Barcelona president Joan Laporta has slammed the club’s critics and claimed a campaign to destabilise the club is behind the Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor registration saga.
Olmo and Víctor were denied registrations for the second half of the season after LaLiga and the Royal Spanish Football Federation [RFEF] said Barça missed a Dec. 31 deadline to prove they were compliant with financial fair play [FFP] rules.
Laporta maintains Barça provided all the necessary documentation to prove they were in a position to extend Olmo and Víctor’s registrations in time.
Spain’s supreme sports council (CSD) has since ruled Barça could have an argument, granting Olmo and Víctor temporary registrations while they asses the case.
“A lot of people set out with intention to destabilise the club — from the outside but also the inside,” Laporta said in a news conference which lasted almost two hours on Tuesday.
“They want to knock the club at a key moment in our history, with a young team that’s going to bring a lot of joy to the club.
“But they will have to work a lot harder to bury us. They will have to work hard if they hope to destabilise a club with 125 years of history.
“We are used to it now, nothing that has happened during the past few weeks surprises me at all. Any campaign to discredit the club will not stop us being a reference around the world and admired by millions of people globally.”
Laporta did not specifically name where he thought the campaigns had come from, but did speak out against opposition groups within the club who called for his resignation over the management of Olmo and Víctor’s registrations.
“They had a chance to show that they love Barça and they did not take advantage of it,” he added. “They took the side of those that want to damage the club.”
He also criticised those LaLiga sides, including Atlético Madrid, Valencia and Espanyol, who released statements last week criticising the CSD’s decision to reinstate Olmo and Víctor.
“I regret that there are clubs that have positioned themselves against us,” he said. “It was out of place and it surprised us, but everyone has a right to their opinion.
“We are grateful to those clubs that have not positioned themselves against us.”
Laporta also attempted to explain why he feels the club complied with LaLiga’s FFP rules in time to register to Olmo and Víctor.
He detailed how a new contract with kit supplier Nike is worth double what they were previously earning from the American company until 2028 and then triple until 2038.
The president also explained the sale of 475 VIP seats at Spotify Camp Nou, which is currently being redeveloped, saying they have been sold to companies in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in a deal worth around €100 million to the club.
“All the paperwork was presented to LaLiga on Dec. 27,” he said. “Over the following days leading to the [deadline], LaLiga requested more documentation and by Dec. 31 we though we had everything in order.
“They then requested more [information] which we were not in agreement with.”
