“He wanted to stay but they also had a lot of pressure because of the offer they had,” added the Barça president, stating that “for a moment I hoped that Messi would say that he would play for free.”
“I would have liked that and it would have convinced me. I understand that the League would have accepted it. But we cannot ask a player of Messi’s level to do this.”Laporta said.
The Barça president reiterated that in the club’s finances, which recorded losses of 481 million euros (US $ 565.4 million) last season and has a debt and future commitments of 1,350 million euros (US $ 1,557). million), “there was no margin” to manage to retain Messi.
“We had the conclusions of the audit (presented on Wednesday) and the investment in Leo could put us at risk,” added Laporta, recalling that “Barça is above any player.”
The Barça president expressed his desire to pay tribute to Messi in the future, as well as to the basketball legend Pau Gasol, who on Tuesday announced his retirement from the courts.
After days of uncertainty about the future of the coach, Ronald Koeman, Laporta reiterated his confidence in the Dutchman.
“The technical secretariat works every day, but at no point did I say that Koeman was not going to continue. I think he deserves a margin of confidence,” Laporta said.
“The decision is that Koeman continues. When things do not go the way you want, we were all discouraged,” explained the Barça president.
“I asked him if he trusted the team. ‘Of course I trust. I need to recover the injured,’ he told me. He wanted to continue at all costs and show that this team is competitive,” said Laporta.
Asked about names like Xavi Hernández, who rang to replace Koeman, Laporta insisted that with the former Barça midfielder “I talk a lot”, but the coach is Koeman.
He also referred to project “Espai Barça”, the remodeling of the Camp Nou stadium and its surroundings, including the attached sports center, for which the Barça management will request financing of 1,500 million euros (US $ 1,731 million) “from the Goldman Sachs bank.
“It is essential for the viability of the club and for the present and future of Barça to have a stadium, a space, a Barça campus, which will generate a lot of income”He said, anticipating that the name of the field will be linked to a sponsorship.
The Barça president showed his hope, if the Barça members approve the loan in assembly, to start the works next year to expand the stadium to 110,000 seats.
“The project tells me it will be three years, but I calculate four,” said Laporta, specifying that the team will have to play outside its enclosure for a year for which it opts for the Johan Cruyff stadium, in its sports city.
For that year, the capacity of the Johan Cruyff would be temporarily expanded to 50,000 spectators and “it will be necessary to rotate with the partners,” he explained.
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