Laporta destroys La Liga president over 'harmful' Barcelona transfer comment

FT Desk

• 1 Jun 2022 14:53 BST
• 4 min read

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has slammed his La Liga counterpart Javier Tebas after comments made about the Catalan club's ability to sign players this summer.

Barca's financial dire straits have been well-documented, the 26-time Spanish champions more than €1 billion in the red when they were forced to allow Lionel Messi to leave on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain last summer.

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The Blaugrana have been working hard to balance the books since, and they hope to raise up to €840 million this summer through the sales of licensing, merchandising and TV rights.

Barca have already agreed terms with Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie, and they hope to add Polish goal-machine Robert Lewandowski to their ranks after lodging a €32m bid with Bayern Munich.

However, their hopes of getting those deals over the line rest on getting their finances in order – something Laporta feels his club are on the cusp of doing – but Tebas spoke out this week, saying that Barca couldn't afford a rookie player, let alone Lewandowski.

What did Tebas say?

"They know what they have to do," he said. "They know perfectly well our economic control rules and their financial situation. The rules are there to avoid major economic problems. I don't know if they will sell De Jong, Pedri or Pepito Perez.

"They know what they have to do – sell assets and earn more, this is what they have to do. Barca has had many accumulated losses in the last tax years, some which could have been avoided and they have to stock the pantry. Just as Madrid have stocked up, Barcelona have emptied it. Today they cannot sign Lewandowski."

Those comments have angered Laporta, who feels the La Liga chief has crossed a line.

How did Laporta respond?

"Faced with the statements of the president of La Liga saying that we cannot sign a player, I would like to remind him that his role is to look after the interests of La Liga and its football clubs," he roared back.

"I ask him to refrain from making statements about whether or not Barca can sign a player. You are clearly harming the interests of FC Barcelona and, moreover, I do not know whether you are making these statements voluntarily or not.

"If he does them on purpose, it's a clear sign that he wants to harm Barcelona's interests. And if he does them unintentionally, that's further evidence of his verbal incontinence and his desire to be in the limelight. I don't think that's his place."

Should Barcelona raise the funds they are targeting, it should allow them the capacity to dip into the transfer market to sign the likes of Lewandowski.