President Joan Laporta has reacted to the criticism of FC Barcelona’s transfer behaviour. Above all, the words of Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann were not at all to his liking.
With the signing of Jules Koundé, Barcelona have completed their next costly transfer despite a gigantic mountain of debt. Even before the Koundé deal, Julian Nagelsmann wondered how it worked with 1.35 billion in debt. “They didn’t just buy Lewy, they bought some other players,” said the Bayern coach: “I don’t know how. It’s the only club in the world that has no money but buys every player. It’s strange and crazy.”
Board boss Oliver Kahn was more cautious. “You can’t get carried away with this. I’m not a fan of always judging things from the outside. It is said that Barcelona has accumulated no small amount of debt in the past. But none of us can really judge internals.” Judging the financial situation from afar, he would find “a bit difficult. They will know what they are doing. The only one who really knows these figures is FC Barcelona itself. “
But Kahn’s words apparently couldn’t appease Laporta either. “I would ask that they look at their bank account, they received a lot of money for the transfer of Lewandowski. I respect everyone and I don’t interfere in other people’s finances,” the president said. Bayern should “take care of themselves,” he added.
Laporta, however, also had something to say to the critics in general: “I agree with them that maybe they thought we couldn’t do it, but they didn’t correctly assess the strength of Barça and the verve of the new board. It’s a lack of knowledge, a lack of information about our club.” He added that they had “already turned the page”. Thanks to its history, Barça has assets of great value, he said. “A value much higher than the assets of the other clubs that have the value they have. “
Laporta also let slip a few facts. He said that the television rights had been sold for 25 years, not 50, and that the club had included €667.5 million for them. “So we are doing a good job,” Laporta continued. “Everyone knows what they have to do and if I don’t interfere in what others do, I would ask them not to interfere in what we do. We will compete on the pitch and we will see who worked harder and better.”
Incidentally, Barcelona’s buying spree does not necessarily have to end with the Koundé purchase, with speculation still swirling about the signing of Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, among others. “Depending on the player registration process, we will see if we can sign any other players,” the 60-year-old explained.
