Joan Laporta: 'We brought joy back to FC Barcelona'
Joan Laporta spoke about the season so far during his long conference in the Auditori 1899, claiming that "joy has returned to FC Barcelona and the club is advancing into a new era."
"We gave a recital in the Spanish Super Cup Final, and we're still alive in the Copa del Rey, Europa League and Liga, which is a priority for the club. We are going well, we are top and in great form, but we know we still have a lot of work to do between now and the end of the season."
Praise for Xavi
The FC Barcelona president lavished praise on Xavi Hernández, saying “I want to thank him publicly for his commitment. He hasn't shunned his responsibilities, he knows the club and the way we play. He's a a positive person and always looks for solutions. Xavi has been grateful and has never asked us for any more than we can give. We are very happy with the job he's doing."
Laporta: “Barça saved from financial ruin”
As for the club in general, he claimed “we can say that we have saved Barça from financial ruin. We have made some brave financial decisions and we can now say that the debt is under control. We have gone from a negative BBB to a positive one.”
As for possible signings, Laporta said "we still need to bring down the payroll, as we have been doing since we took over in March 2021. We have spent 215 million euros in this time on strengthening the squad while bringing in 141 million in sales. We have built a competitive squad with just 74 million."
As for whether there will be new signings this summer, the answer was "I think so."
Mateu Alemany, the Director of Football, and Eduard Romeu, Financial Vice-President, were also in attendance. The former commented that “I think by June or July the payroll will be around 450, 460 or 470 million euros, close to the official parameter, which is 60% or 70% of our total revenue. We need La Liga to appreciate these developments because in the 2020/21 season we were at around 655 million."
Superleague making progress
The European Superleague also came up as a topic, where Laporta claimed that progress is still being made, and the club "fully supports the decalogue presented by A 22 Sports Management", the company that was formed to sponsor and support the project. "It will be an open Superleague and will be a more attractive competition, sustainable for the clubs and respectful of player health ... We don't want to break the dialogue with UEFA and want to work in harmony with the national leagues."
Digital transformation and the Foundation
Laporta also spoke about the way the club is undergoing digital transformation, which should improve the way it works, and offer a more efficient service to the fans and boost revenue.
He also spoke about the revision of the membership list from February 20 "which will guarantee that the data is a faithful reflection of the reality."
Laporta also spoke about the latest projects involving the Foundation and children worldwide. He highlighted the global agreement with the UNHCR in support of child refugees in such countries as Colombia, Uganda, Malaysia and Turkey, as well as the Joves Futur+ programme in association with La Caixa Foundation to offer psychosocial and monitoring to children formerly in care.
He ended by saying how "proud we are of the Barça Genuine team" and for setting up two brand new departments at the club, one on Sustainability and the other on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.