A new twist has emerged in Barcelona’s ongoing registration saga, with the controversy now spilling online.
background of the registration saga
Barcelona is struggling to register its latest signings, welcomed in Summer, Dani Olmo and Pau Victor. This isn’t the first time Laporta has faced criticism for unfulfilled commitments and missed deadlines. Despite being given a deadline of 31 December to complete registrations, Laporta assured that it would be completed by 2 January. There has been no official update on the matter, leaving the players’ future uncertain.
The conflict is all about the Financial Fair Play Ruling. The main aim of the Financial Fair Play rule is to ensure that football clubs do not spend more money than they earn. Barcelona needs to maintain the 1:1 rule to keep the players at the club. This was to be done through the VIP boxes deal, which was expected to be completed and would’ve generated an influx of €100 million to maintain the 1:1 ruling.
Laporta’s WhatsApp story
Laporta posted a WhatsApp story at 9:19 PM (Spanish Time Zone), expressing his thoughts on the ongoing situation.
“The RFEF, having heard FCB’s arguments, agrees with them in the sense that article 130.2 of the RFEF Regulations is NOT applicable to the Dani Olmo/Pau Víctor case, given that, in this case, the players have left the club, not because of the club’s will (which is what this article foresees) but because of factors outside and contrary to the club’s will. It is an undisputed fact that both the club and the players want to remain in the FCB squad for the whole season. This interpretation of the rule is consistent with the obvious purpose of that article, which is precisely to promote the stability of the composition of the players‘ squads, don’t know the reason.” Credits: Gerard Romero (X)
Laporta’s post has been interpreted as a suggestion that he believes RFEF is supporting Barcelona in this case. Laporta deleted the story later on, this suggests he didn’t want this to be public.