants it, but before that we have to make sure that the violent fans are out of the the stadium.
Aren’t they out already?
It seems they are not. I’ll be able to say this for sure when I’m president, but from the information we have of the supporting group, it seems like it hadn’t been fixed. We can’t make an animation stand and then have the police come and tell us it can’t be done because there’s 100 violent people on the list.
Will you reinstate the “Big challenge” project?*
Yes, because Barça doesn’t only belong to Catalonia, but the entire world community. There are people who live thousands of miles away that have every right to become a socí and to vote… when we’ll implement the electronic voting.
A lot of the candidates are speaking of electronic voting.
We tried to implement it when I was president before, but the technology wasn’t reliable at the time. Now there are systems and Barça can adapt itself to the present.
In your public acts there have been a lot of former players giving you support and Tuesday, Guardiola did the same. Were you expecting that?
I wasn’t and it even made me emotional. It came out of his heart and that gives me a lot of strength. I’m thankful to all the former players who support me. We have a lot of good memories together and I thank them for calling me to ask how they can help.
Will Cruyff return?
Yes, he will help me with advice, like he always has. He is a friend and I respect him a lot and I think that he’s always with Barça, seeing as how the club is a part of his life.
*Project to facilitate the way in which fans can become members, started after Laporta was first elected in 2003.
Source:
http://grup14.com/story/laporta-pogba-would-be-a-great-signing
