Former president Joan Laporta officially announced that he will taking part in the club’s upcoming presidential elections.
On Monday morning, Joan Laporta held a conference at the Sant Pau hospital in Barcelona, where he presented his campaign “Estimem el Barça” (In English: “We love Barça”), under which he will compete for the votes of as many of Barça’s 150 000 members as possible.
Laporta was the president of Barcelona from 2003 to 2010, where the club managed to win 12 trophies.
For a long time it has been expected that Laporta would take part in the 2021 elections, but he’s mostly kept a low profile, until now.
In his speech, which you can watch in its entirety here, Laporta discussed his plans for the club and his plan to get Barcelona back to the top of world football again.
“I introduce myself because I love Barça and because I think we have done the necessary preparation to make the changes the club needs. We have a plan to return the club to the front of world football.”
“I will work tirelessly so that Barcelona can be an engine of optimism. We need to recover the motivation of our players and to dominate in the Champions League, which is our priority each season. Barcelona and the Champions league is a success story that has sadly been broken.”
“We will make decisions that will bring us back to the top. Being the president of Barcelona was a great honour and they were the best years of my life, so doing it again is the biggest challenge I’ve had.”
Economic situation
“Those who work with me will work with optimism. The situation is complicated, but we can generate income by entering the digital world. We will have to roll up our sleeves, take the suitcase, and go out and sell. We’ll try to cut expenses. When fans return to the stadiums, we will also regain income from ticket sales.”
Messi
“I’ve seen the love that Messi and his family have for Barcelona. Him and his family are comfortable in Barcelona. He wouldn’t move to another club for the money, but we have to be aware that we to value the players that we have. There will be time to talk, we can give him a long-term project that will motivate him.”
Transfers
“It would be disrespectful to our excellent squad to talk about that. We have to push the players we have to succeed. We won’t distract them by talking about transfers.”
“Before signing, we have to look at what options there are. We will be prepared to reinforce the team if it’s needed and if the coach requests it. Me and the board will make the final decisions.”
Koeman and Xavi
“Koeman deserves respect. He was a great player for our club and has a contract. We want him to do well. He doesn’t have an easy job, but he’s our coach and he’s under contract”
“I respect Xavi a lot. He was here as a player (when i was the President) and we have a very good relationship. We text each other. He’s a reference for young people, he’s a man who knows a lot about football and has dedicated his life to the sport.”
“I haven’t spoken to him about the sporting project.”
La Masia
“We’ll turn it into a centre of sporting excellence. We’ll enhance it even further.
