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4 months ago
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Joan Laporta’s closest rival in FC Barcelona’s presidential candidacy, Victor Font, has attacked the current leader of the team, accusing him of being “surrounded by friends and family” and also for agreeing with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
Font has been in the news of late following his remarks on the current sporting model. Writing to the Barcelona fans, he wrote a message on his social media, saying that the club should start fresh and stop following the model that resonates with the 1980s.
In his letter, he stressed the importance of keeping Lionel Messi, a promise that the current leaders failed to keep. Now, speaking to RAC1 (h/t AS), Font shared his thoughts on several aspects, including his take on Xavi, transfer market and wage bill among others.
When asked about Xavi’s exit at the end of the season, he said that the manager is not the only one to be blamed. “The frustration of the culers is logical. Nobody expected these bad sporting results. The president’s triumphalist narrative has not helped.
“This whole institutional disaster is reflected on the field. It is partly the president’s responsibility. We all expected Xavi to perform better.
“Buying Laporta’s optimistic discourse has been a problem for Xavi and I have told him so personally. Obviously, Xavi is also to blame, but not the only one.”
On transfers and wage bill
Barcelona have been facing serious troubles both in terms of player transfers and wage bill. This summer, if the financial levers do not act up, the team from Catalonia will have to sell a few top players in order to generate revenue.
Unfortunately, this was the case last summer as well and Font was quick to point that out. “The desired additions did not arrive [last summer], especially in the replacement of Sergio Busquets. Oriol Romeu was the plan D, E or F. The first was [Martin] Zubimendi and the second was [Joshua] Kimmich.”
Oriol Romeu wasn’t Barcelona’s first choice. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)About the troubling wage bill, he said, “It has been reduced in the third season. It has taken two years to implement a viability plan. The train at 200 kilometres per hour has started to slow down very late.
“Well, the truth is that it has already crashed. In the last three years we have generated a billion in operating losses. For people to understand, if I earn a thousand Euros a month, but I spend 1,250, I have a problem. That’s what’s happening to Barcelona.”
Furthermore, he once again pointed out that the biggest mistake of the current management was to let Messi leave. “The big mistake of this term and one of the biggest in the club’s history. Leo was very important to complete the transition.
“It was clear that we lacked talent, economically the association implemented the shock plan. The illusion is that one day Leo will return to Barcelona, like Pique, Puyol.”
Font does not see Barcelona succeeding under Laporta
The presidential candidate sounded very frustrated so much so that he said the club just cannot function as it is right now. He said FC Barcelona need reform and modernization in the management is extremely necessary.
“The club cannot continue to be governed by the same people who started this century. We have to modernize the management in every sense. The objective is to protect the ownership model and compete with the big teams.”
“There will be a loss hole of 100 to 150 million Euros. The only way for the club to avoid this is to sell assets in the form of players. [Frenkie] De Jong, [Ronald] Araujo or whoever.”
He went on to say that all the top executives have left Barcelona under Laporta’s reigns and they have been replaced by family and friends.
“All the talented executives have left and have been replaced by friends and relatives. This man has no position. Is it normal for him to be at the club every day? I don’t think so. I’m sure he must be very valid, but I don’t understand why they hide him.”
Font will run against Laporta
Victor Font will once again challenge Joan Laporta. (Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)
Font assured that in the next presidential election, he would once again challenge Laporta for the position.
“It’s true that he [Laporta] is going to face me. He knows that I am at his disposal to help him. He has never called me. It is normal, I am not a friend or relative. I doubt in any case that my opinion is of any use.
“If there are elections tomorrow, I will run for sure. If the club in 2026 is just as bad, I will run. I have an incurable disease called Barça and my wife is the first to suffer from it. She was happy when I lost the elections because she thought I was going to forget about all this.”
Font’s thoughts on Real Madrid and Super League
Font explained Barcelona’s current economic status in comparison with Real Madrid. He said that the amount of money Madrid would make in the next few years would be similar to what Barcelona would owe in the form of debt.
“They have a new field. That is a clear advantage over Barcelona. Everything they generate in the next few years in income, we will have to pay in debt. They will have 100 or 150 million Euros in resources that we won’t have.”
Furthermore, he also said that joining hands with someone who is close to Perez is not really an ideal thing to do.
“It makes no sense to choose Florentino before Messi. It is not normal to do operations with people Florentino trusts the most. Lagrari, founder of A22, is one of the promoters of the Superliga. I know he is very surprised because he is helping Barcelona.”
He also viewed that choosing Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc as the home venue wasn’t the right thing to do. “It’s a disaster. It seems they didn’t want us to go to Montjuic.”
Lastly, he went on to say that losing Pep Guardiola as the manager was the biggest failure of the team. “That we have him at City is a spectacular failure for Barcelona.”
