Joan Laporta was officially unveiled as Barca’s new president at his inauguration ceremony on Wednesday, having staved off competition from Victor Font and Toni Freixa in a landslide election victory on March 7.
This will be Laporta’s second time in the presidential seat at Camp Nou after his previous highly-successful stint from 2003 and 2010 seeing the club win LaLiga on four occasions, as well as the Champions League twice.
This time, however, the charismatic Laporta returns now with Barcelona caught dead smack in the center of a financial mire amid great uncertainty over the future of their best player ever, the talismanic Messi. The club’s all-time leading scorer is out of contract at the end of the season and has been constantly linked with Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, though Laporta is determined to do all he can to retain the “best player in history”.
“I’ll do everything I can to try to convince Leo to stay,” he said in a speech that encompassed a diversity of topics, including the importance of the club’s academy system.
“We will try because he’s the best player in history and, sorry for telling you here, but you know how much I love you, and Barca also loves you.”
Messi has scored 27 goals in all competitions this season under Dutch head coach Koeman, who has ro his credit managed to get Barca in contention for the league title in Spain following a shaky start to his debut campaign in charge after taking over the hot seat from Quique Setien.
The Blaugrana are also through to the Copa del Rey final with Athletic Bilbao as their opponents on April 17 – but hopes of Champions League glory were brought to a premature end by PSG at the last-16 stage.
However all is not lost as, with the team on a 17-game unbeaten streak in LaLiga, Laporta publicly proclaimed his confidence in Koeman, who was present inside the ground with Messi for the event.
“Ronald, you have our confidence,” Laporta said.
“We want to go back to that success story between Barca and the Champions League. This year we have to go for LaLiga and for the cup.”
Describing Barca as an “engine for optimism” despite their current financial plight, Laporta gave his assurance that this is something he will be prioritising at the start of his new reign.
“The economic situation is a priority for us,” Laporta announced. “We have the priority of making the club economically sustainable.
“We have a shock plan for it. The situation does not scare us. The people who accompany us are not scared by these things.
“If we have to make decisions in the interest of Barca, we will make them.”