Barcelona president Joan Laporta fired at opposition as he defended his handling of the registration of Dani Olmo in a fierce speech on Tuesday.
Midfielder Olmo and striker Pau Victor both missed two games after LaLiga and the Spanish Football Federation [RFEF] declined the Blaugrana new licenses to play, saying the Catalan giants had failed to meet the deadline at the end of 2024.
Struggling with finances, Barcelona sold VIP boxes at their Spotify Camp Nou stadium – which is still under construction – to investors from the Middle East to aid passage of LaLiga’s strict financial fair play restrictions for new licenses.
Barça also approached Spain’s National Sports Council for a temporary leverage which would permit the duo to play before a final ruling is given on their case against LaLiga and the RFEF, which was granted last week.
“Nothing which has happened in these last weeks regarding the registrations has surprised us,” Laporta said to reporters in what was a lengthy news conference.
“If you look at Barca’s history you can expect these reactions, it’s not just by chance that when Barcelona are rising, various parties unite to tell a tale that is not true at all.
“They didn’t get what they wanted, because of the determination of the board and the staff, they wanted to destroy us but we never gave up.”
Spanish media reported that some opposition and fan groups were considering asking Laporta to resign but the president scoffed at the claim.
“I don’t think a Barca president should step down because of a decision from LaLiga,” added Laporta.
“This was a clear attack to destabilise us before the Super Cup which we all wanted to win.
“It’s not about supporting Laporta, it’s about supporting Barca, they destabilised the team… I value the mental strength of Flick [and the players].”
Laporta also said one of the reasons for the registration fiasco was because the club did not accept a new sponsorship deal with sportswear brand Nike in the summer.
That was in order to work on a better deal which they have now signed, worth a reported €1.7 billion until 2028.
“At the time we could have sealed a deal with Nike which is worse than the one that we have, but because we had other options, we went with them,” Laporta continued.
“We thought about registering [Olmo and Victor] with the Nike deal, but we waited, to keep negotiating, and we earned around €300 million [£253 million] more on the contract.”
