Barcelona is currently facing a financial crisis and has failed to register their latest signings welcomed in Summer, Dani Olmo, and Pau Victor before Tuesday’s deadline. It’s not the first time Laporta has been under fire due to unfinished promises and commitments.
The Registration Saga
The problem that made Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor’s registration impossible was La Liga’s ruling on the salary cap. 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 must maintain the 1:1 rule to keep the players at the club.
Following this, Laporta promised the fans that the registration would be completed before the deadline of 31st December. Laporta went to legal means to solve the issue.
Barcelona claimed that they have the right to register both, as La Liga previously refused to allow Barcelona to use more of Stegen’s salary cap, which was allocated for the registration of Wojciech Szczesny. This request was denied by La Liga and the RFEF.
Following the rejection of the first appeal, Laporta revealed that his team would use a legal argument that if La Liga blocks these registrations, it would violate the players’ right to work. This argument was also a failure.
Later Plan B was to complete the registration process over the VIP box deal, which was to transfer the VIP box commercialization for the future Camp Nou to investors from the Middle East, potentially generating up to €100 million. Due to desperation, Laporta finalized the deal at half the price, adding up to another €100 million loss, which could be a source of criticism in the future.
The Messi Heartbreak
On 7 March 2021-2022, Laporta won the presidential election, in which he received 54.28% of the vote ahead of Víctor Font and Toni Freixa who received 29.99% and 8.58% of the vote respectively.
Credits: Marca
During this time, Barcelona had a total debt of more than 1 billion euros, while Messi’s soon-to-expire contract. Laporta made promises before the election him renew Messi’s contract at the club with no issues, despite the financial conditions.
After Laporta was elected he clearly stated: “I’m going to make an offer you won’t (Messi) be able to refuse’. This strengthened the hope of the fans and Messi himself who was keen on staying at the club after a controversial interview of him leaving the club during Bartomeu’s reign.
While everything was done and dusted, reports suggested that Messi would be renewing with Barcelona sacrificing a 50% pay cut, showcasing his love for Barcelona. Both the player and the club were prepared to announce the contract extension. Messi even returned to Barcelona from his holiday, ready to sign and continue his storied career at the club.
However, on the very last day, Joan Laporta stated due to La Liga’s strict financial fair play rules, Barcelona could not register Messi’s new contract. This sudden reversal shocked fans and Messi himself, who appeared heartbroken at his farewell press conference.
Laporta clearly used Messi as a political tool during his campaign, only to abandon the promise when faced with harsh financial realities.
Should Laporta continue?
In my opinion, Laporta took on the club at a very difficult time, he did a good job in hiding the financial problems with many big signings, but this affected the club’s reputation. Laporta is a clever politician, he gives false hopes and fails to deliver at the end moment.
There were times of mismanagement by his side which put a dent in the club’s name, he should’ve learned a lesson after the Messi Saga, that this shouldn’t happen again. Laporta never shows the club’s struggles in public and wants all these matters to stay private. Another example we witnessed was when Xavi mentioned the club’s financial constraints, Laporta did not like it and took action against Xavi’s managerial position.
I think it’s high time for Laporta to find a solution and stop giving false hopes. What do you guys think? Please let us know your thoughts about him in the comment section below.