This Tuesday, Joan Laporta’s book “How we saved Barça” went on sale, in which he explains what these five years in the presidency have been like. The now pre-candidate talks about how he had to face a chaotic economic situation that required imaginative formulas to straighten it out. MARCA has had access to this book from editorial sources and explains the main points of the book.
Messi’s departure
When it came to negotiating the renewal, Laporta said Messi had a “demanding” team around him, although his father was more understanding. “We came up with a crazy solution: a long-term contract with a first stage as a Barca player and a second on loan to an MLS team,” he said. “But LaLiga told us to forget it, that we had to sign an agreement to sell a percentage of the television rights for 50 years through a fund called CVC.”
Jorge Messi came to my house, I prepare the contract, I send him the draft and he doesn’t answer me. A week goes by, two… a month later, he finally comes back to my house and tells me that they have decided to go to Inter Miami, where he will not be under so much pressure.
Koeman’s dismissal
Laporta fired Koeman. It was clear that he was not his coach and so he told him. “Ronald came to see me with his agent, Rob Jansen, and he asks me: ‘Am I your coach?’ And I answer: ‘Ronald, for me you are a legend, I cried at Wembley, but I have to tell you that you are not. He didn’t take it well at all”.
Negreira Case
Laporta defends the club in this case and hits out at Madrid. “I invite all those who accuse us of refereeing corruption with such lightness and frivolity to specify the match, the goal, the play or the suspicious act of favoritism that supposedly occurred as a result of this technical advice. For seventy years, members, former players or former directors of Madrid appointed the referees who were to administer justice on the field of play in each and every match. That was undoubtedly the biggest scandal in the history of Spanish football!”.
The Super League
At first, he supported joining the Super League, but eventually backed out. “At first I didn’t see it clearly, but after examining all the documentation I saw that it was a historic opportunity that could make us 700 million. Barca has always had a position of coherence. First looking for understanding with the top football bodies and find the best solutions for Barca.”
The relationship with Xavi
He recounts Xavi’s departure, in which there were many ups and downs: “We saw that there were deficiencies in the physical preparation (…) However, at the end of the season, he tells me that he wants to continue, although we had already announced that he was leaving. He tells me at that dinner at my house that was so much talked about, in which we ordered sushi as if we were going to order lamb chops. There I ask him if he believes in the team he has and he replies: ‘I will make them champions 100%’.”
He arrives in disguise, wearing a cap, and tells me that he believes in the team, that everything can be changed.
From that moment on, the former coach adopts an ambiguous stance. “Although I thought I should have sought advice from someone more professional, I told him that he would look bad in front of everyone, but that I would give in and do it for him: ‘You are Xavi and you love Barca’. But a few days later he makes some statements saying that we will not be competitive for another two years. I call him and tell him that this is not the way we are doing things right. I was in the Hospital de Barcelona, admitted with a false pneumonia, and he told me that he wanted to see me. He arrives in disguise, with a cap, and tells me that he believes in the team, that everything can be changed. But the next day he tells Deco that we have to change quite a few players. So I tell him that’s it and we meet at the Ciudad Deportiva; it was me, Rafa Yuste and Deco, and we tell him that we’re sorry, but we can’t go on like this”.
Limak
“For the project, we chose Limak, a Turkish construction company, for technical reasons and because of the challenge it poses for them to undertake a project of this magnitude, the first they have undertaken in the European Union. And also to avoid the risks inherent in political behavior in the case of traditional Spanish construction. Limak won because it accepted all the contractual conditions proposed by the club, conditions much more demanding than those of a standard contract in our country, especially with regard to the guarantees offered, given the need to finance the operation in the North American market. The tender procedure to award the renovation works of Spotify Camp Nou was exemplary from a technical and transparency point of view. The whole process was supervised at all times by the club’s Compliance Department.
Read the full article here
