Laporta talks Xavi, Pique retirement, Barcelona’s UCL exit, Financial Fair Play issues

Since taking over as the president of FC Barcelona in March last year, Joan Laporta has had to put out a lot of fires and put in a lot of efforts to bring the club back on the right track after they seemed to have lost their way previously.

While there have been plenty of roadblocks along the way and there is still a lot left to do, things are looking positive under the management of Xavi Hernandez, who Laporta brought in last year to replace Ronald Koeman.

There have been some question marks about the 42-year-old Barça legend, especially due to the team’s failure in the UEFA Champions League, but Laporta continues to have faith in Xavi and insists that the former midfielder is the right man for the job.

“Xavi is doing phenomenal, he’s doing very well, he’s a coach who perfectly understands the club and knows exactly what Barça wants and how Barça has to play,” Laporta said in an interview with EFE (h/t Mundo Deportivo).

“Besides, he’s an extraordinary person, we’re very happy to have him as a coach and I’m sure that the team will improve as the championship progresses.”

Earlier this month, Barcelona lost one of their greatest ever players in Gerard Pique as the 35-year-old decided to retire from the game of football midway through the campaign.

There had been a lot of speculations regarding this sudden move, with reports stating that the former Spanish international was unhappy with how he was being treated by the club.

But Laporta clarified in the interview that Pique’s retirement was borne out of sporting reasons as it had been made clear to the club legend by Xavi that he would no longer be an important part of his plans.

“The retirement was for sporting reasons since Xavi was very clear and very honest with him at the beginning of the season and told him that he had the intention of renewing the team,” Laporta said.

“Gerard, realizing that he is a winner and wanted to participate more, made the decision personally, as it should be, and we respect it.”

Praising the legendary defender, Laporta added: “He has been one of the great centre-backs in the history of Barça. He is an extraordinary person who has also achieved so much success in his career and is a person who is also endearing because he feels strongly about the club and is part of our history and our shield.”

“I have always been grateful because he is a man who will always try to help Barça work better,” he added.

While Barcelona are performing extraordinarily in La Liga, their plight in Europe continues to be filled with struggles as they were once again eliminated from the group stages of the Champions League. And Laporta admits that it is a blow for the club.

“The elimination from the Champions League has been a hard blow, but it is true that this year our priority objective was La Liga. Obviously, we would have wanted to continue in the Champions League,” said Laporta.

The club president went on to insist that he was hopeful of winning the La Liga title, while also insisting that the team will compete for other trophies like the Spanish Super Cup, the Copa del Rey and the Europa League.

Moving on to Barcelona’s financial situation, Laporta acknowledged that the Blaugrana were in a lot of trouble which is why they had to rely on the economic levers in the summer. But he insisted that things were improving on that front.

“We had to make some levers, which were economic operations that saved the club from ruin, and now the club is in economic recovery, it is now healthy with an expected income of €1,225 million, a profit also budgeted for €274 million.”

However, the Barcelona supremo lashed out at La Liga for their Financial Fair Play guidelines which could prohibit the club from making new signings in January.

“Despite that, according to the rules of the financial ‘fair play’ of the Spanish league, we cannot sign,” Laporta said.

“We and some La Liga clubs are also trying to convince LaLiga to be more flexible and allow us other types of interpretations that can allow Barcelona to strengthen itself even more,” he said.

The Barcelona president cited the relaxed regulations in the Premier League as an example, saying: “It is more flexible in the Premier League than in Spain and this does not make much sense to me.”