This Friday, Joan Laporta is talked about. We saw him reconcile with Ronald Koeman, with whom his relationships were cool since the end of their collaboration at Barça. Then, the president of Club Blaugrana, who is present at a golf tournament organized during the Koeman Cup, spoke in the media to discuss the news of his club. And he could not dodge questions concerning Athletic Bilbao and Nico Williams. Regarding the Basque club, he was invited to respond to him after the murdered statement published earlier this week.
Bilbao tackled
“The club appreciates the will and clarity of the Liga which defends the interests of all clubs. As part of financial fair play, the capacity of FC Barcelona to recruit players was notably mentioned. The Athletic Club would like to thank Laliga de Fútbol Profesional for the availability and the clarity which it showed at the meeting held yesterday between the two entities, which attended the presidents of the two organizations, Javier Tebas and Jon Uriarte. The meeting was held in Madrid in response to a request from the Athletic Club made within the framework of financial fair play. ”
It was then specified: “Among the subjects discussed was the capacity of FC Barcelona to recruit players, given the legitimate interest of the Athletic Club to access the relevant information, after the sports director of FC Barcelona, Anderson Luis de Souza” Deco “, publicly recognized that the club would try to recruit a player of our first team. This player is under contract with the Athletic Club until June 30, 2027. Minging up with his business means ensuring compliance with the rules of the competition. ”
Laporta responds to the Spanish club
In the rest of the press release, Bilbao also instructed Joan Laporta, who also spoke publicly on the desire of the abutments to recruit the Spanish international. Attacked frontally, the Barça boss therefore took advantage of the stretched microphones to answer. “Everyone has to do what they have to do. We do what Barça must do to take advantage of the market opportunities and, of course, we follow the directives of our sports director and our coach. On this point, I have nothing to add. As for the Athletic Club, let him do what he has to do. I respect what he does, just as I hope he will respect what we do. ”
He added: “It is their work (at La Liga, editor's note). What I must say is that what Barça does concerns it, and Laliga is aware that club accounts are subject to significant confidentiality. And I understand that each club, according to its possibilities, will act, and we meet all the requirements of Laliga and Fairplay in order to take advantage of the market opportunities (…) I do not want to speak of persecution. Difficulties arise, obstacles stand on our way, and we actually learn to compete on obstacle courses. »»
Barça talks about the Williams case
Laporta said: “It is a question of working hard to overcome the obstacles and achieve the objectives that we have set for ourselves. Since we have nothing to hide, being audited has no problem. We hope that everyone will be treated on an equal footing and, therefore, we do not feel injured or persecuted. We act correctly. We have nothing to hide, and that's what we will try to do: seize market opportunities ”. Among the opportunities to be seized, there is therefore Nico Williams.
A player who has been like the club for a year. Regarding the possibility of paying his release clause, he said: “I'm not going to talk about players, I'm talking about market opportunities, which are numerous, and in this sense, we are there. We are ready to take advantage of a release clause if an opportunity for the market requires paying it, and Barça is ready to do the necessary if we decide to seize this opportunity. ” Bilbao is warned, Joan Laporta and FC Barcelona are ready to do anything to achieve their ends.
